Learner Guides

What do Learner Guides deliver?

• Quality education and learning: Learner Guides use resources developed by CAMFED and Pearson with young people in sub-Saharan Africa, speaking directly to the experience of marginalized youth. The My Better World program and workbook help students to build self-knowledge, discover their talents, build resilience, select role models, set goals and learn how to achieve them. They also provide vital health information, work to prevent HIV/AIDS and keep girls safe from exploitation. Learner Guides introduce students to new learning techniques, supporting them to form study groups and make the time to study, for example.
• Support and a link to services: Learner Guides have a profound understanding of the psychology of poverty, because they have lived it. Deeply rooted and respected in their school and community, Learner Guides understand the local challenges, including issues and pressures behind early pregnancy and child marriage. They are ideally placed to provide emotional support and information to vulnerable students more likely to confide in empathetic peers. And they can link students and families to services, taking swift action to rally the resources necessary to remove the barriers keeping girls out of school.
• New jobs and philanthropy: Learner Guides benefit from access to low-risk interest-free loans through the online lending platform Kiva, enabling them to start or grow local businesses, on the basis that they are paying “social interest” by assisting children at local schools. Through these businesses, Learner Guides are creating jobs for young people in their communities, supporting their families, advancing their own education, and supporting more children through school.
• Leadership and female teachers: Learner Guides are highly respected by students, the school administration, family members, and their communities. The young women grow in confidence and ability every day. They are asked for advice, to monitor local elections, and to stand for public office. New vocational qualifications (BTECs) earned through the program will enable Learner Guides to fast track into the teaching profession, providing badly-needed female teachers and role models in poor rural communities.

Why are Learner Guides important?

Tackling child marriage

Child marriage — though illegal in most of the countries where we work — is widespread, particularly in the rural communities that CAMFED serves. Where intergenerational poverty, exacerbated by climate change, leads to failing crops and increasing desperation, child marriage is seen as a coping strategy. This is where Learner Guides step in, as ambassadors for the life changing power of education, to keep girls in school.

“After delivering the sessions I always encourage the pupils by telling my own story. I also sensitize the learners on the importance of not involving themselves in early marriage. We work to bring child brides back to school. Because they’ve appreciated what Learner Guides are doing, the parents have committed to building a house for the Learner Guides at a school that is too far to travel to.” – Angela, Zambia

Achieving community buy-in

Learner Guides run advocacy sessions in their villages, using role play to illustrate child protection issues including early marriage. Learner Guides are closely connected to local authorities, and have child abuse reporting systems, procedures and mechanisms in place. They join forces with CAMFED district officers, teachers, traditional leaders, social workers and the police to protect child rights, and get to the bottom of abuse cases.

“I work closely with the head teacher, the CAMFED-trained Teacher Mentor, and the School-based Committee, to understand in detail the day-to-day challenges that learners and teachers encounter, and what needs to be done to address them. The approach is different from that of a teacher, whose main focus is academic performance. As Learner Guides, we take an interest in every child’s life as a whole.” – Petronella, Zimbabwe

Going the extra mile

Learner Guides are tuned into the needs and social challenges of children in their communities, and possess the tools and resources to support children academically as well as socially. Beyond the classroom, they provide a bridge between schools, families and local authorities. They take action for “invisible” children and where others may lack time or resources, they go above and beyond to keep girls in school.

“The Learner Guide yields positive results for the students because she stands as a caregiver and as a problem solver. There are children who cannot directly present their challenges to the teacher, but through the Learner Guide the children have been able to explain their problems. I have been by contributing the little I have and meeting the various needs that can help them to attend school.” – Stumai, Tanzania

Leading for a better world

Learner Guides deliver the My Better World program in weekly sessions as part of the school timetable, providing support to 40-50 children. The program is designed to improve students’ confidence, resilience, and autonomy, encouraging children to become more aware of their rights, responsibilities, and values. It is tailored to local needs, including life skills, sexual and reproductive health, literacy and study skills.

“The Learner Guide Program is a means through which the CAMFED Association, CAMA, is addressing needs of students in my community and across Ghana. Through the life skills program we are able to address or tackle issues of the students. Success to me, is making others feel important, feel valued, and helping them achieve greater heights in life.” – Pearl, Ghana

Mitigating crisis situations

Soon after the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, Learner Guides were lauded by governments as an essential service. When schools started to close, our long-established reporting systems, structures and connections meant that CAMFED could support Learner Guides to quickly pivot their outreach to students at home, acutely aware of the additional threats to girls’ wellbeing as families lost their livelihoods and faced increasing food insecurity.

“At the peak of COVID-19 pandemic, we worked with teachers to visit girls at home, dividing them into groups for study circles. We provided them with sanitizers, masks, hand wash, buckets, and COVID-19 guidance. We also met with girls and their parents to advise them to avoid child marriage. Lastly, we did a radio advocacy campaign, having a program on air that was guiding girls to continue studying.” – Winnie, Malawi

Who else has recognized the impact of our Learner Guides?

With international donor partners coming behind the Learner Guide Program, we are on track to rolling it out even beyond our partner communities. Its ability to solve the dual challenge of girls’ success in school, and their transition to a secure livelihood beyond school, has led to high-profile awards:

The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) named CAMFED Tanzania’s Learner Guide Program as one of the six winning projects of the 2017 WISE Awards. Winning projects had to be scalable and replicable, demonstrating a transformative impact on individuals, communities, and society.

In 2020, CAMFED’s Co-Executives Angeline Murimirwa and Lucy Lake were awarded the Yidan Prize for Education Development, which particularly recognized the contribution to equitable, quality education delivered through the Learner Guide Program. The prize money is being used to create a resource hub for Learner Guides, technology key to the next phase of scaling.

In 2023, CAMFED was selected by The Audacious Project as one of the biggest, boldest solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges. The Learner Guide Program and our partnership with Ministries of Education – as we work together on systems transformation – are core to our ambition to support millions more girls to thrive in secondary school and enable their transition to work and leadership.

How do Learner Guides benefit?

In return for their commitment—volunteering at least 2 ½ hours per week for 12 to 18 months—Learner Guides can gain access to interest-free loans through the online lending platform Kiva, enabling them to start or grow local businesses. Learner Guides can also achieve a vocational (BTEC) qualification through our partnership with Pearson, helping them stand out in future job applications including as teachers and healthcare professionals. Respected for their expertise at every level, these young women – who themselves were once among the most excluded – are multiplying the returns of their own education for the benefit of entire communities.