Executive Advisor, CAMFED Association
CAMFED 101 with Fiona Mavhinga and Mercy Chirwa
Mercy Chirwa joins Fiona Mavhinga in conversation, to give an update on Cyclone Freddy, two months on. She also shares what it is that motivates…
Fiona Mavhinga was one of the first young women who completed her education with CAMFED’s support. Today, Fiona is a lawyer and leads on the strategic development of the CAMFED Association – the peer support and leadership network of former CAMFED clients. Through the CAMFED Association, women are taking action on the big challenges their countries face – from child marriage, and girls’ exclusion from education, to climate change.
Having experienced first-hand the vulnerability even of those young women who manage to complete secondary school – with no resources, and no employment opportunities available in rural areas – Fiona became a key founder of the CAMFED Association. Organized into elected committees from district to national level, the Association provides a robust mechanism for cascading knowledge and offering training and leadership opportunities to young school leavers. Connected through mobile technology, young women overcome rural isolation, help build each other’s lives, and use their experience and expertise to support many more vulnerable children to stay in school, thrive and lead change. The CAMFED Association now provides the backbone of the programs through which CAMFED is bringing about systemic change. As Executive Advisor, CAMFED Association, Fiona is leading on ways to grow and replicate this powerful model.
Fiona has spoken on numerous international platforms, including girls’ education policy roundtables with members of the UK Government and the former First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama. She stood with Malala Yousafzai when world leaders committed to the Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations in 2015; spoke at the Obama Foundation Summit in 2017; and joined The Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, at a special event organized by The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust in Zambia in 2018, celebrating what young change-makers are achieving in their communities. In 2021, Fiona spoke alongside policymakers and researchers at an event with the Yidan Prize Foundation and the University of Cambridge on creating a better world through education; joined CAMFED’s CEO to accept the Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation; spoke at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, and addressed the link between girls’ education and climate resilience as part of a Devex conversation series on the future of humanitarian action, in the wake of CAMFED being awarded the Hilton Humanitarian Prize.
