Campaign for Female Education (Camfed) Ghana
Overview
In 1991, Ann Cotton visited Zimbabwe to investigate why girls’ school enrolment in rural areas was so low. What she found surprised her. Contrary to the common assumption that families weren’t sending girls to school for cultural reasons, Ann discovered poverty was the main roadblock. Families couldn’t afford to buy books or pay school fees for all their children, so they had to choose who would receive an education. Girls were rarely chosen. The reason was simple: boys had a better chance of getting a paid job after graduation.
So Ann wondered: Could an economic solution open school doors to girls? Could it lead to economic, social and cultural benefits for rural Africa?
She returned home to Cambridge, England, determined to find a way to help girls go to school in Zimbabwe. She recruited friends and family and sold baked goods to raise money and awareness about the lack of education for girls in Africa. At the end of her grassroots campaign, she supported 32 girls through school.
In 1993, Ann formally launched Camfed, the Campaign for Female Education. The girls supported by Camfed stayed in school and did well, demonstrating that girls’ education was valued by families when costs were met. Our successful model has now been replicated in more than 5,300 partner school communities in Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
About Camfed Ghana
Camfed Ghana launched in 1998, working in the Northern Region, and is now operating in four regions and 31 districts. In the communities where we work, chronic poverty excludes many girls from education. Large numbers leave school to do “kayayo,” heading to big cities to work as street porters. With no education, no shelter, little money and no family support, many girls resort to a life on the streets, making them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
Girls are much less likely to complete high school than boys in Ghana and many fewer girls from poor, rural households start secondary education at all. Teacher absenteeism in these areas is high and pass rates for students low.
“Although it may seem like Ghana is doing well, if you scratch below the surface, there is a big gap between urban and rural, rich and poor. What Camfed Ghana is doing is building networks and relationships around the poorest, most marginalized girls – they are succeeding because they have all these people around them.
What motivates me to go to work every day is what will happen to these girls in the future. I can see the potential of every one of them, and there’s not one single girl who has ever disappointed me. The moment you invest your time and resources in a girl, you can see the change in her – in the way she talks, the way she walks, the way she thinks. And you can see the change in her community, as she and her sisters in the CAMA alumnae network support more girls as Learner Guides and role models.”
Dolores Dickson, Regional Executive Director, Camfed West Africa
In this documentary, part of the Al Jazeera ‘Women Make Change’ series, Camfed Ghana’s Executive Director, Dolores Dickson, joins Nimatu, a Camfed scholar, and Zeinab, a CAMA alumna and Learner Guide, to showcase the programs which are supporting girls’ education and empowering young women in Ghana’s impoverished Northern Region.
Contact Information
Camfed Ghana – Accra
Address
64 Lagos Avenue,
East Legon,
(PO BOX MD 1479, Madina)
Accra,
Ghana
tel: +233 302 544 224/5
email: ghana[@]camfed.org
Camfed Ghana – Tamale
Address
23b Agric Ridge,
Mariam Road, (PO Box 2319)
Tamale,
Ghana
tel: +233 3720 24516 / 24021
fax: +233 3720 24021
email: ghana[@]camfed.org