{{Short description|Welsh entrepreneur (born 1950)}} {{about||the author of a personal account of Bacon's Rebellion|Ann Cotton (colonial Virginian)|the Canadian actress and singer|Annie Cotton}} {{Use British English|date=June 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Ann Lesley Cotton OBE | image = Ann_Lesley_Cotton_From_Poverty_to_Prosperity-_Engaging_the_Next_Generation_(5579338412)_(3).jpg | imagesize = | caption = Ann Lesley Cotton | birth_name = Ann Lesley Cotton | birth_date = 1950 | birth_place = Cardiff, Wales | death_date = | death_place = | othername = | known_for = Teacher and social entrepreneur | yearsactive = | awards = {{Plainlist| * 2004 Social Entrepreneur of the Year for the UK<ref name="entrepreneur residence Cambridge Uni" /> * Honorary Fellow of the Open University<ref name="entrepreneur residence Cambridge Uni" /> * 2005 Beacon Prize winner<ref name="entrepreneur residence Cambridge Uni" /> * 2005 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship<ref name="Skoll award" /> * 2006 OBE in the Queen's New Year Honours List<ref name="Guardian article" /> * 2007 Honorary Doctorate in Law, University of Cambridge<ref name="entrepreneur residence Cambridge Uni" /> * 2014 GDST Alumna of the Year Award<ref name="GDST" /> * 2014 WISE Prize for Education<ref name="WISE prize">{{cite web|title=Ann Cotton awarded the 2014 WISE Prize for Education.|url=http://www.wise-qatar.org/prize-ann-cotton-camfed|publisher=WISE Initiative|access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref> * 2015 Ahimsa Award by Institute of Jainology}} }}
'''Ann Lesley Cotton''' OBE (born 1950) is a Welsh entrepreneur and philanthropist who was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2006 Queen's New Year Honours List. The honour was in recognition of her services to education of young women in rural Africa as the founder of Camfed.<ref name="Guardian article">{{cite news|last1=McVeigh|first1=Tracey|title=Ann Cotton: educating millions within Africa by inspiring sustainable change|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/feb/28/ann-cotton-educating-millions-within-africa-by-inspiring-sustainable-change|access-date=28 February 2015|work=The Guardian|date=28 February 2015}}</ref>
== Camfed ''Innovation and Activities'' == Camfed's goal is to replace the existing cycle of poverty and inequality with a new cycle of empowerment and opportunity. The organisation's unique approach is to not only support girls and young women through school, but also on to new lives as entrepreneurs and community leaders. To complete the "virtuous cycle",<ref name="Camfed - CAMA alumnae">{{cite web|title=CAMA alumnae: young women leading change|url=https://camfed.org/why-girls-education/leaders-of-change/|publisher=Camfed|access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref> graduating students become CAMA alumnae, many of whom return to school to train and mentor new generations of students. Camfed started out by supporting 32 girls through school in Zimbabwe in 1993. Since then it has expanded its success across 2,295 communities in five sub-Saharan countries. Over the past 17 years, 1,065,710 young people directly benefited from Camfed's programmes in Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. More than 3 million children have already benefited from Camfed's programmes in a network of 5,085 partner school<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.schwabfound.org/content/ann-cotton|title=Ann Cotton {{!}} Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship|website=www.schwabfound.org|language=en|access-date=2018-05-23}}</ref>
Camfed won the International Aid and Development Charity of the Year award in 2003. In 2014, Camfed was recognised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for best practice in taking development innovation to scale.<ref name="Camfed - Ann Cotton">{{cite web|title=Ann Cotton OBE Founder and President, Camfed International|url=https://camfed.org/about/team/ann-cotton/|publisher=Camfed|access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref>
==Background== Cotton was born in Cardiff, Wales, and was educated at Howell's School, Llandaff.<ref name="GDST">{{cite web|title=Ann Cotton OBE wins GDST Alumna of the Year Award |url=http://www.gdst.net/3420/current-parents/viewpoint---summer-2014/ann-cotton-wins-gdst-alumna-of-the-year/ |publisher=Girls' Day School Trust website |access-date=2 March 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160211051357/http://www.gdst.net/3420/current-parents/viewpoint---summer-2014/ann-cotton-wins-gdst-alumna-of-the-year/ |archive-date=11 February 2016 }}</ref> For more than three decades, Ann Cotton has been focused on improving opportunity for children at the margins of education. She began her career in a London school by establishing one of the first centres for girls excluded from mainstream education.<ref name="Camfed - Ann Cotton" /> Cotton's commitment to girls' education in Africa began in 1991, when she went on a research trip to Zimbabwe to investigate why girls' school enrolment in rural areas was so low. Contrary to the common assumption that families weren't sending girls to school for cultural reasons, Cotton discovered that poverty was the main roadblock. Families could not afford to buy books or pay school fees for all their children. Instead, they had to choose which children would receive an education. Since boys had a better chance of getting a paid job after graduation, daughters were rarely selected.<ref name="Guardian article" />
Cotton knew that educated girls were less likely to contract HIV/AIDS, would marry later, have fewer and healthier children, and would support the next generation to go to school. She understood that poverty and exclusion affects girls both psychologically and economically, and that if girls could be educated, supported by their communities, and empowered to shape their own destinies, they could change their communities and nations forever.<ref name="Camfed - Ann Cotton" /> In 1993, after grassroots fundraising that supported the first 32 girls through school in Zimbabwe, Cotton founded Camfed. The reach of the organisation's innovative education programmes has grown ever since. In 2013 alone, Camfed directly supported more than 434,000 children to go to school.
