At the Tanzanian office of Camfed International, they are used to turning down bizarre applications for loans. But Lydia Wilbard, programme officer for the educational charity, clearly remembers the strangest one they received. This occurred when a hopeful entrepreneur requested a £25 business start-up grant for an unusual and even poignant reason: she needed the cash to bribe the police not to harass her over her proposed business, which was money-lending.

The application was refused, as Camfed couldn't be seen to be complicit in corruption. But cases such as these highlight the tricky day-to-day operational conundrums and dilemmas that face the charity. And, as Camfed, which the Financial Times is supporting in a seasonal appeal, gets more deeply involved in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania and Ghana, the four African countries where it operates, it is constantly assessing and adjusting its activities to combat such problems.