CAMFED’s CEO is a TIME100 honoree for her leadership of a movement revolutionizing girls' education.
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TIME names Angeline Murimirwa to its list of the world’s 100 most influential people
Angeline (Angie) Murimirwa, CAMFED’s CEO, today made the TIME100 list of the most influential people in the world.
The list recognizes their impact, innovation and achievement. Angie leads a movement of influential women making exponential impact – improving education systems, and transforming the future of entire nations. The full list of honorees and related tributes is live at time.com/time100, and will appear in the April 28th, 2025 issue of TIME, available on newsstands on Friday, April 18th.
Angie Murimirwa is an inspiration to women and girls everywhere. Her grassroots approach to supporting vulnerable girls through CAMFED has transformed lives across Africa. Every girl, everywhere, deserves the right to an education and to be able to choose who—and when—to marry. With Angie leading the way, we get closer and closer to reaching that brighter future for our girls.Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States and founder of the Girls Opportunity Alliance
Malala Yousafzai: Girls’ education is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet
CAMFED’s grassroots-led model, supporting girls’ education and women’s leadership, is recognized as one of the boldest solutions for tackling the biggest challenges of our time. One of the first students to be supported by CAMFED through school and now at the helm of our global movement, Angie’s place as a TIME100 honoree showcases the exponential impact that we are making together!
Educating girls is the foundation of healthy and strong societies. But in many places, the barriers to attending school are mounting, depriving girls of the resources to choose their own futures. Few people are fighting to solve this crisis as tenaciously and effectively as Angeline—one reason among many that her work won her the prestigious 2024 Africa Education Medal.
Malala Yousafzai wrote in her profile piece for TIME
It all starts with sending a girl to school
Educate the next influential leader
My sincere congratulations to Angie Murimirwa for this well deserved recognition. As patron of CAMFED I have long been inspired by Angie's unwavering dedication to securing every child's right to a quality education. Angie's intellect and expertise have taken her from volunteer, to program manager, to executive leadership, always ensuring that CAMFED’s work is guided by those it serves.Julia Gillard, 27th Prime Minister of Australia and inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership
Angie's message to CAMFED’s champions across the world
“This recognition honors and celebrates the transformative power of education and the impact of our formidable global movement.
For a girl in rural Africa, education changes everything – it unlocks her power to shape her future. I’m living proof of this, having been supported by CAMFED to go to school, and now leading the organization as CEO.
And I am not alone: I’m proudly anchored and fuelled by 313,000 fellow CAMFED graduates who know – and do – what it takes to keep girls in school and support our communities to thrive. Together, we’re putting into action the power of girls’ education and women’s leadership to advance health, economic development, and climate resilience, creating a better world for all.
Thank you, TIME, for highlighting CAMFED’s work, and to our partners and champions for making it possible.”
Angie's leadership journey
After graduation Angie went on to volunteer for CAMFED, then became an employed program coordinator, and eventually CAMFED Zimbabwe’s National Executive Director in 2005. She helped lead CAMFED’s expansion into Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi, using her own experience to build trust and commitment in partner communities.
From 2013, she played a key role in the launch of CAMFED’s Learner Guide Program, which sees CAMFED graduates returning to their local schools as mentors and life skills coaches, supporting young people to shape their own future and create a better world for everyone. Angie continued to rise in the organization as CAMFED’s impact grew. She stepped into the role of CEO in 2023, uniquely positioned to bring the expertise of girls and women once excluded from education to inform policy and strategy at every level.
CAMFED's proven 3-level approach
1. We partner with school communities to provide girls with individualized financial and material support to attend and succeed in school – including items like decent clothes, notebooks, and menstrual products – and build a nurturing social support network around them.
2. When they graduate, we support young women to transition to work and positions of leadership through the CAMFED Association — the sisterhood of educated young women who in turn help to support the next generation of girls to go to school. Members of this unique pan-African network of teachers, nurses, doctors, sustainable agriculture experts and entrepreneurs are leading action on the big challenges their countries face – from child marriage, and girls’ exclusion from education to climate change.
3. We partner with governments to embed what works in national school systems, to ensure these better serve the needs of girls, transforming the lives of entire generations.
Making an exponential impact, together
- 7.8M
Since 1993, we have supported 7.8 million children to go to school in Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, including 2.4 million girls at secondary school
- 313K
The CAMFED Association - our powerful network of women leaders educated with CAMFED support - is 312,747 strong and counting
- X3
The most important thing about CAMFED's sisterhood is our Multiplier Effect: The average member financially supports the education of at least 3 more girls.
Congratulations, Angie! Your sisters across Africa are so proud of you! Because of role models like you, we are influential too! CAMFED supported me to go to school, and to study sustainable agriculture at university. I used my expertise to help develop a new approach to climate education, which CAMFED introduced in schools with ministries of education in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Now, with other graduates in the CAMFED Association, I support women across rural Africa to move from subsistence farming to running successful climate-smart agribusinesses.Esnath Divasoni, CAMFED Association climate expert, Zimbabwe
Be part of Angie’s game-changing movement
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Hear from the influential women leading alongside Angie
The commitment of CAMFED graduates and community champions drives a sustainable and proven grassroots-led model that radically improves girls’ prospects of becoming independent, influential women.
Harriet: Teacher, Learner Guide and Entrepreneur, Zambia
As National Chairperson for the CAMFED Association in Zambia, I'm a champion for other girls and young women in my communities, and committed to making quality education a reality for more girls.
Getruda: Education helped me see that I can influence positive change in the world
I’ve been on a transformative education journey with CAMFED, and now I’m plowing back into my community by supporting young women in Tanzania to access education opportunities.
Diris: Education unlocked my power, now I’m as fearless as a lion!
Like a lion, I am focused, fearless, and determined to overcome challenges! I’m Diris from Tanzania, read my story to learn how education transformed my life and how I’m building lasting change in Tanzania.
Q&A with Elizabeth, Peanut Entrepreneur
Since I started my business, I’ve become confident to make decisions — particularly financial ones — on my own, which is unusual in my rural community. I have seen the community’s mind-set towards women and girls completely change.
Joanna
I hope my story will be a huge encouragement to many - showing a person living with a disability who has accomplished much in life. I like to say: “Never be afraid to show the world who you are and what you are made of.”
Esnath
I am a role model to girls and young women in my community who aspire for a brighter future as leaders in climate action. I am a passionate advocate for girls’ education and I have experienced first hand the barriers girls face in staying in school.