Girls’ education for climate action

How climate change pushes girls out of school

Climate change is already being felt across our partner communities in Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with unpredictable weather patterns, floods and droughts reducing farming yields and threatening already insecure family incomes. Recent climate disasters faced by our clients include Cyclones Idai, Chalane, Eloise and Freddy.

The result, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is food insecurity and hunger. When families don’t have the resources to feed their children, there is no money for school fees and supplies. As droughts persist, girls also have to walk ever longer distances to fetch water and firewood, meaning they have even less time and opportunity to go to school or study.  

Extreme weather also causes damage to roads, schools and infrastructure, disrupting learning. Children’s ability to concentrate in class and pass exams is further compromised by emotional trauma, as well as the physical ramifications of malnutrition.

Girls are the first to be withdrawn from school to help in the household and earn an income. Often, they are pushed into early marriage as a coping strategy, when families see no other choice. This increases girls’ risk of gender-based violence, early childbirth and serious health complications. It also spells the end of their education.

Research shows that girls and women excluded from education are more likely to suffer injury or death in climate-disasters; and for women farming or running rural businesses, the effects of climate change are layered on top of the existing resource and productivity gaps that they face.

Why gender equity is at the core of effective climate action

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. In Gender and climate change: Do female parliamentarians make difference? Mavisakalyan and Tarverdi demonstrate that women’s political leadership is associated with more stringent climate policies and results in lower CO2 emissions, for example. Educated women are also better equipped to innovate and champion climate-smart technologies, and engage in national and international leadership for sustainable growth.

How we support young women to transition from exclusion to climate leadership

Educate:

CAMFED 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.

Prosper:

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.

Lead Change:

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.

Action by those with first-hand experience of exclusion and crisis

Our leaders in the CAMFED Association have intimate experience of the vulnerability resulting from poverty, and the effects of climate change on their communities. They are working together to:

• Ensure that the most excluded girls become visible to local authorities, and that their rights are protected – so that girls and young women who are living in extreme poverty, as child brides, heading up households, or suffering abuse, are identified and supported in school and beyond
• Deliver life skills sessions in schools – so girls can gain the skills and knowledge to live independent lives, with control over their bodies and choices, setting goals, and learning how to achieve them
• Support study groups – so girls and young women have the tools they need to thrive in school, pass exams, and graduate
• Act as mentors and role models –  so girls and young women can grow in confidence and aspirations, and work collectively to secure their rights
• Share climate expertise and knowledge – so young women have the skills and resources to set up sustainable businesses, utilize climate-smart farming techniques, look after their health and wellbeing, and seize job and further education opportunities