Who we are

CAMFED is a pan-African movement revolutionizing how girls’ education is delivered. Through a gold-standard system of accountability to the young people and communities we serve, we have created a model that radically improves girls’ prospects of becoming independent, influential women.

CAMFED’s Mission

CAMFED is a pan-African, grassroots-led movement tackling poverty, inequality and injustice through girls’ education and women’s leadership. Our focus is on vulnerable girls and young women in rural areas of Africa. This is where girls face acute disadvantage, and where unlocking their power will have a transformative impact.

CAMFED’s Vision

We envision a world in which every child is educated, protected, respected and valued, and grows up to turn the tide of poverty.

CAMFED’s Model of Accountability

We are accountable first and foremost to each individual girl we serve. We see the world from her perspective, and dismantle the social and financial barriers that keep her from developing her full potential.

The leaders bringing our vision to life

Through our CAMFED Association of leaders educated with CAMFED support, young women are taking action on the big challenges their countries face.

CAMFED Association members galvanize their communities into action, making sure girls secure their right to learn and lead. They are tackling everything from child marriage, and girls’ exclusion from education, to youth unemployment and climate change. This unique pan-African network of teachers, nurses, doctors, entrepreneurs and sustainable agriculture experts is growing every day as more girls complete school and join them, working together to change the status quo for women and girls for good. Our women leaders embody our shared values and principles:

Our values

Our young women leaders, community champions, teams, trustees and partners are deeply invested in the values of equity and inclusion, and the governance principles that underpin our mission:

Focus on the girl as our client

Our programs begin with an individual girl in rural Africa. By looking at the world from her perspective, we work to dismantle the barriers to her education and to living a healthy adult life. We’re answerable first and foremost to her.

Meet our future leaders

Partner with the community

Change can’t happen without community support. We believe people living in rural communities are best placed to solve the problems around them. Community members from a range of sectors help with our program design and implementation.

Meet our Champions

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Be transparent and accountable

All our systems and processes support the principle of accountability to our clients. We ensure full transparency in our management of financial resources, with communities as our ‘shareholders,’ and run robust auditing systems.

Finance & Accountability

Our principles

Accountability

We are accountable first and foremost to our clients – vulnerable girls and young women. All our systems and processes put this principle into action in order to secure and reinforce girls’ rights and entitlements, and it underpins our partnerships at every level.

Child Protection

Child protection is a non-negotiable, central tenet of our work. We hold information on every girl we support, tracking her welfare and engaging with all those who hold authority in relation to girls in order to mitigate girls’ vulnerability to any form of abuse.

Urgency

Only when all marginalized girls receive a quality secondary education can we hope to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. We act with urgency to get this generation of girls into school, triggering widespread change through direct action, with demonstrable results.

Transparency

Our financial systems maintain the highest levels of transparency and accountability. Communities, as our ‘shareholders,’ make decisions on resource allocation with representatives from all stakeholder groups, and directly ensure that all clients receive their entitlements.

Dignity

We respect, protect and promote the dignity of our clients and their communities. We aim to address the debilitating effects of poverty and exclusion on an individual’s sense of self-worth and entitlement. Empowered communities can then hold governments to account.

Leadership

We recognize that young people and their communities are the experts on the barriers they face. This is why we actively support young women’s leadership and representation at every level of our organization. Their experience and expertise is vital to the development of sustainable solutions.

Partnerships

We build strong, but apolitical, partnerships with government ministries. We initiate innovative partnerships between communities, government, likeminded organizations and the private sector to maximize the resources available to tackle the challenges which young people face.

Measurement

We rigorously assess our impact, measuring our success by tangible improvements to the lives of young people. We lead in putting mobile data gathering technology into the hands of frontline activists. We then share this data with communities, empowering them to take swift and targeted action.

Commitment

The returns of our long-term commitment to investing in communities are evident in the CAMFED Association, the network of women leaders educated with CAMFED support. Once among the most excluded, they are professionals, social entrepreneurs and leaders, transforming prospects for the younger generation.

What we do

CAMFED provides financial and social support for marginalized girls to attend and thrive in primary and secondary school. Post-school, CAMFED provides business training, finance, and support for young women to access higher education and employment opportunities, so that they can safely transition to a secure and fulfilling adulthood. Those joining the CAMFED Association, our pan-African peer support and leadership network, commit to mentoring and supporting each other, as well as the next generation, as they grow into respected role models in their communities, working to secure every child’s right to go to school, and change the status quo for girls for good.

More about what we do