Lucy Lake is Chief Executive Officer of CAMFED, dedicated to supporting girls’ education and women’s leadership, with a focus in sub-Saharan Africa.
Lucy is a founding member and former Co-Chair of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative, and is on the High-Level Steering Committee of the global Education Commission’s Workforce Initiative. Since joining CAMFED in the early ‘90s, Lucy has led the development of its program to become a transformative model for girls’ education, benefiting over seven million young people to date, and culminating in a new generation of women leaders now at the forefront of a global movement for girls’ education. CAMFED’s model has been acclaimed internationally, including by the OECD, which has recognized CAMFED for best practice in taking development innovation to scale.
In 2019, Lucy was awarded an OBE in The Queen’s New Year’s Honours in recognition of her service to young people. In 2020, Lucy was awarded the Yidan Prize for Education Development, the world’s largest education prize, for her contribution to female education, joining the newly-established Council of Luminaries together with her Co-Executive Angeline Murimirwa.