Abstract:

Girls' education has gained significant ground as an international priority over the past 20 years. This has largely occurred because of the recognition of what educated women deliver in terms of social and economic progress; the justice of girls' education has received far less attention. However, the international development sector continues to address this issue in a fragmented way, looking for the single intervention that will develop change, whether school uniforms, educational fees, girls' toilets at schools or incentives for poor parents. Additionally, poor parents are blamed for the exclusion of girls from school as though the costs of education were immaterial to family decision-making. Camfed has developed a model that is holistic in approach, supporting girls through primary and secondary school and onto higher education or employment pathways. More crucially, the model is driven by community activism. The forms of capital owned by communities in terms of knowledge, institutional bodies and social networks are recognised and respected as critical resources for the sustainable transformation of impoverished rural communities in Africa.