The context of Camfed’s work is one of chronic poverty which rural communities in Africa are virtually powerless to change. Poor families have no room for manoeuvre in their economic ‘choices’ and must secure basic needs. Far from limiting girls’ educational opportunities because of the ‘opportunity cost’ of girls’ lost household and other labour, poor parents have shown themselves wholly supportive of girls’ education when the direct costs that they cannot afford are met externally. The opportunity lost through girls’ educational exclusion is too expensive for the world to afford in child maternity, infant mortality, the high incidence of HIV/AIDS and food insecurity – a whole panoply of human misery.
