Our history

In May 2024, CAMFED was awarded the 2023 Al-Sumait Prize for African Development. Established in 2013, the Al-Sumait Prize honors the lifelong commitment of Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Sumait to improving health, education, and food security in Africa. This exceptional value prize is awarded by Kuwait’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS).

At an event held on May 2nd, 2024, together with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, CAMFED announced the launch of its Agriculture Guide Program in Ghana. The Program sees young women educated with CAMFED’s support and equipped with context-specific training, lead action to build community climate resilience, support women’s sustainable agribusiness, and improve food security.

CAMFED, in partnership with Ministries of Education in Zambia and Zimbabwe, launched a new in-school climate education program, led by young women graduates. It complements the existing curriculum, supporting all young people – particularly marginalized girls and their communities – to thrive, build climate resilience, and plan green careers.

In October 2023, CAMFED announced the launch of its Vision for 2030 at a special event hosted by Dojo in London, UK. Our ambitious plan is to help meet the global Sustainable Development Goals by supporting millions more girls in rural Africa to access and complete secondary school, graduate into secure livelihoods and leadership, and in turn mentor and support the next generation through school, in a model set to transform education systems across Africa.

In July 2023, the Association of women leaders educated with CAMFED support turned 25.
Established in Zimbabwe in 1998, the CAMFED Association has now become a pan-African sisterhood of girls’ education activists, spearheading CAMFED’s programs, and joining forces with their communities to support many more girls through school, providing them with the tools and skills they need to thrive after they graduate.

In April 2023, CAMFED was selected by The Audacious Project as one of the biggest, boldest solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges for its plan to transform the lives of millions of girls in sub-Saharan Africa. Every year, The Audacious Project – which is housed at TED – selects and nurtures a group of timely solutions and brings together an inspiring group of supporters to help launch them. 

In January 2023, Lucy Lake passed the baton to Angeline Murimirwa. Angie, in her new role as CEO, and Lucy, in her new role as Chair of the Global Executive, will continue to work closely together as CAMFED Co-Executives. “As a graduate of CAMFED, unwavering in her commitment to accountability to the girls we serve and inimitable in her determination that every young woman should fulfil her potential, Angie is an inspiration to us all,” Lucy writes in the announcement.

In November, CAMFED Association climate educators and activists Harriet Cheelo and Natasha Lwanda joined other climate experts in our 1-hour panel discussion and Q&A at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP27,  in Egypt on the theme “Climate Education for Resilience and Equity in sub-Saharan Africa.” CAMFED was honored with the UN Global Climate Action Award in 2019.

In October, Michelle Obama’s Girls Opportunity Alliance announced CAMFED as one of its non-profit collaborators on a new initiative, Get Her There, a global call to action to help educate and empower adolescent girls around the world to reach their full potential.

On August 4, 2021, CAMFED was awarded the 2021 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the world’s largest annual humanitarian award presented to a nonprofit in recognition of extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering.

In June 2021, CAMFED was honored to receive the prestigious Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, often referred to as “Spain’s Nobel Prize,” which counts Nelson Mandela and Gloria Steinem among its laureates.

In November 2020, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof selected CAMFED as Grand Prize Winner of his Holiday Impact Prize, recognizing girls’ education as the key to tackling the world’s greatest challenges.

In September 2020, CAMFED’s Co-Executives Angeline Murimirwa and Lucy Lake were named as 2020 laureates of the Yidan Prize for Education Development, the world’s largest prize in education. They were the first team to be granted the Yidan Prize since its inception in 2017.

Three CAMFED Association members – Kate Wodenya Amenyikor, Jennifer De-Graft Ninson and Angelina Anita Ama Annobil – were recognized for their activism in promoting quality, equitable education at the Humanitarian Awards Ghana, which took place on October 3, 2020 in Accra.

First started in Tanzania in 2020, by 2021 CAMFED’s Business Guide Program had expanded to include Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The CAMFED Business Guide Program supports rural women with training, peer mentorship and linkages to financial opportunities in order to grow profitable businesses.

In 2020, CAMFED’s Climate-Smart Agriculture Guide Program launched in Zimbabwe, with Zambia and Malawi soon after. The program sees young women in the CAMFED Association, who are trained in climate-smart agriculture, cascade their knowledge to rural smallholder farmers, helping communities to improve farming yields, incomes and food security.

Each year since 2014, CAMFED reported on its goal of supporting 1 million girls in secondary school within 5 years — and in 2019 we surpassed it, having supported the education of 1,205,336 adolescent girls. Importantly, nearly half of all these girls benefitted directly from the philanthropy and outreach of young women in the CAMFED Association, the network of women leaders educated with CAMFED support.

In September 2019 at COP25, CAMFED was awarded the UN Global Climate Action Award in the Women for Results category, recognizing young women’s grassroots leadership for climate action. 

Leaders in our CAMFED Association gave a rousing welcome to The Duke of Sussex at a meeting at a teacher training college in Malawi. Prince Harry came to meet nearly 50 young women during a special event with The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust in Lilongwe, and thrilled the audience when he introduced The Duchess of Sussex, who joined via live link from South Africa.

