Camfed’s Kimberley Sevcik is in northern Zambia covering an innovative new project launched by Camfed and the University of Cambridge, with funding from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative. Read her second blog installment below, and follow up to the minute progress on Twitter.

Lubwe, Zambia: Saturday, April 18th

Minutes before the Impact Fair starts, the students from the Leadership & Enterprise Course are practicing their presentations and fine-tuning their posters, putting the finishing touches on drawings of chickens and cell phones and overstuffed couches.

Dressed in Camfed T-shirts with the words, “I am a leader” on the front, and “I am an entrepreneur” on the back, students have set up stalls on the parched grass and the concrete steps of the classrooms at Lubwe High School. Agape Sisters, who sell second-hand clothing, have brought with them a bag of shiny rayon blouses and T-shirts emblazoned with the logos of famous athletic teams and foreign companies, which they have hung from the eaves of a classroom block. Progress Group have started a lending scheme based on the Grameen Bank model, and they plan to display the meticulous records they keep in their ledger book. And the women from Big Sisters Restaurant have procured a bag of cassava from the kitchen staff so they can prepare – and sell – nshima, a Zambian staple food. One group of women has posted flyers on classroom doors to attract visitors to their displays: “Come hear the story of Fipelwa’s campaign against early marriage – free to all,” proclaims one hand-lettered sign on the cinderblock wall outside the staff resource room.

The Fair, the brainchild of a group of MBA students at the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School, is designed to give participants an opportunity to celebrate their achievements in launching and running successful enterprises, to help them think about how to measure impact and to encourage them to communicate their success effectively to stakeholders. The day before the Fair, the women were asked to assess whether their project had made an impact in each of five areas: social; financial; learning; pride and recognition; and growth and confidence. Those self-evaluations are now displayed on flip charts at each group’s table, so that group members can reference them in their presentations. Course trainers, Camfed staff, and the students themselves will be ranking each project with a system of colored stars – red for social impact, yellow for financial impact, and so on.

Standing before a microphone in the midst of the displays, Benjamin Chama, Camfed Zambia’s Program Manager, gives the women a two-minute warning to finalize their preparations. There is a flurry of activity as they secure flips charts to the wall, and share last-minute presentation advice.

“Today we’re going to show one another how we have put the skills we acquired during Phase One into use in Phase Two,” Benjamin announces. He explains that half of each group will stay at the table to present the story of the impact they achieved and half will visit the displays of their fellow students – then they’ll switch. He also establishes some ground rules for the Fair: everyone must visit all of the projects; and we must also give every group at least one star!

I start my tour of the displays at the Big Sisters Restaurant, who urge me to try some of their beef and nshima – “famous in the town of Samfya!” they say. On the cinderblock wall behind them they have posted pictures of the restaurant, a tiny, colorful place with three tables covered in bright blue plastic tablecloths. I grill them about their experience: how did you find the building you rented? Word of mouth. How much do you pay per month? 100,000 kwacha ($17.5). Are you able to earn a profit? Yes. In fact, business is so brisk, they are now looking to expand to a bigger space.

“If you are given a gift, you cannot keep it to yourself. You must pass on your good fortune to others.” At the Progress table, managing director Petronella, 19, proudly describes the success of her group’s Grameen-Bank model. “We gave loans to eight women to grow their businesses or start new businesses. There was a social and financial impact because now these women are able to earn more money than in the past, and improve their lives.” One woman actually showed the receipt for her son’s examination entry fees, purchased with profits from her newly-launched business. Another loan recipient used to sell onions at the market. Thanks to the microloan, she was able to purchase supplies to diversify and sell carrots, green beans, and tomatoes as well, generating greater profits.

“At first, no one believed that a group of young girls could start a village bank,” Petronella explains in deliberate, impeccable English. “They didn’t take us seriously, they thought that we were players.” Ultimately, however, community members were knocking on the girls’ doors, asking for loan applications.

Discouragement – or at least skepticism – from the community was a common challenge. Mildred from the Treasure group, which breeds goats to donate to orphans, tells me that people laughed outright when they heard of her plans. I ask if she ever considered quitting. “No!” she says, and her tone is indignant, almost offended. “You cannot give up so easily just because someone laughs at you. You must keep on.”

As I visited the stalls, I overheard women from other groups firing shrewd questions at their colleagues. “How much of your budget did you spend on rent?” says Rachel, a petite girl with a cherubic face framed by a halo of curls. “Were you able to earn a profit? How did you know there was a demand for another grocery shop in your village?” Finally, satisfied with their answers, she nods, and says, “You have done very well.”

