Ann Cotton is founder and Executive Director of Camfed International (Campaign for Female Education) and co-chairs the UN Girls Education Initiative. In 2005, she received the Skoll Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurship and the United Kingdom Beacon Prize for her leadership in girls' education, and was awarded an OBE in the Queens New Year Honours List. Prior to founding Camfed (www.camfed.org), Ms. Cotton worked as an educational assessor and child advocate, and is currently an Honorary Fellow of the Open University in the United Kingdom.
The Importance of Educating Girls and Women – The Fight Against Poverty in African Rural Communities
The Millennium Declaration, adopted by world leaders in 2000, set ambitious goals and targets to be achieved by 2015. At the end of 2007, just past the midpoint of this process, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) seem almost as elusive as they were in 20001.