Skip to main content

Brazil

Pervasive racial and gender discrimination cause high dropout rates among Black, Indigenous and quilombola girls in north and northeast Brazil. Systemic racism extends to schools and curriculums, worsening girls’ exclusion from education.

785,700
girls out of school
5%
of girls out of school

Our work in Brazil

Investing since 2018

Priorities:

  • Ensuring the effective implementation of national laws that address systemic racism in education

  • Advancing laws and education guidelines that help provide for the education needs of marginalised girls

Strengthening rights

  • Deep-rooted gender and racial discrimination in Brazil contribute to high levels of dropout among Afro-Brazilian girls.

  • Our partner works to secure the right to education for adolescent quilombola girls in Pernambuco state and advocates for the inclusion of quilombola education success metrics and goals in local and state education plans.

Securing resources

  • Inadequate infrastructure, overcrowded schools and a shortage of qualified teachers prevent Afro-Brazilian and other marginalised girls from completing their education, particularly in the north and northeast.

  • Our partners help guide the implementation of the Fund for Maintenance and Development of Basic Education and Valuing Education Professionals (FUNDEB), which represents 40% of Brazil’s education budget and ensures marginalised schools get the resources they need for their students. 

Approach

Our grantmaking approach

Through our Education Champion Network, we invest in civil society organisations dedicated to advancing policies that strengthen and resource girls’ right to education. We aim to allocate at least 20% of our grants to organisations led by girls or young women to realise their powerful potential to generate new solutions and lead change. 

We consider our grantees to be true partners and strive to catalyse and complement their work at the local, national and global levels. Our flexible, multi-year grants provide our partners with the stability and agility they need to achieve lasting impact for girls.

Support Malala’s fight for girls’ education

With more than 122 million girls out of school today, she needs your help to reach the most vulnerable girls denied an education.

Your gift today is an investment in Malala Fund's work to help girls around the world go to school.