At every stall, I’m struck by the women’s persistence. It took most groups two to three weeks just to open a bank account, as they scrambled to gather introductory letters, registration cards, and personal recommendations. “Imagine these girls walking into a bank and asking to open an account,” says Barbara Chilangwa, Executive Director of Camfed Zambia. “In their communities, many people have never set foot in a bank. And yet they weren’t intimidated. Every one of them was able to do it.”

Many of the women showed their entrepreneurial spirit by capitalizing on the Impact Fair to market their goods. Beyond Vision Communications sold talk time and cell-phone covers; the Poverty Fighters sold beautiful batik wraps, and the Blessings group sold hand-woven baskets. The Future Fighters group sold 40 bags of charcoal to Camfed for cooking during the Phase Three Course.

I was impressed by the careful documentation the students kept of their endeavors. The Fipelwa group, which visited seven schools to advocate in favor of keeping girls in school (as well as persuading four young drop-outs to resume their education) exhibited the letters they were sent from head teachers thanking them for the positive effect they had on students, and asking them to return next term for another presentation.

But it’s their generosity of spirit that makes the biggest impression on me. When I ask Mildred from the Treasure group what inspired her to start an enterprise to benefit others, she says, “I lost my parents when I was just young, and I was supported to go to school by Camfed. If you are given a gift, you cannot keep it to yourself. You must pass on your good fortune to others.”

By the end of the Fair, I am overcome with admiration, marveling that these girls – so young – have summoned the creativity, the courage, and the sophisticated knowledge to accomplish these things. I know the challenges that they face. I have sat with them at lunch and in their dorm rooms and listened to their stories. Today, they are running their own enterprises, and they convey their success to others with confidence, clarity and enthusiasm. “I think we saw evidence that, given the right tools, a person can accomplish anything she sets her mind to,” says Barbara Chilangwa.

I suspect that for many of these young women, this course is just the beginning. Petronella from the Grameen Bank project told me about a call that she received from her brother a few weeks ago. “I described my project to him, and he was very impressed,” she says. “He was proud to hear that I was managing director. He said, ‘My sister, one day you are going to become managing director of a big company!’”

I think he’s right!

Read the last installment of Kimberley’s blog.

Beginning next week, Camfed’s Information & Media Relations Manager Kimberley Sevcik will be sending frequent updates from northern Zambia, where she will be documenting a new program to train young women in leadership and entrepreneurship with a view to helping them transform their futures.  Every few days, she’ll file photo diaries, stories about participants, and interviews with staff and community members who are training, advising, supporting and doing whatever it takes to sustain the 200 people who arrive in this small village in northern Zambia for 14 days.

Three days and about ten thousand miles from now, I’ll be writing to you from a computer lab in in Lubwe, a remote village where most people earn a living through subsistence farming or fishing. The lab was set up as a teaching resource for an innovative new Camfed initiative, the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Certificate Programme in Young Women’s Leadership and Enterprise.

Developed in partnership with the University of Cambridge, the course catches young women at the critical juncture in their lives when they are leaving secondary school and facing the daunting question, ‘What’s next?’ The Leadership and Enterprise course is designed to carry them through this vulnerable period by helping them to develop vital skills, grow in confidence and both identify and seize opportunities.

The course launched in December 2008, with 150 young women, aged 18-20 years, who traveled to Lubwe from across northern Zambia. All of these women have known great hardship in their lives. Many lost parents at an early age. Some were raised by elderly grandparents who were too frail to work, or by parents who struggled to support five or six children on the earnings of a subsistence farmer. They grew up in communities with high rates of HIV/AIDS and low rates of employment.

They are, all of them, bright and resourceful and energetic—but their life circumstances threaten to prevent them from reaching their tremendous potential. Our goal is to give them the tools to unlock that potential.

During the first phase of the course in December, the women were encouraged to break out of the mold of rote learning and to think independently. They worked with a group of leading social entrepreneurs from around the world, venturing into the surrounding community to identify challenges – such as declining fish stocks, poor sanitation and high unemployment - and cultivate problem-solving skills in the context of those community challenges. They received training in core business skills – such as financial planning, team-work, market research and effective communication. They also started to harness the power of technology, using computers and sending emails for the first time in their lives.

Before returning to their own communities, the young women were divided into groups, and asked to design a business plan for a social or commercial enterprise of their choosing. It’s clear from their bold and innovative ideas how much their confidence had grown in just three weeks. One group planned to set-up the only woman-run hardware store in their district. Another planned a preschool for disadvantaged children.

Over the subsequent four months, they worked within their home communities to launch, run and grow those enterprises, with ongoing support from their trainers. As the students reconvene in Lubwe next week for the third and final phase of the Leadership and Enterprise Programme, they will share lessons learned and chart a course for their futures. Some will continue to grow their enterprises. Others will apply to university or vocational school to pursue careers as nurses, or teachers, or lawyers.

