25 Years of Empowering Girls and Young Women

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In 1993, the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) was founded with a mission to educate marginalized girls in rural and remote sub-Saharan Africa. What started with a bake sale to support 32 girls in Zimbabwe to go to school has grown into a movement which, 25 years later, has educated 2.6 million children, and launched young women across five countries into entrepreneurism and leadership roles. To celebrate a quarter century of empowering girls and young women to break the cycle of poverty and inequality – at the root of so many of the world's problems – the Campaign for Female Education will unveil its new brand simultaneously in eight countries on three continents. 

Today's launch, which precipitates a year-long 25^th Anniversary campaign, unites students, alumnae, teachers, Ministries of Education, and organization leaders across Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Great Britain, Canada, and the United States. The global event will feature a simultaneous unveiling of a new brand identity for the Campaign for Female Education. Under the banner Make Your Mark, the events will also feature creative uses of the logo on products and art created by the organization's community of students, employees, partners, and CAMFED Alumnae in the CAMA network – the former students who have become teachers, health care workers, businesswomen and, most importantly, catalysts of lasting change. 

"For 25 years, we have worked tirelessly to elevate women's leadership in Africa," said Lucy Lake, CEO of the Campaign for Female Education. "As we move forward into the next 25 years, we want to celebrate our global community of partners and show the world how creative and powerful the students and alumnae that we serve are. The Make Your Mark initiative will also showcase the vibrancy and passion of our teams in Africa, England and North America. Members of our movement are making their mark in communities around the world. It's time to let a wider audience in to see their talent and ambition."

Angeline Murimirwa, CAMFED's Executive Director in Africa, was one of the first girls supported to go to school by CAMFED. She now leads on programs across more than 5,700 marginalized school communities, supported by an executive team a quarter of which is made up of CAMFED Alumnae. These young women bring unrivalled expertise and empathy to solve complex issues around girls' exclusion from education – including child marriage and gender-based violence – with poverty at their core.

"25 years on, we are evolving our master mark to involve people in who we are, what we do, how we're different, and why they should care," Angeline Murimirwa says. "Our new mark shows that we are united, an unstoppable force for progress, and that everyone is capable of greatness. It shows how when we use our authority and leadership to protect and nurture the most vulnerable, we can create a global force for good, where no one is left behind. We ask people, governments and like-minded organizations to join us in the Campaign for Female Education."

For more information about the Campaign for Female Education, the 25^th Anniversary celebrations and the Make Your Mark initiative, please follow @camfed on social media, and visit: www.camfed.org

About the Campaign for Female Education

Supporting marginalized girls to go to school, succeed, and lead change
The Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) is an international non-profit organization tackling poverty and inequality by supporting girls to go to school and succeed, and empowering young women to step up as leaders of change.  CAMFED invests in girls and women in the poorest rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa, where girls face acute disadvantage, and where their education has transformative potential.  The organization not only supports girls and young women through school, but also on to new lives as entrepreneurs and community leaders. To complete the "virtuous cycle," and create sustainable change, graduating students become CAMFED Alumnae (CAMA), many of whom return to school to train and mentor new generations of students. Since 1993, the organization's innovative community-led education programs have supported more than 2.6 million children to go to school in Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe at more than 5,745 partner schools. In 2014, the Campaign for Female Education was recognized by the OECD for best practice in taking development innovation to scale. For more information, please visit www.camfed.org.

Media Contact: Lacie Peterson, 206.280.4498, [email protected].

SOURCE Campaign for Female Education

Related Links

http://www.camfed.org