Where we operate

CAMFED works in partnership with communities, government schools, and education authorities in Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Changing lives across five countries

CAMFED supports girls in 9,150 government partner schools across 166 districts in Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe to access school, learn, thrive and become leaders of change in their communities.

Our partner communities are among the most deprived in the region – far removed from hospitals, lacking public infrastructure, and often situated on the poorest land. They have the greatest levels of poverty within their countries, and suffer some of the highest rates of illness, including HIV/AIDS. They have extremely low literacy rates. Most people live a hand to mouth existence. Girls are especially vulnerable in this context.

We have forged effective partnerships with government ministries in the countries we operate in—including ministries of education, health, youth, community development and gender—as well as with national institutions including universities, vocational education and training authorities, higher education student loans boards and small industry development organizations.

Malawi

CAMFED Malawi was launched in 2009, and by 2023 was working in 17 districts. Malawi suffers from an acute lack of secondary schools, meaning children — especially in rural areas — often have to travel long distances to school. This makes girls extremely vulnerable to exploitation and school drop out. In addition, there is a critical lack of qualified teachers, with a pupil: teacher ratio of 72:1 at secondary level. With very few female teachers, those girls able to get to school lack the role models to help encourage them to stay.

Find out more about our work in Malawi

Ghana

CAMFED Ghana launched in 1998, working in the Northern Region, and by 2023 was operating in 12 regions and 38 districts. In the communities where we work, chronic poverty excludes many girls from education, with less than a quarter of children in the poorest households attending lower secondary school. This persistent poverty pushes vulnerable girls into unsafe work or child marriage.

Find out more about our work in Ghana

Zambia

CAMFED has been operating in Zambia since 2001, when we were invited to support the Ministry of Education to improve access to and completion of education for rural girls. By 2023, we had expanded our Zambia operations from 3 districts to 50, across four provinces.

Despite having obtained a lower middle income status, Zambia continues to face high levels of poverty and inequality. Girls experience high rates of exclusion from education, particularly in the rural areas of the Western, Luapula, Muchinga and Northern provinces where CAMFED operates. These provinces fare much worse than others in government assessments of income levels, education and health, although educational outcomes across the country continue to be poor.

Find out more about our work in Zambia

Zimbabwe

CAMFED Zimbabwe launched in 1993, in tandem with CAMFED International, and has continued to expand across the country. Our partnership with rural schools across 28 districts provides vital support for marginalized children, and since its inception has improved the school environment for over two million students.

Find out more about our work in Zimbabwe

Tanzania

CAMFED Tanzania launched in 2005, working with the government to boost secondary school enrolment, as Tanzania has one of the lowest transition rates between primary and secondary school in Africa.

We first started our work in the town of Iringa, where many girls who couldn’t afford secondary school fees were leaving home to become “house girls” in urban centers. Frequently, they were abused and exploited, and many returned home pregnant, living with HIV or both. Since then, our work has expanded and by 2023 CAMFED was operating in 33 districts and supporting thousands of children through school.

Find out more about our work in Tanzania