Video: How educating girls transforms lives

Stay up to date:
Africa
When you educate a girl everything changes,” says Ann Cotton. She says girl’s exclusion is often the result of deep poverty rather than a cultural decision. Cotton is Founder and President of Camfed, an organisation that works in the poorest rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa, where educating and empowering women and girls is transforming lives.
Watch the full video in the player above.
Author: Ann Cotton is Founder and President of Camfed, an organisation that works in the poorest rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
Image: Children read during a Koranic studies lesson. REUTERS/Feisal Omar.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Forum Stories newsletter
Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.
More on Education and SkillsSee all
Laurel Taylor
August 18, 2025
Antara Choudhury and Vivin Rajasekharan Nair
August 14, 2025
Rawan bint Najeeb Tawfeeqi
August 11, 2025
Neeti Mehta Shukla
August 1, 2025
Naoko Tochibayashi
July 30, 2025