CAMFED helps pave the way for young women to set up and grow rural businesses. They create new jobs and use their profits to support more children in school.
After school, graduates in rural Africa have few job opportunities. Yet young educated women from disadvantaged families feel a deep responsibility to provide for their siblings and to support other family members. The young women themselves continue to be at risk of early marriage and exploitation as they seek financial security.
Through its youth enterprise programs, CAMFED is dedicated to improving the futures of young women beyond the classroom, including in climate-smart agriculture. Generating an income not only supports young women’s economic independence, their life choices, and the prospects for their families; it also enables them to expand their reach as activists and philanthropists.
Every year spent in school increases a girl’s future earnings. With her income, she’ll invest in her children’s health & education, helping to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. We are championing economic empowerment to help young women lift themselves and their families out of poverty, contributing to jobs and prosperity in their communities, and enabling them to support their own, as well as other children, to go to school.
Watch the videoIn the countries where CAMFED works, many young people struggle to find jobs and financial security after they finish high school. Challenges include limited formal job prospects in rural areas, where many reside, and intense competition for well-paid positions in towns and cities.
In Africa, over 10 million young people join the workforce each year, but the current growth trends only produce around 3 million formal jobs annually.
World Bank (2023)
Approximately 62 million young people in sub-Saharan Africa are estimated to be NEET (not in education, employment, or training), which accounts for over a quarter of the region's youth population.
International Labor Organization (2024)
Nearly 60% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa are employed, but they live in households that fall below the international poverty threshold of US$3.65 per person per day, categorized as "moderately poor."
International Labor Organization (2024)
Our impact so far: CAMFED supports young women to develop skills and create job opportunities, benefiting themselves and their communities.
By the end of 2023, 112,246 CAMFED Association entrepreneurs had started a business, bringing quality food, products, services and jobs to rural communities, and using profits to send more children to school.
By the end of 2023, 88,080 women-led businesses had been reached with training, financial skills and resources by Business and Agriculture Guides.
Between 2020 and 2023, 201,416 jobs (including self-employment) were created by CAMFED Association members after taking part in enterprise training.
After participating in CAMFED's Enterprise Development Program, an average of 75% of female entrepreneurs in Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe reported an increase in their income, with 83% making a profit.
By establishing rural enterprises, young women gain a vital source of income and create jobs for themselves and others.
I’m super proud of my business because of the impact it’s making in the lives of rural women in Ghana. My organic shea butter enterprise is supporting local shea producers, creating employment opportunities for the youth and empowering women economically. The business is geared towards reducing poverty, reducing hunger, and also promoting quality education....My profits are used to provide menstrual products for the less privileged and also educational materials for orphans and the needy.Portia, Shea Butter Entrepreneur, CAMFED Association Ghana
CAMFED trains graduates in our CAMFED Association as specialist Guides. These young women then share their expertise in areas like life skills, finance, business and climate-smart agriculture with their peers, helping more young women into financial independence.
Our programs are designed and delivered in partnership with the young women of the CAMFED Association, who understand the immense pressure graduates face. They want to succeed in life and provide for their families, but there are few job opportunities in disadvantaged rural communities. We have worked together to develop programs to help young women navigate these barriers and provide the support they need to build independent and successful lives. These include:
Transition Guides step in as girls approach secondary school graduation, providing mentoring and skills support to help them navigate the leap between school and work or further study.
By the end of 2023, 12,712 Transition Guides had been trained, supporting thousands of young women into independence.
By the end of 2023, Transition Guides had already supported 303,115 young women school graduates to start businesses, seek employment, and access further education.
Across Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, an average of 80% of young women transition towards a secure livelihood (through paid employment, entrepreneurship or further study) within 12 months of completing the Transition Program.
Business Guides are CAMFED Association members who have run successful enterprises themselves, and become mentors to their peers who are first starting out in business.
By the end of 2023, 3,989 Business Guides had been trained to provide financial skills training, context-specific technical expertise and advice to young women entrepreneurs across Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Between 2020 and 2023, 78,844 women-led businesses had been supported by CAMFED Business Guides.
Between 2020 and 2023, CAMFED helped link 18,347 female entrepreneurs with additional forms of business support like loans, grants, training and marketing advice. This kind of support can help young female entrepreneurs gain access to local markets, learn new skills, expand their businesses, and support themselves and their families.
As extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and cyclones increasingly affect the communities we serve, we are accelerating the growth of our Agriculture Guide Program, supporting communities to build resilience to climate shocks and reduce malnutrition by equipping young women with the skills to develop thriving agricultural enterprises.
By the end of 2023, 1,191 CAMFED Association members had trained as climate-smart Agriculture Guides.
Each trained Agriculture Guide reaches at least 10 young women in her local district with training in climate-smart agriculture. Together they reach hundreds more community members and farmers, helping build climate resilience in their communities
By the end of 2023, Agriculture Guides and CAMFED Association Community Trainers had reached more than 103,000 people with vital information on climate-smart farming techniques.
