Investing in girls’ education and women's leadership is one of the most powerful ways of tackling the climate emergency.
Climate change is not a distant threat; its effects are touching lives all around the world. Unpredictable weather patterns, devastating floods, and crippling droughts are not only reducing farm yields but also jeopardizing family incomes. When families lose their livelihoods due to crop failures or the inability to access markets, it triggers a cycle of hunger and desperation.
In this scenario, it’s young girls who bear the brunt. They are often the first to leave school, taking on household responsibilities, marrying early for perceived security, or helping to provide for their families. This results in a lost generation of young women, facing increased vulnerability to abuse and health issues, and lacking the skills and resources to build a brighter future.
Research shows that girls and women who are denied access to education are at a higher risk of injury or death during climate disasters. For women engaged in farming or rural businesses, the challenges of climate change compound existing resource and productivity gaps they already face.
The Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) is working to change this narrative.
Girls’ education is the starting point for securing the rights of women and girls globally. Educating girls unlocks women’s leadership for effective, concrete climate action, and helps build more resilient communities that are equipped to tackle the effects of climate change.
Around one third of the young educated women in our CAMFED Association are dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods.
CAMFED
An estimated 80% of people displaced by climate change are women.
It is estimated that at least 200 million adolescent girls living in the poorest communities face a heightened risk from the effects of climate change
Sims (2021) Education, Girls’ Education and Climate Change
Support CAMFED to educate another 5 million girls, create another 150,000 jobs through sustainable women-owned business, and grow our CAMFED Association to 280,000 women leaders, disrupting the status quo, identifying policy solutions, and changing the face of agriculture leadership and climate action.
If 70% of women aged 20–39 years completed lower secondary school, there would be a 60% reduction in deaths due to extreme weather events in sub-Saharan Africa.
Effects of Educational Attainment on Climate Risk Vulnerability (2013)
For every additional year of schooling for a girl, her country’s resilience to climate disasters can be expected to improve by 3.2 points (as measured by the ND-GAIN Index, which calculates a country’s vulnerability to climate change).
Brookings - 3 ways to link girls’ education actors to climate action (2017)
If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry people in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million due to productivity gains.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO (2011)
By supporting girls in school, and in the transition to secure livelihoods, we are investing in the next generation of children, as well as in effective, diverse leadership to shape policy solutions. Women’s leadership is associated with positive environmental action, as well as improved adaptation and resilience to climate disasters. Educated women are also better equipped to innovate and champion climate-smart technologies, and engage in national and international leadership for sustainable growth.
Our young women leaders have lived the hunger and anxiety caused by extreme and unpredictable weather.
We’ve seen how the climate crisis disproportionately impacts women and pushes more girls out of school.
We know what it takes for communities to thrive, and for girls and young women to be seen and heard.
We are determined to support millions more girls to go to school and to grow up to become the next generation of climate leaders.
Together with you, we can grow an equitable future.
Video: Girls' education and climate actionCAMFED has joined forces with communities, education authorities, partners and supporters to build an unrivalled infrastructure that brings the most excluded girls into the school system, and provides the tailored support they need to learn and thrive. By educating girls we are investing in young people’s ability to adapt to the challenges caused by climate change. Educated women are better equipped to protect themselves and their families, to make choices that reduce carbon emissions, to champion climate-smart technologies; and to engage in national and international leadership for sustainable futures.
We support young women to adapt to the effects of climate change in the rural farming economies where they are based, and to build climate-smart livelihoods. Through investing in women’s further education, we are also equipping them to innovate and champion low carbon pathways to prosperity.
Led by members of the CAMFED Association – a sisterhood of women leaders educated with CAMFED support – we are dismantling gender barriers to create a better, more sustainable future for us all. We support CAMFED Association members to be connected, to share expertise and lead change through our Guide Programs and advocacy platforms. We are investing in effective, diverse leadership to shape policy solutions.
We support girls through school, and equip young women with the skills and resources to run sustainable businesses.
On 26 September 2019, CAMFED received a UN Global Climate Action Award in recognition of African women’s leadership for climate-smart agriculture.
Our work results in educated women with agency, who can live healthier, more productive, and secure lives. They have healthier families, earn higher incomes, support the education of many more children in their communities, and can help build resilience to the effects of climate change, including through sustainable agriculture. Women leaders, actively connected through our peer network, are working together to support each other, and the next generation, to thrive and lead change. Together we tackle hunger, youth unemployment and insecurity, unlocking ever-growing local expertise.
Listen to this podcast featuring CAMFED Association member Esnath Divasoni from Zimbabwe and Sarah Marchildon from UN Climate Change, as they discuss the future of food
March, 2023
Hear from CAMFED Association member and Agriculture Expert Natasha Lwanda and other experts in this webinar “Women leading climate action through health, education, and agriculture” as part of the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women NGO Forum.
Join us as we discuss climate education in the classroom and the community, with equity at its heart. Climate activists Harriet Cheelo and Natasha Lwanda join climate specialists Christina Kwauk and Kartick Kumar, CAMFED Ghana's National Director Sally Ofori-Yeboah and our Executive Director for Enterprise and Climate, Catherine Boyce.
November 2022
This article in The Hechinger Report highlights the power of CAMFED Agriculture Guides, who are helping their rural African communities to adapt and prosper in the face of climate shocks and food insecurity.
October 2022
Global Citizen’s Khanyi Mlaba introduces some of the leaders in the sustainable agriculture space that you need to know about.
August 2022
NPR’s Anya Kamanetz speaks to CAMFED Association member Tawonga Zakeyu about supporting women and girls to thrive and lead change
June 2022
This briefing note on CAMFED’s Climate Education Needs Assessment in Zambia and Zimbabwe looks at how we co-create a program with young people in rural communities that meets their needs to learn about climate change, keep themselves safer, build resilience and step-up as climate leaders.
In this joint blog with Cambridge University and CAMFED, we discuss how young women can build climate-smart rural livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa.
January 2022
Global Citizen’s Leah Rodriguez connects with CAMFED Association member and sustainable farming expert, Forget Shareka.
December 2021
Forbes’ Andrew Wight learns about CAMFED Association member Dorcas Lukwesa’s low-cost, low-impact aquaponics system.
July 2021
Al Jazeera’s Veronique Mistiaen speaks to CAMFED Association member Esnath Divasoni about improving nutrition and empowering women
June 2021
Devex’s Rumbi Chakamba speaks to CAMFED Association member Forget Shareka and CAMFED’s Catherine Boyce
In this news round-up, meet members of our network of women leaders — the CAMFED Association — who represented our movement at a number of high-profile, international fora.
March 2021
Read Kate Sims’ research on the link between girls’ education and climate resilience.
February 2021
Read Christina Kwauk’s Brookings blog about the importance of educating girls in low-income countries.
Meet some of the young women transforming their communities through climate action
CAMFED Guides are cascading Indigenous and innovative climate-smart farming techniques.
Laurel Harper $68.7
John Zanini $316
Eliza Reedy $150
Mila Visser 't Hooft $300
Carole Merl $38.2
john hemery £26.2
Ronnie Kolodziej $28.7
Suzanne Eden $47.6
Aimee Turner $209
Simon Hoverstadt £250
Hugh Constant $10
Anaya Pouget £400
Jacquetta Devine $10.9
Lola Damstra €11
Victoria Liakos $5.6
When she thrives, we all thrive
Together this giving season, we can make a difference that ripples outward to benefit everyone.
