Ann Cotton OBE, Executive Director, CAMFED International
Young people and education have been the focus of Ann Cotton’s life and she has a passionate belief in the power of education to transform lives. In her early career, she established and led an education centre for girls excluded from mainstream education in London. Ann went on to work as an Educational Assessor and advocate for children in care in Lancashire, UK. Whilst at Boston University in the US, she studied the multi-cultural education system of Massachusetts before returning to the UK to study Human Rights & Education at the London Institute of Education.
Following research into the constraints on girls’ education in Zimbabwe, Ann founded CAMFED in 1993. In 2000 Ann went on to study at the School for Social Entrepreneurs. She has an MA in Human Rights and Education, is an honorary Master of the Open University, sits on the Board of the African Studies Centre and is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Cambridge University. In 2004 Ann was named UK Social Entrepreneur of the Year, and in 2005 was awarded both the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and a Beacon Fellowship. In 2006, Ann received an OBE in honour of her services to girls’ education in Africa and in 2007 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge.