I’ll be meeting this group of women at an incredibly exciting moment in their life journeys. I hope you’ll check back for future micro-posts below, to hear how their stories unfold.

Read the next installment of Kimberley’s blog.

On Saturday, November 22, the Guardian published the first round of finalists’ articles from its International Development Journalism competition, which sent 16 journalists to different corners of the globe to examine the root causes of poverty. Among the articles featured was a story by Cambridge University student Elliot Ross, focusing on the issues that prevent girls from attending school in Tanzania, and on Camfed’s work to ensure that girls have access to  education. Read Elliot’s article here.

Guardian editor Sue George also wrote about Camfed’s work in Tanzania in her introduction to the special supplement.

Camfed is one of eight charities that collaborated with the Guardian on this groundbreaking competition, which challenged amateur and professional journalists to investigate whether the eight Millennium Development Goals are on track to halve global poverty by 2015. The competition, which was supported by the Department for International Development (DFID), drew more than 400 applicants.
On Monday, November 24, the Guardian published the second round of finalists’ articles, including a piece by journalist Phoebe Greenwood which examines the economic challenges faced by women in rural Zambia, and highlights Camfed’s efforts to unlock opportunities for women who are born into poverty. Read Phoebe’s article here.

You can help end poverty!

In spite of world leaders’ promises to halve world poverty by 2015, many of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) they agreed to are still way off track.

• More than 1.4 billion people are still living on less than $1.25 a day;
• 70% of these people are women;
• 75 million children are still missing out on a primary education; and
• 57% of these are girls.

Camfed and our partners in the Guardian International Development Journalism Competition are urging supporters to download an action pack called “Going for Goals”.

In the pack, you will find a “Going for Goals” postcard that you can send to your local MP, urging them to put pressure on the government:

• to meet its own MDG commitments;
• to use its leadership to encourage other countries to do the same
• to make sure that the world’s trade system is fair for people everywhere.

As the global credit crunch threatens to undermine the slow progress that has been made so far towards achieving the MDGs, your support is more vital now than ever in making sure that the world’s poorest don’t get poorer.

Download the “Going for Goals” action pack now and become part of the solution in the fight against global poverty.

Camfed Zambia this year launched an ambitious child abuse prevention initiative, funded by Irish Aid. Camfed’s Zero Tolerance to Child Abuse Campaign breaks through the culture of silence surrounding child abuse, and calls on all sectors of Zambian society to put an end to it. Through this new initiative, Camfed is collaborating with the Ministry of Education to develop a National Child Protection Policy, as well as reaching out to educators, families, law enforcement officials, and politicians to establish safe and effective systems for reporting child abuse, and to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

Barbara Chilangwa, Camfed Zambia’s Executive Director and former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, describes a status quo that is recognized internationally: “Too often, when children report abuse, people say, ‘They are children, we cannot believe them’.  We want to convey to the community that children must be heard when they speak up, and that there are structures in place for reporting abuse.” The objective of the campaign’s community outreach, says Mrs. Chilangwa, is to make communities aware that they have the power and the responsibility to take action against child abuse cases. (more…)

Author Lisa Grainger spent three months travelling through Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa and Botswana, collecting stories that have been passed down by generations of gogos, or grandmothers. The result, Stories Gogo Told Me (Penguin, 2008), is a collection of 40 traditional African tales that Lisa gathered from village storytellers, farmers, and rural teachers. On her journey, she met some of the girls Camfed is supporting through school.

“Having taken the stories from villages, it didn’t feel right to profit myself, so I decided to donate proceeds from the book to Camfed,” explains Lisa, who grew up in Zimbabwe. “Camfed’s work appealed to me because I had seen firsthand how much money went directly to educating girls in Africa.”

Lisa visited a rural school in Zimbabwe and met 56 girls whose education is being funded by Camfed. She also met two young women who, with Camfed’s support, are studying social sciences at university in order to help their own communities. Every one of them said that without Camfed, they would not have been educated. “None of these girls had ever seen a book of traditional African stories, and they all begged me for a copy,” says Lisa. “I know that there are hundreds more girls across Africa who will benefit if the book sells.”

Camfed would like to thank Lisa enormously for her generosity, and to urge supporters to buy this wonderful and evocative book.

Stories Gogo Told Me can be pre-ordered in the U.S. for December delivery at Amazon.com.

Listen to an interview with Lisa Grainger on BBC Radio 4

The leading champion for girls’ education in Zambia has been named as the new Executive Director of CAMFED Zambia. Barbara Chilangwa is highly respected across sub-Saharan Africa for implementing wide-ranging education reforms to help more girls get into school during her tenure as Zambia’s Permanent Secretary of Education. (more…)