Educate A Child launch: Tackling school exclusion and drop-out in Malawi

We are excited to announce the launch of a new project in partnership with Educate A Child program of the Education Above All Foundation, to reach 40,050 children at high risk of drop-out in rural Malawi with the support to attend and thrive in primary school.

CAMFED and Education Above All Foundation share a vision for a world in which every child has the opportunity to stay in school and receive a quality education.

Our joint 4-year ‘Educate A Child’ program aims to reach 40,050 at-risk children, including 4,000 out-of-school children who will be supported to return to school. CAMFED will provide holistic packages of support for students at risk of drop-out, providing them with school-going essentials like uniform, stationery and books, as well as psychosocial support from a trained Teacher Mentor to help them stay in school and learn. 

This project, focusing on nine rural districts in Malawi, will help tackle existing inequalities that have been exacerbated by school closures and economic shocks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools in these areas are chronically under-resourced and children experience high levels of poverty. 

Children identified at the highest risk of drop-out will be further reached with intensive social support from CAMFED Learner Guides—recent school graduates and members of the CAMFED Association—who return to school as volunteer peer-support mentors. With lived experience of marginalization and exclusion from education, Learner Guides understand the barriers that children in poor, rural areas face to education and act as ‘first responders’ to help prevent drop-out. 

The program will also fund training and essential equipment such as bicycles which will provide vital transport links for Learner Guides to make home visits to those most at risk of permanent school drop-out.

In school, Learner Guides reach children with life-skills and academic support using My Better World— a bespoke self-development curriculum that helps students overcome challenges, build confidence, and achieve their goals.  

Our joint action will reach thousands of children and improve learning outcomes in some of the poorest communities in Malawi.  Together we can demonstrate the powerful potential that can be unlocked in communities and across districts and nations, when we retain the most at risk children in primary school.

Find out more about CAMFED’s work in Malawi