Advancing Girls' Education in Africa

Advancing Girls' Education in Africa Empowering girls through education by providing scholarships, mentoring and career guidance in Malaw

In 2005, AGE Africa’s Founder Xanthe Scharrf was in Malawi as a graduate student intern attached to CARE. While in Malawi Xanthe wrote an article for The Christian Science Monitor about a local woman and her daughter who was not attending school because the family could not afford the $156 a year that the local secondary school cost or the required uniforms, books, and supplies (“What it’s like to

live on $1 a day”, July 2005). Readers of the article were so moved by the story that they sent donations to support the young woman’s education. The first AGE Africa scholarship fund was enough to support all six of the village girls who had qualified for secondary school. These first six young women pursued their education despite tremendous pressure to leave school and get married. Since 2005, AGE Africa has worked in a variety of school environments providing scholarships to girls. Over the years we have learned that scholarships alone are not enough to ensure that the most impoverished young women in Malawi reach the academic finish line. We now support students from many rural villages across Malawi at seven partner schools with a combination of scholarships, life skills education, leadership training and career guidance. What began as a vision for the futures of six young women from a single village has grown into a vision for girls nationwide.

🎓 THREE SCHOLARS. THREE FAMILIES CHANGED. ONE UNSTOPPABLE FUTURE. 🎓On May 28, 2026, three remarkable young women crossed...
06/16/2026

🎓 THREE SCHOLARS. THREE FAMILIES CHANGED. ONE UNSTOPPABLE FUTURE. 🎓

On May 28, 2026, three remarkable young women crossed the stage at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources — and nothing will ever be the same.

Meet Jacquiline Kanzenga from Dowa District, Luckia Makande from Mchinji District, and Stella Grecian from Kasungu District.

These women are proving what girls can accomplish when they are given the opportunity to learn, grow, and lead. They are not just graduates — they are role models for every girl who will come after them. They are the proof that the future is bright. 🌍✨

We are so incredibly proud of you, Jacquiline, Luckia, and Stella. The world is ready for you.

Stay tuned, we are celebrating each of their stories all month long. 💛

Twenty years ago, Xanthe Scharff founded AGE Africa at the start of her career — driven by the same conviction she carri...
06/16/2026

Twenty years ago, Xanthe Scharff founded AGE Africa at the start of her career — driven by the same conviction she carries today: that when you center the voices of women and girls, you find the way forward.

Now she's stepping into her next chapter as President & CEO of the Women's Refugee Commission, a 36-year-old organization that has spent decades doing exactly that — insisting that displaced women have a seat at the table and the power to shape their own futures.We couldn't be prouder.

The girls who walked through AGE Africa's doors two decades ago are part of the legacy Xanthe carries with her.

Congratulations, Xanthe. The world is better for the work you do. 🌍. https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanthescharff/

At one AGE Africa partner school, a teacher noted that one AGE Africa scholar has become the person her school counts on...
06/15/2026

At one AGE Africa partner school, a teacher noted that one AGE Africa scholar has become the person her school counts on more, responsible, more confident, ready to act. "The improvement in her self-esteem is remarkable." CHATS did that. 🌱


This project was funded with UK International Development from the UK government.
📷 A scholar helping a younger student or organizing materials a candid moment of quiet leadership.

We paid the school fees. We bought the supplies. We removed every financial barrier we could find.And girls still droppe...
06/12/2026

We paid the school fees. We bought the supplies. We removed every financial barrier we could find.

And girls still dropped out.

Not all of them. But enough that we had to ask ourselves a question we didn't want to ask:
If money isn't the whole answer, what is?

A decade of working alongside girls in Malawi taught us this: staying in school isn't just about resources. It's about what she believes about herself. Her confidence. Her sense of belonging. Her ability to carry the weight of everyone else's expectations and still show up Monday morning.

None of that comes from a paid fee or a new textbook.

So we built something different. We call it CHATS — Creating Healthy Approaches to Success. It runs once a week, after school, at all 74 of our partner schools across Malawi. Every girl is invited. Not just AGE Africa scholars.

Because when you strengthen one girl, you strengthen a community.

What's something you learned only after the "obvious" solution didn't work?

IYKYK There's nothing like lunch after a morning of learning. 🧃😄 This girl's energy = all of us. Fueled up and ready to ...
06/11/2026

IYKYK
There's nothing like lunch after a morning of learning. 🧃😄 This girl's energy = all of us. Fueled up and ready to facilitate!

06/10/2026

We asked Thokozani what AGE Africa meant to her. 💙
This is what she said.
Turn up the volume. Her voice says it all. 🎧

Allyn doesn't just lead events. She leads conversations.As a CHATS peer facilitator, she talks with her fellow students ...
06/08/2026

Allyn doesn't just lead events. She leads conversations.

As a CHATS peer facilitator, she talks with her fellow students about peer pressure, decision-making, and their futures. One session changed a girl's life.

A classmate who had been pressured into pursuing relationships by her friends came to Allyn after a session on peer pressure.

"That facilitation touched my heart," the girl told her. "Can you tell me more?"

Allyn's advice was simple and profound: "Don't think about today. Think about tomorrow. Your parents sent you here to learn, so hold their hands into adulthood."

The girl changed. And Allyn carried that with her.

This is what CHATS does. Girl by girl, conversation by conversation. 💙

A circle of girls under an open sky. 🌳 No fancy conference room needed. Just a community, a purpose, and a whole lot of ...
06/05/2026

A circle of girls under an open sky. 🌳

No fancy conference room needed. Just a community, a purpose, and a whole lot of girl power. 💚 CHATS is in full swing at Ngozi Community Day Secondary School, where every girl in that circle is somebody's future role model.

When AGE Africa scholars needed to live closer to school to keep attending, communities stepped up to help girls find ac...
06/04/2026

When AGE Africa scholars needed to live closer to school to keep attending, communities stepped up to help girls find accommodation near schools in Kasakula, Chinthembwe, Kayoyo, and Kanyenda.

It takes a village. 🏡
This project was funded with UK International Development from the UK government.

See that green book in her hands? That's the CHATS curriculum, and SHE is the one leading the session. 📗✨ At Ngozi Commu...
06/02/2026

See that green book in her hands?

That's the CHATS curriculum, and SHE is the one leading the session. 📗✨

At Ngozi Community Day Secondary School, older girls don't just learn. They TEACH. They guide. They show younger girls what's possible.

This is peer facilitation in action, and it is everything. 💙

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