About CAMFED

Camfed - the Campaign for Female Education - is dedicated to eradicating poverty in Africa through the education of girls and the empowerment of young women. Camfed provides support to help girls attend, and succeed at, primary and secondary school and progress into young adulthood with opportunities that include professional training, higher education and job creation. The power of the program is in the transformation in girls' and young women's lives and how they use this to transform the lives of others.

Camfed's focus is on rural areas of Africa. In this context of widespread poverty, girls and young women face massive exclusion from education and the opportunities that education itself unlocks. When poor families cannot afford to support all their children's education, they tend to favour their sons, who they see as future breadwinners.

Yet educating girls is the surest way to secure the future of the continent. Educating girls and women is widely recognised as the single most powerful weapon in the fight against poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. Research shows that an educated girl will apply 90% of her income back into her family, while a boy invests only 35%. Educated women marry later and have smaller, healthier families. The children of educated mothers are also more likely to go to school themselves.

"Camfed supported me through school, and then assisted me with a loan to set up a poultry business," said Patricia. "It is going very well and I am using my profits to keep my four younger brothers and sisters in school."

Penelope, who was helped back into school by Camfed, and went on to win the Global Women Leaders Award, said: "Without education I would be nowhere. Education gave me confidence and made me a more responsible person. I now have a position in my community. I have a good job, and I have everyone's respect. Education gives women a voice. It makes us independent. It reduces the risk of HIV and allows us to make informed decisions about issues like family planning."

Since 1993, more than 645,400 children, in some of the poorest communities in rural Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, have benefitted from Camfed's programme of educational support, helping them to leave behind a life of poverty.