CAMFED provides scholarships to 16,600 girls in 2012
The Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED), a non-governmental organization, is supporting a total of 16,600 female students across four regions of the country this year with scholarship package such as school fees, uniforms and footwear.
The package, which also includes notebooks, sanitary pads, soap and dry food ration, will guarantee the education of the beneficiaries, who are from less privileged homes and deprived communities, in the country.
The support was also to ensure retention rate of 98 per cent for Junior High School in beneficiary communities and 99.9 per cent for the Senior High Schools for girls on the CAMFED programme.
Mrs. Dolores Dickson, Executive Director of CAMFED-Ghana disclosed these in Tamale during the opening ceremony of the CAMFED 2012 Annual General Meeting, which brought together stakeholders of the organization.
The AGM, which was on the theme: “Driving up Educational Performance: Our Impact as Stakeholders” brought District Education Committees, CAMFED alumni (CAMA), mother support groups, teacher mentors and some directors of the GES to take stock of past programmes and achievements.
Mrs. Dickson said the successes of the organization could not have been possible without the hard working staff and stakeholders and commended them for their dedication, adding that “As stakeholders in education, it is essential for us to do self-reflection at some point to see how our actions are impacting on quality education”.
She said the year under review saw the continuation of the annual science, mathematics and technology camp where beneficiaries were well educated and broaden in horizon, saying that more females under the CAMFED sponsorship had progressed from second circle to the tertiary level.
Mrs. Dickson, however, lamented that the NGO due to its good works, had attracted numerous applicants and was struggling to cope with the demands for tertiary education support against the backdrop of increasing tertiary fees resulting in cutting down the numbers.
Mr. Charles Atia, Head of Operations at CAMFED-Ghana, said the NGO had grown since 2008 with operations extended to four regions and 30 districts from the initial one region and eight districts. Staff strength had also improved from five to 28 in 2012.
He said funding had also grown from US$609,587 in 2012 to 6,196,990 million dollars in 2012, which had enabled CAMFED to increase its partner schools from 242 in 2008 to 716.
He mentioned the MasterCard Foundation, DFID Ghana, Google, Credit Suisse, and Marple Trust Fund as the donors.
Mr. Atia said 1,184 businesses had been set up by young women with seed capital from CAMFED while many others had received training in business enterprises to grow themselves.
Source: GNA