Education

Camfed

Research summary, last reviewed May 2026. UK Charity Commission no. 1029161; US 501(c)(3), EIN 54-2033897. Official site.

Independent recognition: Charity Navigator 4/4 stars (100/100) · Center for High Impact Philanthropy (UPenn) recommended · Co-Impact systems-change grantee · Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship (2005) · Hilton Humanitarian Prize (2021) · Yidan Prize for Education Development (2020) · Al-Sumait Prize for African Development (2023)

Headline outcome: 6.4 million children supported through school by 2023, of whom 1.8 million girls in secondary education

What does Camfed do?

Camfed, the Campaign for Female Education, supports girls to go to school and succeed in five sub-Saharan African countries: Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It works through the existing government school system rather than running its own schools. For girls in the poorest rural communities, it pays the real costs that keep them out of class: school fees, uniforms, books, examination fees and sanitary protection. It also trains teachers, Teacher Mentors and Learner Guides within those schools.

The distinctive part comes after school. Camfed’s alumnae network, CAMA, founded in 1998, had grown to more than 312,000 women by 2024. Through the SISTER programme, members can take interest-free loans to start businesses or continue their education, repaying not in financial interest but in “social interest”: time spent mentoring younger girls. Many of Camfed’s senior African leaders, including its global CEO Angeline Murimirwa, were themselves among its first scholarship girls.

Founded in 1993 by Ann Cotton, Camfed grew from a first cohort of 32 girls in two rural districts of Zimbabwe to 6.4 million children supported by 2023, of whom 1.8 million were girls in secondary education.

Why did EveryDrop choose it?

Camfed passed our four-stage vetting assessment: a clearly aligned charitable purpose (advancement of education), no evidence of undue private benefit, no evidence of public disbenefit, and no undue restrictions on access. Its gendered, needs-based selection of girls in rural poverty is lawful and proportionate to the purpose, and its programmes are free at the point of use.

It also has unusually deep independent coverage for an education charity. It holds a 4-star Charity Navigator rating with a 100/100 score (FY2024), with no material diversion of assets and unpaid trustees. It is featured by the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania and is a Co-Impact systems-change grantee. It has won four major awards: the Skoll Award (2005), the Hilton Humanitarian Prize (2021), the Yidan Prize (2020) and the Al-Sumait Prize (2023).

How effective is it?

A peer-reviewed cost-effectiveness analysis of Camfed’s Tanzania programme (Sabates et al.) found the equivalent of an extra 1.7 years of schooling per $100 spent, and 2 years per $100 for the most marginalised girls. A 2017 endline evaluation of work in Tanzania and Zimbabwe reported more than double the rate of literacy improvement and around five times the rate of maths improvement versus comparison schools, with roughly a third lower drop-out. An independent 2019 evaluation of the CAMA livelihoods programme found loan repayment rates above 95%.

What are the open questions?

We publish what we are monitoring as well as what we like. A 2022 peer-reviewed paper in the Comparative Education Review found Camfed has a significant positive effect on access and learning for the most disadvantaged girls, but noted that “low-performing learners remain particularly at risk of dropout, necessitating further consideration and support for these girls.” This is a caution about who is least well served by the current model, not evidence of harm.

Camfed has also publicly flagged that the post-pandemic cost-of-living crisis is pushing more girls out of school across its operational geographies, a programmatic headwind we will re-check at each annual review. One small process item from our research was confirming the exact current country footprint, since some secondary sources list Kenya alongside the five core countries.

Sources

This summary is derived from EveryDrop's internal vetting dossier, prepared under our four-stage assessment framework using public, verifiable sources. Assessments are re-checked every twelve months. If you spot something we should know, email [email protected].