She started out as a student and now helps provide education for millions.
HARARE, Zimbabwe , April 16, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Angeline (Angie) Murimirwa, chief executive officer of CAMFED, today made the TIME100 list of the most influential people in the world. Murimirwa leads a movement of influential women making exponential impact—improving education systems, and transforming the future of entire nations. The full list and related tributes appear in the April 28, 2025 issue of TIME, available on newsstands on Friday, April 18, and now at time.com/time100.
"Angie Murimirwa is an inspiration to women and girls everywhere," said former First Lady of the United States and founder of the Girls Opportunity Alliance Michelle Obama. "Her grassroots approach to supporting vulnerable girls through CAMFED has transformed lives across Africa. Every girl, everywhere, deserves the right to an education and to be able to choose who—and when—to marry. With Angie leading the way, we get closer and closer to reaching that brighter future for our girls."
Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and unrelenting champion for girls' education, who shares Murimirwa's commitment to securing every girl's right to learn, thrive and lead, wrote in her profile piece for TIME, "Educating girls is the foundation of healthy and strong societies. But in many places, the barriers to attending school are mounting, depriving girls of the resources to choose their own futures. Few people are fighting to solve this crisis as tenaciously and effectively as Angeline—one reason among many that her work won her the prestigious 2024 Africa Education Medal."
Julia Gillard, 27th Prime Minister of Australia and inaugural Chair of the Global Women's Leadership, joined prominent leaders across the globe in recognizing Murimirwa. She said, "My sincere congratulations to Angie Murimirwa for this well deserved recognition. As patron of CAMFED I have long been inspired by Angie's unwavering dedication to securing every child's right to a quality education. Angie's intellect and expertise have taken her from volunteer, to program manager, to executive leadership, always ensuring that CAMFED's work is guided by those it serves."
Murimirwa was one of the first girls supported to go to school by CAMFED. Relaying her journey in her TED Talk, she invited viewers to see girls' education through a different lens. She is a founding member of the CAMFED Association of women leaders educated with CAMFED support, which now includes more than 313,000 women across the African continent.
"This recognition honors and celebrates the transformative power of education and the impact of our formidable global movement," said Angie Murimirwa in her message to CAMFED partners and champions across the world. "For a girl in rural Africa, education changes everything—it unlocks her power to shape her future. I'm living proof of this, having been supported by CAMFED to go to school, and now leading the organization as CEO. And I am not alone: I'm proudly anchored and fuelled by 313,000 fellow CAMFED graduates who know—and do—what it takes to keep girls in school and support our communities to thrive. Together, we're putting into action the power of girls' education and women's leadership to advance health, economic development, and climate resilience, creating a better world for all. Thank you, TIME, for highlighting CAMFED's work, and to our partners and champions for making it possible."
CAMFED has already supported 7.8 million children to go to school in Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, including 2.4 million girls in secondary school. It provides girls from the most underserved communities across rural Africa with individualized financial and material support to attend and succeed in school and builds a nurturing social support network around them.
When girls graduate, CAMFED supports them to transition to work and positions of leadership through the CAMFED Association. Members of this unique pan-African network of teachers, nurses, doctors, sustainable agriculture experts and entrepreneurs are leading action on the big challenges their countries face—from child marriage, and girls' exclusion from education to climate change.
Women like Esnath Divasoni, who recently featured in a climate action documentary with Murimirwa, exemplify this leadership. She said, "Congratulations, Angie! Your sisters across Africa are so proud of you! Because of role models like you, we are influential too! CAMFED supported me to go to school, and to study sustainable agriculture at university. I used my expertise to help develop a new approach to climate education, which CAMFED introduced in schools with ministries of education in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Now, with other graduates in the CAMFED Association, I support women across rural Africa to move from subsistence farming to running successful climate-smart agribusinesses."
Each CAMFED Association member financially supports, on average, another three girls to go to school. This multiplies the impact of every donation to the organization. Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times is a long-standing champion who has featured Murimirwa and honored CAMFED's work with his Holiday Impact Prize. He calls CAMFED a "perpetual motion machine."
Readers eager to be part of Murimirwa's game-changing movement are invited to share the news by joining @camfed across social media, donating to educate more influential leaders, and signing CAMFED's Global Sisterhood Pledge to join a learning journey.
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Learn, thrive and lead change
CAMFED is a pan-African movement, revolutionizing how girls' education is delivered. Through a gold-standard system of accountability to the young people and communities we serve, we have created a model that radically improves girls' prospects of becoming independent, influential women. Our impact increases exponentially through the Association of young women educated with CAMFED's support, now numbering nearly 313,000. Our collective efforts have already supported 7.8 million children to go to school across Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe (including 2.4 million girls at secondary level) and have benefited many more students through an improved educational environment across our partner schools. Together, we multiply the number of girls in school, and accelerate their transition to secure livelihoods and leadership.
Follow us across social media: @camfed (@camfedsisterhood on TikTok)
Media Contact
Cameron Catalano, CAMFED, 1 6507031842, [email protected], camfed.org
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