One of the most effective and innovative results of Camfed's work is CAMA, a unique, 314,410-member-strong pan-African network of Camfed graduates. CAMA alumnae use their experience and expertise to design and deliver extended programs to students and communities, including health and financial literacy training. Each CAMA member supports the education of another two to three children outside of her own family, multiplying the benefits of her education, and testifying to the programs' effectiveness and sustainability. Over Camfed's two decades, this approach has been proven to work both within rural communities, and at a larger scale across countries.<ref name="Camfed - CAMA alumnae" />
==Residencies, platforms and awards== Ann Cotton is an Honorary Fellow at Homerton College, Cambridge, and Social Entrepreneur in Residence at the Cambridge University Judge Business School.<ref name="entrepreneur residence Cambridge Uni">{{cite web|title=Mrs Ann Cotton, Executive Director, CamFed International|url=http://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/network/cotton/|publisher=University of Cambridge, Centre for Science and Policy|access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref> She is a noted speaker on international platforms, including the World Economic Forum, the Clinton Global Initiative and the Skoll World Forum. In 2014 she addressed the US-Africa Summit hosted by The White House, George W. Bush Institute and US State Department.<ref>[https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/04/first-lady-michelle-obama-and-former-first-lady-laura-bush-host-symposiu "First Lady Michelle Obama and Former First Lady Laura Bush Host Symposium with Spouses on Advancements for Women and Girls in Africa"], The White House, 4 August 2014.</ref>
Cotton has won numerous awards for her work, including an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Cambridge University; an OBE in 2006 in honour of her advocacy of girls' education in Africa; the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship;<ref name="Skoll award">{{cite web|title=Camfed|url=http://skoll.org/organization/camfed/|publisher=Skoll Foundation|access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref> Woman of the Year in the UK; and UK Social Entrepreneur of the Year. In November 2014, Ann was awarded the WISE Prize for Education,<ref name="WISE prize" /><ref>Coughlan, Sean, [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-29880500 "UK girls' education campaigner wins global prize"], BBC News, 4 November 2014.</ref><ref>Brown, Sarah, [http://theirworld.org/news/sarah-brown-pays-tribute-to-wise-prize-winner-camfed-founder-ann-cotton "Sarah Brown pays tribute to WISE Prize winner - Camfed founder Ann Cotton"]; Watt, Ewan, [http://theirworld.org/news/ann-cotton-dedicates-wise-prize-to-one-million-girls-camfed-will-help-educate-in-next-five-years "Ann Cotton dedicates WISE Prize to one million girls Camfed will help educate in next five years"], Theirworld, 4 November 2014.</ref> becoming the fourth WISE laureate alongside Vicky Colbert, founder of Escuela Nueva in Colombia, Dr Madhav Chavan, co-founder of Pratham in India, and Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of BRAC in Bangladesh.
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[http://www.camfed.org/ Camfed International] *[https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/06/investments-announced-symposium-african-spouses-hosted-first-lady-michel "Investments Announced at Symposium for African Spouses"], The White House, 6 August 2014. *Ann at the opening plenary of the [http://skollworldforum.org/2010/04/14/skoll-world-forum-2010-opening-plenary-imperfect-translations-empowerment-and-shopping-lists/ Skoll World Forum 2010] *[http://skollworldforum.org/2011/11/04/from-poverty-to-prosperity/ Skoll World Forum: From Poverty to Prosperity] *[http://skollworldforum.org/2010/03/26/camfed/ Skoll World Forum: Camfed] *Devin Thorpe, [https://www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/2014/09/16/how-many-girls-can-one-woman-teach-youd-be-surprised/ "How Many Girls Can One Woman Teach? You'd Be Surprised"], ''Forbes'', 16 September 2014. *[http://www.ungei.org/news/ghana_2663.html "Camfed Announces Major New Partnerships at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting"], Ghana: Newsline, United Nations Girls' Education Initiative. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20141028165928/http://www.mastercardfdn.org/newsroom/press/camfed-and-the-mastercard-foundation-launch-groundbreaking-partnership-in-ghana-to-enable-young-women-to-own-their-futures "Camfed and The MasterCard Foundation Launch Groundbreaking Partnership in Ghana to Enable Young Women to Own their Futures"] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpkpE3cyBu4&list=UUDY4tAfSicP62eZJ8ez9Psw Ann Cotton on KNTV]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotton, Ann}} Category:British philanthropists Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Businesspeople from Cardiff Category:British social entrepreneurs Category:Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire