Julia Gillard to be Honorary Event Chair at CAMFED NYC Gala

We are thrilled to announce that the Hon Julia Gillard AC will walk the red carpet with a new generation of fearless female leaders, who will travel to New York from across sub-Saharan Africa for a 25th anniversary celebration like no other on May 9th in New York City.

The 27th Prime Minister of Australia, global education expert, and renowned advocate for gender equality and women’s leadership, is due to speak at a pivotal moment for girls’ education in Africa.

As the first woman to ever serve as Australia’s Prime Minister, Ms Gillard received worldwide attention for her speech in Parliament on the treatment of women in professional and public life, and has dedicated her career to ensuring quality education for children across the globe.  Where financial resources are scarce, girls are typically the first to be excluded from education, vulnerable to early marriage, early pregnancy, and ill health, perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

Ms. Gillard’s drive for gender equity and women’s leadership, both as an outcome and a driver for quality education, saw her join the Campaign for Female Education as Patron in 2016. CAMFED supports the most marginalized girls in rural sub-Saharan Africa to go to school, succeed, and lead. Starting with support for 32 girls to go to school in Zimbabwe, the organization has already scaled to support the education of 2.6 million children in five countries.

Like CAMFED Executive Director Angeline Murimirwa, the African leaders joining Ms. Gillard are all CAMFED alumnae. They are part of CAMFED’s executive team, or working as activists in their communities. Because they themselves were once excluded, they know exactly what it takes to get girls into school, keep them there, help them to learn, support them to succeed, and unlock their power to lead.

Young women from five countries in sub-Saharan Africa who are members of the CAMFED alumnae network, CAMA, will be joining Ms Gillard, an Honorary Event Chair, on the red carpet –  and on stage – this May 9th at 583 Park Avenue. The CAMA network is already 120,000 members strong. These young women are united by one goal: to ensure that no girl is excluded from education. They elect representatives from district to regional level, and are guided by a constitution. Every day, thousands of CAMA members mentor girls in their local schools, and support young women with the training, skills and access to resources they need to become independent after school. 

Julia Gillard with the leadership of the Campaign for Female Education – including alumnae from across five countries at a strategic meeting in South Africa in 2016, when she joined the organization as patron.

As teachers, medical workers, and businesswomen, they are transforming the futures of the most excluded children in their communities, each in turn supporting more than two children not in their immediate families to go to school.

CAMFED’s ‘Education Changes Everything’ Gala presents an extraordinary opportunity for the projected 600+ guests to meet and hear from inspirational leaders like Ms. Gillard, one of the globe’s most dedicated civil servants. They will meet CAMFED alumnae from Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, who will stop at nothing to help more girls get the opportunities they got.  It’s a moment not just to celebrate what has been accomplished, but to launch a new chapter together with new partners – a chapter positioned to rewrite the future of Africa and the globe, by unlocking the power within millions more girls.

Find out more about the ‘Education Changes Everything’ Gala.

Read more about Julia Gillard and CAMFED:

A seminal interview with Jordan Shapiro for Forbes

Julia Gillard joins Angeline Murimirwa and The Duchess of Sussex for an IWD panel discussion