CAMFED Learner Guides use their lived experience to tackle child marriage in their communities, joining forces with traditional leaders and local authorities, and delivering the My Better World life skills and well-being program.
Keeping girls in school and out of child marriage
CAMFED works in partnership with marginalized, largely rural communities across rural Africa, where several interlinked factors contribute to girls dropping out of – or never having the opportunity to progress to – secondary education. These include:
- inter-generational poverty
- deep-seated gender inequity, leading to a lack of academic self-esteem
- a lack of secondary school places
- a lack of qualified teachers
- long distances to schools
- a strict and narrow curriculum
- a lack of funding for school infrastructure (including safe toilets or dormitories)
In this scenario, exacerbated by the effects of climate change — with failing crops leading to increasing desperation among families — we see a high prevalence of child marriage, often as a coping strategy, although the practice is illegal in most of the countries where we work.
To address these interconnected issues, and improve educational outcomes for the most marginalized children, CAMFED trains young women school graduates in Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Zambia as Learner Guides.