Fiona Muchembere joined global leaders, including President Carter, Jeff Skoll and Al Gore and at the Skoll World Forum at Oxford University from March 26 to 28. As the first girl from her rural community in Zimbabwe to attend university as well as the first to become a lawyer, Fiona was able to share with the audience her experience of breaking through the barriers of poverty to set a new precedent for children and young people in rural communities. Fiona was supported through her education by Camfed, and today she holds a managerial position supporting Cama (Camfed’s growing alumnae organization) across four countries of Africa.

Fiona challenged the idea that girls’ exclusion from education is an expression of culture. “In Africa we value education,” Fiona told her audience and fellow panelists. “Families are proud of their children – both boys and girls –who receive further education, especially in the rural areas. But the context of chronic poverty and AIDS has masked this cultural value.” Fiona described how the economic crisis in Zimbabwe is making it increasingly difficult for families to be able to afford to send their girls to school. As education costs rise, more and more girls are dropping out of school and migrating to urban areas or neighbouring countries where they are vulnerable to sexual exploitation or abuse which can lead to HIV/AIDS.

“Poverty is robbing children of the right to education despite the high value it has within our culture,” she continued. Fiona is supporting 22 members of her immediate and extended family through school. Consequently, she and other educated young women in Zimbabwe are increasingly regarded as leaders by their communities. “Our families often ask us, ‘You are the ones that went to school–what should we do in this situation?’” she said.

With Fiona and her fellow Cama members sending almost 50,000 girls to school this year, a growing number of young women in rural Africa will be able to answer that question with confidence.

Please give the gift of education. Make a secure online donation today.

On behalf of Camfed, Ann Cotton has accepted an invitation to become a 2007 member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). The CGI is a non-partisan catalyst for action, bringing together a community of global leaders to work together toward such common goals as improving education and leadership development, economic empowerment, and health security with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS. The CGI seeks specific, action-oriented commitments from members to help solve problems and improve lives around the world. The focus of the Initiative in 2007 includes education, poverty alleviation, global health, and energy and climate change. (more…)

by Winnie Farao, Camfed Zimbabwe manager

My trip to New York was an opportunity to talk on behalf of all the girls in rural Africa – to say what they would have said if they had got the chance. I wanted to tell people not just the story of my own education, but also to tell the story of the African girls. (more…)

Camfed brought the plight of young women in rural Africa before some of the most powerful women in the world this summer as two global initiatives were launched to tackle the crucial issue of girls’ education. (more…)

Camfed Zimbabwe recently brought together a group of 14 traditional leaders from nine districts as part of a pioneering project to tackle domestic violence in rural areas. Working in partnership with local organisations, the goal was to challenge head-on some of the traditionally held values that affect young rural women – ranging from child abuse and rape to virginity testing and early marriage. (more…)

Women financiers gathered last month to hear how Camfed is turning the tide of poverty in rural communities across sub-Saharan Africa by educating girls. The Competitor Diversity Forum (CDF) was set up by female managing directors from the world’s leading investment banks to promote women in the financial services industry. At their annual charity dinner in London, these high-flying women heard from Camfed’s Executive Director Ann Cotton and Camfed patron Allison Pearson – prize-winning journalist and author of I Don’t Know How She Does It. (more…)