Camfed
| Founded | In 1993 by Ann Cotton in the UK |
|---|---|
| Type |
NGO Non-profit Development Education |
| Location | |
| Methods | Education of girls and empowerment of women |
| Mission | Eradication of poverty in Africa |
| Website | camfed |
Camfed (also known as the Campaign for Female Education) is an international non-governmental, non-profit organization whose mandate is to eradicate poverty in Africa through the education of girls and the empowerment of young women. Camfed programs operate in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Malawi.
In October 2014, Camfed was recognised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for best practice in taking development innovation to scale.
In November 2014, the World Innovation Summit for Education awarded Camfed President Ann Cotton the 2014 WISE Prize for Education.
Camfed was founded by Ann Cotton after being inspired by her travels to Mola in Zimbabwe in 1991, where she investigated why girls’ secondary school enrolment in rural areas was so low. She found that poverty - not cultural reasons - was the root cause. She started raising awareness in her community and fund-raising by selling baked goods, supporting the first 32 girls into school in two of the most impoverished districts of Zimbabwe.
In 1993, Cotton started Camfed (then ‘Cambridge Female Education Trust’). In 2013 Camfed directly supported 108,000 vulnerable and marginalised girls through school, bringing the total number of students who attended secondary school with Camfed’s support in Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe during the first 20 years to 1,201,801.
Anticipating the need for post-school economic opportunities in the students' communities, the Camfed Association (CAMA) was established in 1998 to connect young female school leavers and offer post-secondary school training opportunities in owning and managing money. Cama provides a structure through which its members can develop their activism and leadership. By 2013 CAMA had a membership of 24,436 with structures that extend from village to district, national and pan-African levels.
• Camfed International, a registered charity in the UK, established in 1993
• Camfed Zimbabwe, established in 1993
• Camfed Ghana, established in 1998
• Camfed USA, established in 2001
• Camfed Zambia, established in 2002
• Camfed Tanzania, established in 2007
• Camfed Malawi, established in 2009
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Wikipedia