My name is Zayana, I am from Kibiti in Tanzania. I am part of a group beekeeping business with my fellow CAMFED Association members Hawa and Biumbwa. Through training I’ve learned how to make other products besides honey, such as beeswax body oil and candles which can help me earn extra income. I want to be a good beekeeper and produce a lot of bee products, but I will also be training other girls and women groups who want to be involved in beekeeping.
Learn how women’s sustainable businesses are transforming lives
In part 4 of our blog series, ‘Crafting Change’, hear from Diana, Lydia, Veronica and Victorine about how they’re championing the previously untapped potential of rural women artisans.
In part 3 of our blog series, ‘Crafting Change’, hear from Febby, Salifyanji, Elizabeth and Lucy about how their passion for art has led to sustainable careers in sculpture, mosaics, and bead artistry.
Since I started my business, I’ve become confident to make decisions — particularly financial ones — on my own, which is unusual in my rural community. I have seen the community’s mind-set towards women and girls completely change.
I’m passionate about supporting other young women to succeed and have trained 15 of my fellow CAMFED Association sisters in baking.
Hear from agribusiness expert and CAMFED Business Guide Janet in this Q&A interview with Mukamulumbu Mweemba, Program Manager at CAMFED Zambia.
I'm Dorcas, from Bolgatanga in Ghana and a member of the CAMFED Association. I grew up in poverty but with CAMFED support I was able to attend university. Now I'm giving back to my community through my basket weaving businesses, employing over 429 skilled women artisan weavers and more than 80 men engaged in leatherwork, working as part of my cooperative.
Learn how our past interventions have made real impact to the lives of rural women and their communities
In collaboration with the International Labor Organization and the Mastercard Foundation we explored the agricultural value chains in northern Ghana that offer the greatest potential for female entrepreneurs to create employment opportunities. The findings, which show that groundnut (peanut) and hand-crafted shea butter value chains offer significant potential, were presented at the 2021 CAMFED-Mastercard Foundation Annual Research and Learning Summit.
The ‘Shaping My Future’ program was delivered by CAMFED Association members in Zambia between 2013 and 2017. 3,922 young women who had been supported by CAMFED at school participated in the program soon after they graduated from secondary school. Participants received business and life skills training and were assisted to develop business plans. The report details outcomes and learnings from tracking the program over five years.
In this report by Diana Good, Specialist Adviser to the International Development Committee of the UK Parliament, about our CAMFED Association, she lays out the wider value of young women’s entrepreneurship for entire communities.
Ruka Yaro De-Liman and Priscilla Akoto-Bamfo were among just six leading female entrepreneurs selected to engage with the Vice President, during her recent three-day visit to Ghana.
Citi TV — one of Ghana’s leading television channels — is shining a spotlight on young women entrepreneurs through a series of interviews on its popular Breakfast Daily show. Catch up on the broadcasts with CAMFED Association members as they share their experience of entrepreneurship: their challenges, successes, and hopes for the future.
This episode of ‘The Ghanaian Farmer’ on Joy Prime Television shines a spotlight on CAMFED Association member Abena. An Agribusiness student at Cape Coast University, she offers tips on starting a farming enterprise and particularly on how to turn a profit from a quick-growing crop of lettuce.
To celebrate World Bee Day (May 20) we’re introducing some of the young women in the CAMFED Association who are trained beekeepers, or apiarists. With new practical skills of beekeeping and honey production, alongside business knowledge, the young women are championing honey production, and are using business profits to create sustainable livelihoods.
CAMFED is excited to announce our new partnership with the Fairtrade Foundation to certify women-led shea butter businesses in Northern Ghana.
The enterprises are spearheaded by CAMFED Association members— young African women educated with CAMFED support — who are reinvesting profits into their communities to support more girls through school.
An in-depth survey, media articles, and a number of key events have highlighted CAMFED Ghana’s recent progress in supporting girls to thrive at school, and boosting young women’s entrepreneurial and leadership ambitions.
In collaboration with the Ghana Enterprises Agency, CAMFED has established District Business Committees to provide tailored, local support to female entrepreneurs.
In 2020, young women from 32 districts in Tanzania were supported to acquire skills in record keeping, financial planning and more, to enable them to grow their businesses.
Cummins Zambia has partnered with CAMFED as part of its global Cummins Powers Women initiative. Together, we are supporting 500 young women over three years to become financially independent.
Deborh Case $500
Aimee Miller $158
Lucinda Morrisey $158
Emily Reardon $1052
susan. J Feingold $26.6
Jacqueline Davis $158
Susan Strome $4000
Angela Thompson £80
Paul George $158
Benjamin Woodbridge $400
Jacquelyn Sullivan $1262
Lenore Denise Williams $3000
Jill Pask £124.9
Karen Mura $150
Tracy Melin $263
