This year 824,143 girls received economic support to go to primary and secondary school, with many more young people benefiting from mentoring and skills training
In 2023 CAMFED supported hundreds of thousands of girls and young women across Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe to thrive in school and transition into secure livelihoods and positions of leadership. 824,143 girls received economic support at primary and secondary level alone, with many more students (boys and girls) receiving social, mentoring, skills and post-secondary school support. We are working together with Ministries of Education to integrate aspects of our model into national education systems, so that they can better meet the needs of vulnerable children.
By applying your influence, energy, expertise and generosity you’re building a launch pad for the most vulnerable girls and young women to create the future they imagine — for themselves, for their communities, and for Africa.
Our impact is driven by the commitment and expertise of young women leaders in the CAMFED Association, of teachers, parents and local leaders, and of our dedicated partners and supporters. In April 2023, we were excited to be selected by the Audacious Project, housed at TED, as one of the biggest, boldest solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges. That year:
CAMFED Association members serving as Learner Guides and Transition Guides mentor girls in their local schools, and provide skills training to recent graduates, supporting them into lives of independence and influence. As trained Business Guides and Climate-smart Agriculture Guides they are supporting a new generation of entrepreneurs, unlocking women’s economic power, while simultaneously tackling pressing issues like food insecurity and climate change.
Read our 2023 Annual Review
To date, I have provided menstrual products and educational support to 420 students. There’s one student in particular, from a nearby community, who I am currently taking care of. She used to fetch water for people to save money for school. Once I identified her, I supported her to go to school and made her a uniform. Now, she comes to me whenever she needs food, books, pencils, or other educational materials.Portia, CAMFED Association member, teacher and Learner Guide, Ghana
Last year we deepened our work with governments to integrate the Learner Guide program into national education systems through new partnerships and funding, laying the foundations for significant expansion of the Learner Guide role in primary and secondary schools.
Their work is now supported by a user-designed digital platform launched this year, offering quick access to resources and peer support. CAMFED has also established strong research and technical partnerships to understand and continue to strengthen our organizational impact, including work to explore how the Learner Guide program can help challenge and change gender and cultural norms in communities, and to understand the social return on investment of our post secondary school support to young women.
Girls' education is so very vital. I come from a very poor background. Now, I am independent because of education and able to help others in my community. So educating a girl is like educating the whole world.Adina, Learner Guide and primary school teacher, Malawi
The girls, young women and communities CAMFED serves are on the front line of the climate crisis, and our climate-related work is central to our strategy.
In partnership with Ministries of Education in Zambia and Zimbabwe, CAMFED also launched a new in-school climate education program co-designed with young people.
Watch videos, listen to podcasts and read the stories that bring our model to life
Discover the stories of young Zambian women ensuring that all children — including those living with disabilities — can learn and thrive in a changing world.
What started with 32 girls has become more than a quarter of a million education leaders in the CAMFED Association across Africa, gearing up to deliver our vision for 2030.
June 2023
In her conversation with Rod Berger PsyD, CAMFED’s CEO Angie Murimirwa describes why dismantling barriers to girls’ education, alongside their communities, is her life’s work: “It’s saying to a child: I see you, I hear you, you deserve to be among your peers. That’s the power of opportunity in education.”
This International Day of Women and Girls in Science, February 11, we're celebrating members of our CAMFED Association of women leaders in typically male-dominated STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, who are driving forward solutions to some of their communities'—and the world's—most pressing challenges.
Angeline (Angie) Murimirwa, CEO of CAMFED, helped found our sisterhood of leaders for girls’ education – the CAMFED Association – 25 years ago. Watch her TED Talk to see the world through the eyes of a girl in rural Africa, find out why school is not enough, and experience the difference that a ‘Big Sister’ can make.
CAMFED has launched its Vision for 2030 - an ambitious plan to help meet the global Sustainable Development Goals by supporting millions more girls in rural Africa to access and complete secondary school, graduate into secure livelihoods and leadership, and in turn mentor and support the next generation through school, in a model set to transform education systems across Africa.
I know how it feels to be excluded and underestimated due to my background and gender. Now, I’m changing the status quo for other girls and women.
Because I'm educated, now I'm included in developing sustainable ways to help or to empower youth economy. If you want to create employment for youth, please count me in!
With CAMFED’s support, I completed secondary school, and now I’m on track to achieve my goal of becoming an independent woman.
Jeremy Blain £57.4
Geoffrey Acaye £47
Sara Mikael $106
Denae Whaley $20
David C Murray $3783
Trenay Hoye $10.9
Caroline Fenton £100
Victor Mesny $500
Niko Gomes $316
Katja Guenther $263
Ryan Gallagher $526
Catherine Packer $316
Caitlin Guthinger $526
Julia Colingsworth $14
Phuc Tran $350
When she thrives, we all thrive
Together this giving season, we can make a difference that ripples outward to benefit everyone.