In May 2019, the first ever CAMFED Gala took place in New York City, celebrating 25 years of progress in women’s empowerment and girls’ education. Angeline Murimirwa announced our audacious goal of supporting 5 million more girls to go to school.

In May 2019, the CAMFED Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, designed by Jilayne Rickards, won a coveted gold medal and the BBC / RHS People’s Choice Award in the ‘Space to Grow’ category.  Clarah Zinyama, a CAMFED graduate and climate-smart agriculture expert in the CAMFED Association, had travelled to the UK from Zimbabwe to share her expertise with visitors.

In a meeting filled with laughter, singing and sharing stories, The Duke of Sussex praised the “great work” carried out by members of the CAMFED Association, CAMA, and other youth leaders. They had gathered together for a special event in Lusaka, Zambia, organized by The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust in celebration of what young change-makers are achieving in their communities.

In November 2017, CAMFED Tanzania’s Lydia Wilbard accepted the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) Award for our Learner Guide Program. The WISE Awards recognize high-impact projects from around the globe for their innovative solutions to 21st century education challenges. Winning projects had to be scalable and replicable, demonstrating a transformative impact on individuals, communities, and society.

In 2017, CAMFED’s Executive Director Angeline Murimirwa – and one of the first young women supported through school by CAMFED – was recognized as one of the 100 most influential and inspirational women around the world for leading CAMFED’s programs across sub-Saharan Africa, unlocking the potential of hundreds of thousands of young women. She listed her mom as her role model, and quoted the Shona phrase, “We have been through the thunderstorms. Showers don’t frighten us.”

On September 14, 2017, the Clara Lionel Foundation presented Angeline Murimirwa with the 2017 Diamond Ball Honours Award, recognizing her past, present and future support of young leaders, entrepreneurship and civic engagement. The Diamond Ball is the annual gala held by the Clara Lionel Foundation, founded by award-winning performer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, Rihanna. 

CAMFED’s Transition Guide Program launched in Zimbabwe in 2017, and by 2019 was operating in Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Ghana. The Transition Guide Program supports recent high school graduates to take their next steps into business, professional careers, or further education and training.

In 2016, CAMFED International was officially approved as a BTEC awarding centre for our bespoke Level 3 (Advanced Diploma) BTEC qualification for CAMFED Guides, developed in partnership with Pearson. By 2020, it had been rolled out across all 5 CAMFED countries of operation, and includes all CAMFED Guide roles (Transition, Business, Agriculture and Learner Guides).

In October 2014, CAMFED was recognized as a model of best practice in taking innovation to scale by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). CAMFED’s achievement was announced at a ceremony on Tuesday, October 7th at the OECD headquarters in Paris.

Ann Cotton’s work with CAMFED to support community-owned, integrated education programmes for girls and young women in rural Africa was recognized with the WISE Prize for Education in November 2014. She accepted the award on behalf of the 1 million girls CAMFED committed to supporting through secondary education within 5 years.

The announcement came as part of the Clinton Global Initiative’s CHARGE (The Collaborative for Harnessing Ambition and Resources for Girls’ Education) Commitment, which was announced by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton and former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the final day of the tenth annual Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York City.

CAMFED’s flagship Learner Guide Program began in 2013 in a network of 991 government secondary schools across 35 rural districts in Tanzania and Zimbabwe. By 2018, the life skills, mentorship and social support program was running across all 5 CAMFED countries of operation, supporting girls to succeed and young women to lead.

CAMFED Malawi launched in 2009, when we began partnering with school communities and Ministry and education stakeholders to improve learning environments and boost academic and life outcomes for students in rural communities, especially marginalized girls. 

CAMFED’s work and Angeline Murimirwa’s story is featured in the New York Times best-selling book Half the Sky by Nick Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn.

CAMFED Founder Ann Cotton was awarded the Skoll Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurship at the Skoll World Forum in Oxford in 2005. The Skoll Foundation “invests in social entrepreneurs and other social innovators who together advance bold and equitable solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.”

CAMFED Tanzania launched in 2005 in Iringa District, working with the government to boost secondary school enrolment and break down the barriers that hold girls and young women back.

CAMFED Zambia launched in 2001, when we were invited by the Ministry of Education to help improve access to and completion of education for rural girls.

CAMFED Ghana launched in 1998, working first in the Northern Region, where girls and their communities faced the greatest disadvantage.

The CAMFED Association was formed in July 1998 when 400 recent school graduates from rural Zimbabwe came together to discuss what their futures would look like, and through their collective efforts, pledged to support each other and more girls to go to school.

CAMFED Zimbabwe launched in 1993, in tandem with CAMFED International, and has continued to expand its reach, programs and partnerships during times of great upheaval, social and economic challenges.

In 1993, CAMFED International was founded by researcher Ann Cotton, whose work in Zimbabwe led her to understand that poverty was the main barrier to girls’ participation in the classroom, and that if girls secured their human right to be in school, learn, and shape their own destinies, they would change their communities and nations forever.