Campaign For Female Education (CAMFED)
Speakers
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Ann Cotton is Founder and Board member of CAMFED, an international non-profit organisation tackling poverty and inequality in sub-Saharan Africa by supporting girls to go to school and succeed, and empowering young women to step up as leaders of change.
CAMFED’s goal is to replace the existing cycle of poverty and inequality with a new cycle of empowerment and opportunity. The organisation’s unique approach is to not only support girls and young women through school, but also on to new lives as entrepreneurs and community leaders. To complete the “virtuous cycle”, graduating students become alumnae and many train and mentor new generations of students. More than 5 million children have already benefited from CAMFED’s programmes in a network of 5,745 partner schools across Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Malawi. In 2014, Camfed was recognised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for best practice in taking development innovation to scale.
Ann is an Honorary Fellow at Homerton College, and Social Entrepreneur in Residence at the Cambridge University Judge Business School. She is a noted speaker on international platforms, including the World Economic Forum, the Clinton Global Initiative, the Skoll World Forum, and the U.S.-Africa Summit. Ann has won numerous awards for her work, including an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the University of Cambridge and The Open University; an OBE in honour of her advocacy of girls’ education in Africa; the Skoll and Schwab Awards for Social Entrepreneurship; Woman of the Year in the UK; and UK Social Entrepreneur of the Year; and the WISE Prize for Education.
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National Director, Tanzania,
CAMFEDLydia Wilbard is Co-Director of Camfed Tanzania and Co-Founder of the Tanzania chapter of Cama, the pan-African network of educated young women supported by Camfed. Lydia has been central to Camfed Tanzania’s programme of support to 310,512 children and young women, and is a specialist in gender, education and health with a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. A leader and role model, Lydia grew up in rural Tanzania and has personally overcome the barriers to women’s empowerment.
