Learner Guides

Learner Guides are young women in the CAMFED Association, CAMA. Once themselves supported by CAMFED, they use their lived experience to return to their local school, volunteering at least 2 ½ hours per week for 12 to 18 months. Trained in delivering life and learning skills, as well as vital sexual and reproductive health information and psycho-social support, Learner Guides work with schools, communities and district governments to keep vulnerable children in school, and help them overcome their challenges. Beyond the classroom, they create an important home-school link, following up with children who drop out of school and working with communities to keep vulnerable girls safe from child marriage. In return for their commitment, Learner Guides can gain access to interest-free loans to grow their own businesses, on the basis that they are paying 'social interest' as role models and mentors. Learner Guides can also achieve a vocational (BTEC) qualification to fast-track them into teacher training colleges. Respected for their expertise at every level, these young women - who themselves were once among the most excluded - are multiplying the returns of their own education for the benefit of their communities.