CAMA’s Action on Education Speaks Louder than Words

CAMA member and Learner Guide Stumai from Morogoro District listing some of the challenges faced by students in the Tabora Region of Tanzania

During Global Action Week on Education for All, young women from the CAMA alumnae network in Tanzania demonstrated the multiplier effect of girls’ education when they shared their expertise with hundreds of school children and community members in Tabora Region, which is currently not one of Camfed’s partner communities.

Global Action Week, devised by the Global Campaign for Education, turns an international spotlight on education, giving national coalitions, regional organizations and local officials the opportunity to highlight specific challenges in their regions, and to discuss solutions. To demonstrate how they tackle the barriers to girls’ education in rural Tanzania, four CAMA members from four different Camfed partner districts travelled to Tabora. Asha, Edina, Stumai, and Tatu are Learner Guides at their local schools. They use their own experience of poverty – and of the challenges they faced in getting an education – to transform the lives of the next generation of vulnerable children, every single week.

Delivering a Life Skills Program

Working together for two days to reach 218 girls and boys, the Learner Guides brought Camfed and CAMA’s unique My Better World life skills curriculum to 153 primary and 65 secondary school students. Developed with young people in sub-Saharan Africa in partnership with Pearson, the curriculum focuses on supporting marginalized children to navigate challenges and improve their life chances. It aims to raise learning outcomes by building self-knowledge, confidence, communications, and problem-solving. Learner Guides, who act as mentors and role models to students at Camfed’s partner schools, typically deliver the program as part of the curriculum. Global Action Week allowed these young women to reach students in schools not currently supported by Camfed.

The life skills training was part of a wider program of educational events, organized by the Tanzania Education Network/Mtandao wa Elimu Tanzania (TEN/MET) and the Tabora Regional Commissioner’s Office, which included exhibitions, competitions, speeches, radio and TV programs, and entertainment – all designed to ensure that communities unite around girls’ education.

Advocating for Change

The young women also conducted meetings with parents, students and teachers of four other primary and secondary schools in the Tabora Region to discuss the issues which stop girls from attending school.

“I wish this program will be sustainable and extended to Tabora Region, because it is a Region which has a lot of challenges. Also if I were living in Tabora, I would sensitize local governments and wards to establish groups like Planning for School Excellence committees at schools, and Mother Support Groups which would help children to get their education needs,” said Learner Guide Tatu from Kilosa District.

As CAMA members connect with each other across districts and communities, they are unlocking their extraordinary leadership potential, advocating for the education of the next generation.