Ann Cotton, an uncommon hero educating girls in Africa

Meet Ann Cotton. During a trip to Zimbabwe in 1990, Ann Cotton realized that Africa would never conquer poverty and disease unless its women were educated.

She found that families that could not afford to educate all their children would give priority to boys. She knew that educated women are less likely to contract HIV/AIDS, and that they marry later and have fewer children who are healthier and more likely to go to school.

She launched CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education) in 1993. By selling baked goods, she raised enough money to send 32 girls to school, and she has since built the organization to support 68,290 children in school. It reached more than 480,000 community members through various initiatives in 2004 alone.

CAMFED works with groups of girls who encourage one another to stay in school, get jobs, start businesses and become leaders in their communities. The organization has implemented its program in more than 30 districts in Zimbabwe, Ghana, Zambia and Tanzania and is poised to expand to other countries.

Learn about her story in this episode of Uncommon Heroes, funded by the Skoll Foundation. More information at www.camfed.org and www.skollfoundation.org.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• Camfed
• Skoll
• Ann Cotton
• Zimbabwe
• Zambia
• Ghana
• Tanzania
• Education
• Women
• Empowerment
• non-profit
• charity