CAMFED Ghana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has expressed contentment with the positive impact of its Scholars Programme on young women.
“It has been a decade of investment in the lives of young women that has yielded monumental, life-changing impact,” said Ms. Fairuza Safian, the National Director, in a release to the GNA in Accra.
The Programme, she said, had empowered the women scholars to assume lead roles in addressing the big challenges their families, communities and country faced.
“The Scholars alumnae network of teachers, nurses, doctors, IT experts, lawyers, engineers, sustainable agriculture experts and entrepreneurs is growing every year as more girls complete school and join them,” the CAMFED National Director emphasised.
The education-inclined Programme is a 10-year partnership between CAMFED Ghana and the Mastercard Foundation.
Addressing the opening session of a congress to mark 10 years of the implementation of the Programme, in Kumasi, Ms. Safian, said the successful journey had yielded positive results, especially in the campaign against child marriage and girls’ exclusion from education, as well as climate change issues.
The programme is underpinned by shared values and commitment to the provision of quality education and comprehensive support to academically-gifted young women in the rural communities within CAMFED’s operational regions.
The objectives are to raise social, political and business leaders for the African continent.
The Programme is designed to unlock the potential of a critical mass of academically-bright yet disadvantaged girls and young women through secondary and tertiary education.
This year’s congress is being hosted by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on the theme: “A Decade of Impact”.
It seeks to demonstrate the significant achievements of the Scholars Program, and is being organised to, among others, groom scholars and alumnae to become transformative leaders and support them to hone their soft and leadership skills as they transition from school.
It will host the final cohort of 563 tertiary scholars and over 400 alumnae throughout the week.
Ms. Safian said CAMFED Ghana had been working with the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service and other partners in the implementation of the diverse components of the Programme.
These include the flagship Annual Research Seminar and Learning Summit.
She expressed appreciation to the secondary and tertiary institutions for hosting the scholars and providing the enabling environment for their education.
The CAMFED National Director reminded the congress that the Scholars Programme was also designed to build a network of visionary educators at second-cycle schools and universities who shared the objective of inclusive, equitable and high-quality education.
It aims to provide a unique platform to create an alumnae network that catalyses the transformative power of individual scholars.
In line with the congress activities, participants will benefit from carefully tailored activities, including a career fair and work-readiness skills development such as CV clinics.
They will be exposed to planning for community service and mental wellbeing, networking, team building, health screening, as well as alumnae conversations.
