An in-depth study of the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) Alumnae Association (CAMA).
With nearly 140,000 members and elected leadership across sub-Saharan Africa, and running for over 20 years, this is an example of one of the best alumni networks we’ve come across.
Foreword
Over the past 25 years, CAMFED – the Campaign for Female Education, has developed a model of support for girls’ education that has resulted in millions of girls gaining the opportunity to go to school. All would have otherwise been excluded from education because of poverty.
The most tangible outcome of our work is in the network of young women leaders who have completed secondary school with CAMFED’s support, many among the first in their communities to reach this stage. In 1998, our first 400 school graduates came together to form CAMA, the CAMFED Alumnae Association. Twenty years on, CAMA’s membership had grown to almost 120,000.
Having lived through the experience of exclusion and overcome the odds to complete their education, CAMA members are experts on what works to enable girls to go to school and succeed. They are now at the forefront of the Campaign for Female Education in reaching out to ensure the most vulnerable children, those who are otherwise ‘invisible’ to local authorities, have the support they need go to school. As a new generation of leaders and philanthropists, these young women are inspiring a movement for girls’ education that stretches from community to international level.
We are often asked the question, “When will CAMA become independent from CAMFED?” on the assumption that CAMA’s independence represents the ultimate measure of success. We believe, however, that the question to be asked is a different one, and is rather, “When will CAMA take the reins of CAMFED?” signalling the expertise and leadership of CAMFED’s former beneficiaries to determine CAMFED’s future direction. Indeed, CAMA members already form a majority of CAMFED staff and Directors in Africa, culminating in 2017 in CAMFED’s CEO appointing a founding CAMA member to sit as Co-Chair of CAMFED’s global Executive Team.
Ten years ago, Linklaters developed a seminal report on CAMFED’s governance model. Entitled ‘Accounting to the Girl’, this involved a forensic exploration of the organisational structure and systems underpinning the delivery of CAMFED’s programmes. It illuminated CAMFED’s guiding principles, premised on accountability at every level to girls and young women, and the partnerships that unite all those with power and influence over girls’ lives to tackle the obstacles to their education and wellbeing.
It is this governance model that has fostered the emergence of CAMA, and that provides the infrastructure on which CAMA can now draw. As educated and empowered young women, CAMA members are defining and delivering highly effective strategies to support marginalised children in their communities, with the full support of local authorities, and are moving into positions of influence from which to drive wider system change. Together, they represent a powerful new force for development. It is in this context that, ten years on, Linklaters has supported a new report by Diana Good, one of the original authors of ‘Accounting to the Girl’, to describe CAMA and how it is redefining development through young people’s leadership. Diana brings a wealth of experience and expertise on governance issues in the sector, including through her role as Specialist Adviser to the International Development Committee of the UK Parliament and as former Commissioner of the UK aid watchdog, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact. Our sincere thanks to Diana for her unwavering commitment to delve deep into the details of our organisation, and ensure that this document does justice to our approach.
As we move forward into our next strategic phase, this report provides an important reference point for all those who wish to understand the unique relationship between CAMFED and CAMA. We also hope it will serve as a milestone for the sector in illustrating how an international NGO can provide the vehicle for an ever-renewing, ever-growing, and increasingly powerful movement for change, led by young women in Africa.
As CAMA and CAMFED, Together We Can!
Lucy Lake & Angeline Murimirwa Co-Chairs of CAMFED’s Executive Team
