Unable to pay school fees as a child, she now heads up the very organization that helped her stay in class.
A brand new 11-minute episode of CNN’s African Voices Changemakers highlights the leadership of Angeline (Angie) Murimirwa, CAMFED’s Executive Director – Africa, and her sisters in the CAMFED Association, using their lived experience to achieve gender equality, economic development and climate action through girls’ education.
Filmed in Blantyre and Mulanje, Malawi, the segment shows Angie engaging with staff, students supported by CAMFED, as well as young women who have stepped into leadership and entrepreneurship after graduation. You’ll see Angie with fellow CAMFED graduates who are running businesses, taking steps to build their communities’ resilience to climate change, and supporting the next generation of girls through school.
Watch CNN's African Voices ChangemakersI personally know how painful it is to be excluded from education. To be told you can’t sit in this class alongside your peers because you cannot meet the cost is powerfully painful… Education is justice. Giving everybody a chance to go to school is justice. It tells every child that they belong, that they own their destiny, that they can shape it.
Angeline Murimirwa
The CAMFED Association of women leaders educated with CAMED support now numbers more than 29,000 in Malawi, and nearly 208,000 across five African countries. The CNN team met CAMFED Association entrepreneur Charity, who runs a tailoring shop, and mentors young girls in her community. They met Learner Guide Idess, who keeps girls in school and out of child marriage, and visited her farm, discussing the impact of climate change. Some of the young women met Angie for the first time during this visit captured by CNN. They highlighted how much she—a founding member of our peer-support network—means to them as a big sister, mentor, and role model who has also overcome the odds to complete education, and become independent and influential.
“When I met Angie I was so excited to know that she is also a CAMFED Association member like me and grew up in a rural area. I learnt from her that being a rural girl is not a barrier to achieve what you want in life. Angie motivated me and she motivated my friends as well who she met during her recent visit here in Malawi. We will continue working hard and pursue our dreams of changing the tide of poverty in our communities.”
Idess Moyo, CAMFED Association member and Learner Guide, Malawi
Read Idess' storyFor every girl out there — poor or not, struggling or not — you matter. You are important. You have every right to be here. You belong, and you are alive for a reason. And you have the opportunity to make the world a better place. There is only one you, and the world needs you in this time, in this generation.
Angeline Murimirwa
This 3-minute-long video contains the highlights from the African Voices Changemakers special about Angeline (Angie) Murimirwa, CAMFED’s Executive Director – Africa.
In the interview, Zain and Angie explore how leadership and entrepreneurship ignited by girls’ education can challenge traditional gender norms.
CAMFED Malawi was launched in 2009, and by 2021 was working in 17 districts. Malawi suffers from an acute lack of secondary schools, meaning children — especially in rural areas — often have to travel long distances to school. Only 14% of girls finish upper secondary school in Malawi and among the poorest children that falls to 2%. CAMFED Malawi works to support the most vulnerable girls to stay in school, learn and thrive.
Social justice starts with girls' education, and is advanced by young women leaders working together on systems transformation. We show that the best minds to address local issues are those with an intimate understanding of the challenges the most marginalized in their communities face.
Investing in girls’ education and women's leadership is one of the most powerful ways of tackling the climate emergency. If we want to see a drastic improvement in the health and wealth of entire nations, and in our societies’ ability to face the impact of climate change, we need to make sure that women and girls have equitable access to quality education.
CAMFED supports young women to become leaders in their communities and beyond, joining forces to change the status quo for women and girls for good
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