Ms Lucy Lake

Lucy Lake is Chief Executive Officer of Camfed International, an organization dedicated to supporting girls through education, and young women as leaders in Africa. Camfed’s model has been acclaimed internationally, most recently by the OECD which has recognized Camfed for best practice in taking development innovation to scale.

Lucy took up the position of CEO in 2012 having previously served as Camfed’s Director of Programmes & Deputy Executive Director for over 18 years. During this time, Lucy led Camfed's development as a transformative model of investment in girls' education through which its clients – as educated young women – take the reins and join forces with local and national government authorities to lead change for the younger generation of girls.

Since taking on the role of CEO, Lucy has led Camfed’s major growth, more than quadrupling the number of girls receiving support; in 2014 alone, more than 2.3 million young people directly benefited. She has pioneered programs to improve the quality of education and to enable young people to make the successful transition from school to secure and productive livelihoods. Lucy is a founding member and former Co-chair of the Global Advisory Committee of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI).