Camfed is delighted to announce a major new grant of $2.5 million by the Skoll Foundation. This grant is part of the Foundation’s commitment to developing ‘a global ecosystem of social entrepreneurs’.

In announcing the grant, Sally Osberg, CEO of the Skoll Foundation, described the impetus driving their new investments: “We have had the chance to work closely with our initial group of Skoll social entrepreneurs over the last three years, helping us better understand both what is most effective in driving systemic change and what these innovators need to be successful. The additional investments we’re making now show our continued support for the power of the social entrepreneurial model.” (more…)

Camfed Zambia this year launched an ambitious child abuse prevention initiative, funded by Irish Aid. Camfed’s Zero Tolerance to Child Abuse Campaign breaks through the culture of silence surrounding child abuse, and calls on all sectors of Zambian society to put an end to it. Through this new initiative, Camfed is collaborating with the Ministry of Education to develop a National Child Protection Policy, as well as reaching out to educators, families, law enforcement officials, and politicians to establish safe and effective systems for reporting child abuse, and to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

Barbara Chilangwa, Camfed Zambia’s Executive Director and former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, describes a status quo that is recognized internationally: “Too often, when children report abuse, people say, ‘They are children, we cannot believe them’.  We want to convey to the community that children must be heard when they speak up, and that there are structures in place for reporting abuse.” The objective of the campaign’s community outreach, says Mrs. Chilangwa, is to make communities aware that they have the power and the responsibility to take action against child abuse cases. (more…)

Camfed’s Executive Director Ann Cotton is featured in The Tactics of Hope, a new book that highlights the innovative work being done by the world’s top social entrepreneurs to alleviate poverty, promote social justice, and restore the health of the planet. Written by former U.S. diplomat and international business professor Wilford Welch, The Tactics of Hope describes how Camfed has helped to break the cycle of poverty for thousands of girls and young women in Africa through education.

The book aims to inspire budding social entrepreneurs by sharing concrete solutions for action – and demonstrating, through the stories of 27 people who had the courage and passion to act on their dreams, that everyone has the power to change the world.

In his foreword to the book, former Archbishop Desmond Tutu writes:

“The potential  . . . of individuals throughout the world to bring about positive change is enormous, and never before have we lived in an era so ripe with opportunity to make a difference.”

To order The Tactics of Hope, go to http://www.tacticsofhope.org/

Read an excerpt from the introduction: http://www.tacticsofhope.org/intro_toc#INTRODUCTION

Learn more about social entrepreneurship:

• Visit the Skoll Foundation website and find out more about the organization that awarded Ann Cotton the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2005
• Read an interview with Ann Cotton about social entrepreneurship in the Guardian.

“If you care about the issues you are addressing, you understand that you must get these stories out to the public, even if the work is hard on you.”

Mwelwa Kamanda, a member of the Camfed Zambia team, was introduced to filmmaking in a participatory workshop chronicled in Camfed’s first documentary, Where the Water Meets the Sky. As one of the Samfya Women Filmmakers that emerged from that first training, Mwelwa was selected from a group of 200 people from around the world to attend a prestigious program to train activists in filmmaking for social change.

In July, Mwelwa traveled abroad for the first time to join 26 other emerging filmmakers from 24 countries including Iraq, Georgia, Indonesia, and Brazil for the nine-day Witness Video Advocacy Institute in Montreal. “It was reassuring to learn that filmmakers from other countries are struggling to bring attention to some of the same issues that we face in Zambia, although their cultures might seem very different,” says Mwelwa. “We realized that as human rights filmmakers, we are united by our desire to inspire change in our societies.” (more…)

Author Lisa Grainger spent three months travelling through Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa and Botswana, collecting stories that have been passed down by generations of gogos, or grandmothers. The result, Stories Gogo Told Me (Penguin, 2008), is a collection of 40 traditional African tales that Lisa gathered from village storytellers, farmers, and rural teachers. On her journey, she met some of the girls Camfed is supporting through school.

“Having taken the stories from villages, it didn’t feel right to profit myself, so I decided to donate proceeds from the book to Camfed,” explains Lisa, who grew up in Zimbabwe. “Camfed’s work appealed to me because I had seen firsthand how much money went directly to educating girls in Africa.”

Lisa visited a rural school in Zimbabwe and met 56 girls whose education is being funded by Camfed. She also met two young women who, with Camfed’s support, are studying social sciences at university in order to help their own communities. Every one of them said that without Camfed, they would not have been educated. “None of these girls had ever seen a book of traditional African stories, and they all begged me for a copy,” says Lisa. “I know that there are hundreds more girls across Africa who will benefit if the book sells.”

Camfed would like to thank Lisa enormously for her generosity, and to urge supporters to buy this wonderful and evocative book.

Stories Gogo Told Me can be pre-ordered in the U.S. for December delivery at Amazon.com.

Listen to an interview with Lisa Grainger on BBC Radio 4