STATE OF THE FIELD IN YOUTH ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Table of Contents
Chapter 9
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Annexes
2012 State of the Field in Youth Economic Opportunities
Camfed is another leading international NGO that is investing in girls early, and is committed to working with
them over the long-term.
Chapter 7: Asset-Based Approaches:
Building and Protecting Assets of AGYW
7.1.2 Bright Ideas: Camfed Builds Assets through a Girl’s Life Span
Camfed, a non-profit that fights poverty and HIV/AIDS
in Africa by educating girls and empowering women
to become leaders of change, begins supporting girls
in primary school, helping schools provide emergency
safety nets for children to stay in school. Financial and
social support intensifies when girls reach secondary
school. Camfed trains a network of mentors, frequently
female teachers, to counsel and support girls when
necessary. Once they graduate from high school, many
girls supported by Camfed join its alumni organization,
CAMA. Over 15,000 young women are members of
CAMA and now support the education of 160,000
children. In addition, CAMA members can choose to
receive training to become community health activists.
This age-graded approach supports girls and young
women to build a more sophisticated set of assets,
give back to their communities, and assume leadership
and decision-making positions in their communities.
For more information, see http://us.Camfed.org/site/
PageServerpagename=home_index.
7.2 Protect AGYW by “Repelling” Those Who Threaten Them and Their Assets
AGYW face multiple barriers as they build assets and seek economic independence. Bruce observed
that “Males, even poor young males, have a better chance of holding onto income and assets. They are not at
active risk from exploitation by the females in their household- the reverse however is not true.” YEO programs
need to take active steps to protect AGYW as they enter the work and marketplace and protect the economic
assets they build from economic participation.
• AGYW should not have to suffer sustained sexual harassment and abuse in order
to provide for themselves and their families. “Sextortion,” researched by Mary Hallward
Driemeier, Lead Economist for Financial and Private Sector Development at the World Bank Group,
is where sexual favors are traded instead of money for routine business dealings. Sexual harassment
and sexual abuse remain rampant in work and business places and affect all women. New research
from the World Bank reveals how frequently women must endure harassment and abuse as they
build their businesses. Box 7.2.1 offers some information on how frequent sextortion may be when
applying for licenses and dealing with inspectors.
• YEO practitioners must identify the “sharks” for AGYW in a particular context,
understand the process they use to strip girls of their assets, and plan a response.
Sharks may be the intimates of AGYW: their parents, families or partners. They may have overt or
subtle ways to remove assets from AGYW. YEO practitioners should understand how that practice
works or is embedded in social practices in order to plan an effective response. Girls play a key role in
identifying strategies to defend themselves and in some cases find alternative living options.
• The “survivor bias” may prevent us from understanding what AGYW endure and what
is possible with the right investments. As Bruce noted, programs for AGYW may rely on
accounts from alumni of programs or other women who have successfully negotiated many of the
economic, legal and cultural challenges that young women face. Bruce highlighted that many of the
early mass credit programs served young woman, but with completed family size. Appropriate age-
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