Ann Cotton dedicates WISE Prize to one million girls Camfed will help educate in next five years

Camfed founder Ann Cotton was named today as the winner of the 2014 WISE Prize For Education 国产视频� and dedicated the award to the one million girls her organisation is planning to support through secondary schooling in the next five years.

Ann received her prize at the annual World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in Doha, Qatar, for her work in marginalised communities in Africa.

She said:聽国产视频淚 am honoured to join education innovators like Ms Vicky Colbert, Dr Madhav Chavan and Sir Fazle Hasan Abed as the fourth WISE Prize for Education Laureate.

国产视频淚 accept this prize on behalf of the million girls Camfed is committed to supporting through secondary education in the next five years 国产视频� a million girls whose poverty has so far robbed them of confidence and agency and who do not yet know what an amazing transformation awaits them.

国产视频淛ust imagine one million girls in Africa, all of whom are from a background of rural poverty; all of whom understand the anxiety and the frustrations of poverty. Just imagine them working in the education and health systems, in politics, in journalism, in law, in engineering, in science 国产视频� just imagine the power of what they can do to transform our world.国产视频�

Ann has also been announced as a special guest at聽Our Future, Our Rights 国产视频� Youth Rising #UpForSchool, hosted by A World at School and the Overseas Development Institute 国产视频� on November 19. She will appear alongside Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi and ODI Executive Director Kevin Watkins.

The prize was presented to Ann by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation. WISE said on its website: 国产视频淔or more than two decades, Ann Cotton has led efforts to improve opportunities for girls and young women at the margins of education.国产视频�

Camfed 国产视频� the Campaign for Female Education 国产视频� tackles poverty and inequality by supporting girls to go to school 国产视频� and to succeed. It also empowers young women to step up as leaders of change.

Ann launched the organisation in 1993 国产视频� two years after visiting Zimbabwe to find out why school enrolment among girls in rural areas was so low. The answer wasn国产视频檛 cultural reasons 国产视频� it was poverty. Families could not afford books or tuition fees for all their children so they often sent only the boys, believing they had better job prospects after education.

So began a grassroots fundraising campaign that supported 32 girls through school and grew into Camfed. In the 21 years since then, more than three million students in over 5000 schools have benefited from Camfed programmes in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Malawi.

Camfed国产视频檚 approach breaks the cycle of poverty, child marriage, high birth rates and high rates of HIV/AIDS by working in partnership with constituencies that have power over a girl国产视频檚 education and life choices.

Ann said:聽国产视频淧oor parents share the universal desire to educate their children. Camfed works to transform this desire into action, in partnership with these families.

国产视频淭ogether we work to dismantle the material as well as psychological barriers that keep girls from achieving their full potential.国产视频�

The previous winners of the WISE Prize are:

2011 国产视频� Sir Fazle Hasan Abed.聽Founder and Chairman of Bangladesh-based BRAC, one of the world国产视频檚 leading development organisations. Over the past 40 years, BRAC has contributed directly to the education of more than 10 million students, from pre-primary to through secondary levels. Now active in nine other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

2012 国产视频� Dr Madhav Chavan.聽CEO of Pratham, the largest education NGO in India, won or his remarkable contribution to low-cost mass literacy and numeracy learning. Dr Chavan devised a simple formula to bring basic education to millions of under-privileged children in India and the organisation国产视频檚 programs are now active in 17 of the 28 states.

2013 国产视频� Vicky Colbert.聽Founder and Director of Fundaci贸n Escuela Nueva. Convinced that without basic education for all, nothing could be achieved, she has transformed the lives of ordinary people in Colombia and beyond by putting the power of quality education in their hands. Escuela Nueva has been implemented throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, East Timor and Vietnam, reaching more than five million children around the globe.

Read A World at School co-founder Sarah Brown国产视频檚 tribute to Ann Cotton.