Camfed Partners With Pearson to Train 5,000 Learner Guides In Sub-Saharan Africa

NEW YORK - Sept. 24, 2014 - PRLog -- Camfed (Campaign for Female Education), an international nonprofit organization that invests in the education of girls in rural Africa, today announced that Pearson, one of the world’s leading learning and education companies, will train and certify 5,000 Camfed Learner Guides.

“Camfed’s model works to set in place a virtuous cycle of education, economic security and leadership among young women in Africa,” said Lucy Lake, CEO of Camfed. “And one of the most important ways that we are achieving that is through the activism of the graduates of our education program who are supporting the education of the next generation of girls. Pearson, a longtime Camfed partner, has stepped up to ensure that these Learner Guides are trained and certified under Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) standards and fully prepared to be mentors and guides.”

Learner Guides are young women who have graduated from secondary school under Camfed’s support, and are now volunteering to teach and mentor children at local schools in remote rural areas. Often, they are the only female role models for girls in the school. Working closely with school authorities, Learner Guides identify and address particular problems that girls may face that hinder school attendance and overall success at school.

“We’re excited to expand our valued partnership with Camfed,” said Manos Kapterian, VP of International Qualifications at Pearson. “By investing in the training of an additional 3,000 Camfed Learner Guides in Ghana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, we bring our total commitment to more than 5,000. We are proud to be part of the transformation of these women into educated business owners, entrepreneurs and community leaders. This is precisely the type of social impact that forms the core of Pearson's purpose, as a company committed to helping people make progress in their lives through learning."

“Through the BTEC, a transferable vocational qualification, Learner Guides themselves acquire an important, internationally benchmarked qualification that provides a stepping-stone into formal higher education and teacher training,” said Lucy Lake, CEO of Camfed. “The 5,000 Learner Guides will reach over 150,000 girls to improve their attendance, retention and learning at secondary school.”

The Camfed-Pearson training program was announced as part of the Clinton Global Initiative’s CHARGE (The Collaborative for Harnessing Ambition and Resources for Girls’ Education) Commitment, which was announced by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton and former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the final day of the tenth annual CGI Annual Meeting in New York City. CHARGE unites the efforts of Government, civil society organizations, and private sector corporations to work together towards one common goal in supporting the education of girls around the world.

As part of the Commitment, Camfed has pledged to support one million girls in sub Saharan Africa on their journey through secondary school and in making the transition to a secure livelihood.

For more information, please visit www.camfed.org or pearson.com.

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About Camfed:
Camfed, the Campaign for Female Education, fights poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by educating girls and empowering women to be leaders of change. Since 1993, more than three million children have benefited from Camfed’s innovative education programs in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Malawi. Camfed International in based in Cambridge, UK and Camfed USA is based in San Francisco. For more information, please visit www.camfed.org.

About Pearson:
Pearson is the world’s leading learning company, with 40,000 employees in more than 80 countries working to help people of all ages to make measurable progress in their lives through learning. For more information about Pearson, visit www.pearson.com.