A Revolutionary Way to Empower Girls

An educated girl is an unstoppable force. She possesses knowledge and skills, increasing her self-reliance and resilience in the world. An educated girl is confident. She holds the power to stand up and become a leader, inspiring and educating other women and girls, creating an incredible multiplier effect. This is a basic truth.

And one that is so powerfully demonstrated in the work that Camfed does. That’s why we’re immensely proud to be partnered with Camfed, thanks to the generous support of HDIF, to deliver digital books to 4,500 students from 25 schools across Tanzania. In fact, we’re feeling especially celebratory as last month was the launch of the program, with a total of 1,600 e-readers arriving in Tanzania!

Camfed’s Uplifting Work

Camfed’s model sees girls’ education as the starting point for social change. And their CAMA alumnae network exemplifies the magnificent extent of this change. The network is made up of young women who’ve been supported through school by Camfed and who, once graduated, dedicate themselves to helping others. Their trusted guidance provides an empowering support infrastructure. This is particularly essential when introducing new technologies to a community. A point that is so accurately underlined by Jordan Shapiro in his article ‘Education Technology Makes The Most Impact In The Least Recognized Places.’

Camfed and Worldreader

As part of the e-reader program, 57 of these young women from the CAMA network, referred to as Learner Guides, will be trained to use the e-readers. Equipped with this expertise and their empathy they will support teachers in helping students across the 25 schools learn and grow with their e-readers.

“Worldreader is thrilled to partner with Camfed to transform girls’ prospects in rural Tanzania,” says Colin McElwee, Co-Founder, Worldreader. “Our cost-effective e-reader technology enables us to solve the issue of delivering remedial literacy materials in a simple and straight-forward way. The partnership will allow both parties to refine practices to ensure the children on this program benefit  to the maximum. That will leave us in the optimum position for a future scale up to many more children.”

Not only will these e-readers provide the students with books but, perhaps most importantly, they will give them increased access to English language content. This is necessary because, when making the transition between primary to secondary education, the teaching language switches from Swahili to English, which can create a serious challenge for the students. Access to learning resources and support means that the students can develop the English literacy and language skills required to overcome these challenges.

‘‘Together we look forward to seeing this project push up learning outcomes and future prospects for some of this country’s most vulnerable children.” says Lydia Wilbard,  Camfed Tanzania’s Co-Director. One day, these young girls will be the future leaders of Tanzania. And this partnership is just the start to unlocking their potential so they can stand up tall and reach the highest heights.

Interested in bringing digital reading to your community? Find out more about Worldreader’s Blue Box program.