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About Malala Fund

With more than 122 million girls out of school today, we’re breaking down the barriers that hold them back.

Our vision

We envision a world where all girls can learn and choose their own futures. We want all girls to enjoy their right to 12 years of education, setting them up to thrive in all areas of their lives.

Our mission

We work to ensure all girls can access and complete 12 years of education. By completing 12 years of quality schooling, girls will have the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to reach their full potential, make their own life choices and engage meaningfully with the world around them.

Our approach

To create sustainable change for as many girls as possible, we use grantmaking and advocacy to strengthen girls’ right to secondary education and unlock the resources needed for all girls to enjoy this right.

Who we are

Malala and Ziauddin Yousafzai founded Malala Fund in 2013 to champion every girl’s right to 12 years of education.

Together our board, grantee partners, young women advisory council, staff, leadership council and donor partners are creating a more equal, safer and healthier world by making sure all girls can go to and complete school.

Malala and Ziauddin in classroom in Kenya

How we work

Malala Fund invests in civil society organisations who are challenging the systems, policies and practices that prevent girls from going to school in their communities. We complement their efforts by advocating to expand and protect girls’ right to secondary education and secure resources for education.

Across all of our work, we listen to girls, centre their perspectives and partner with those who share our mission.

Our values

We set ambitious goals.

We focus on long-term change that promotes gender equality in education and transforms unequal systems keeping girls out of school.


We dare to be brave.

We invest in challenging contexts even when this means a slower path to impact, and we hold leaders accountable, supporting our partners to speak truth to power and standing with them when they face backlash.


We seek and amplify diverse perspectives. 

We aim to reach girls in all their diversity, centre the expertise of girls and local activists in our work and through our platforms, and strengthen collective action for girls’ secondary education.


We think creatively.

We support partners to test innovative tactics and strategies and use our networks, funds and influence flexibly and nimbly to react to new challenges. We use creative approaches to communicate across different audiences.


We act with integrity.

We hold ourselves ultimately accountable to girls, prioritising meaningful impact for them when deciding how we invest our time and money. We shift power and resources to work that centres their priorities and enables them to drive change.

“Girls understand the power of education — and they are working to open the school gates wide enough for every child to enter.”
— Malala Yousafzai

Celebrating 10 years of girls’ education

Over the last decade, Malala Fund has awarded more than 400 transformational grants to partners who are breaking down the barriers to girls’ education. Our partners’ impact on girls in their communities and countries has extended far beyond the length of their Malala Fund grants.

The fight for girls’ education won’t be won by girls alone.

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