We provide grants to civil society organisations to advocate for policies that dismantle barriers to girls’ education and uphold their right to secondary education. We support efforts to protect adolescent girls’ access to learning during crises and build movements through global advocacy.
Grant types
Education Champion Network
The majority of our grants support local advocates in communities, regions and countries where significant numbers of girls are out of school or at risk of dropping out. We aim to allocate at least 20% of our grants to organisations led by girls or young women.
Global advocacy
A portion of our grants build momentum for girls through global advocacy. We fund organisations working on education, girls’ rights and gender equality to advocate to global leaders and institutions on issues that help improve the environment for girls’ education.
Education in emergencies
We award grants to organisations responding to crises such as conflict and natural disasters that disrupt education for large numbers of adolescent girls. This includes organisations delivering alternative and digital learning programmes for girls in Afghanistan.
We focus on countries where girls face the biggest education barriers.
How we’re investing
Education Champion Network
Through our Education Champion Network, we provide grants to civil society organisations in our focus countries.
We aim to award at least 20% of our grants to organisations governed or led by girls and young women.
We prioritise flexible, multi-year grants — respecting and enhancing our partners’ autonomy to use these resources as they see fit.
We fund our grantee partners to address common country goals, contributing to stronger advocacy movements on the ground.
Global advocacy
We provide grants to organisations that advocate to global institutions and influential governments for bold policies that help strengthen girls’ rights and increase public funding for girls’ education. We prioritise organisations based in or that have a long-term presence in lower-income countries in the education, girls’ rights and gender equality sectors.
Education in emergencies
We respond to the education needs of adolescent girls in crises by mobilising funding to organisations at the forefront of response efforts. Below are organisations we have recently supported with emergency grants.
We provide targeted, discrete grants to organisations responding to crises to sustain girls’ education access.
We support organisations that deliver alternative and digital learning programmes for girls in Afghanistan while they are banned from secondary schools.
American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera)
Provides humanitarian assistance in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. With Malala Fund’s support, Anera has delivered critical services for girls, children and families in Gaza—enabling continuity of learning and access to life-saving support.
The International Network for Aid, Relief, and Assistance (INARA)
Delivers essential medical and mental-health support to children in Gaza and to Palestinian refugees in Egypt. Our grant has funded education kits, temporary classrooms and psychosocial support for students and their families.
KinderUSA
An American Muslim organisation providing humanitarian assistance to children across Gaza. With Malala Fund’s support, KinderUSA has supplied clean water, access to medical care and clothing for more than 600 children.
Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF)
For over 30 years, PCRF has provided medical care to children in Palestine. Our support in Gaza has expanded access to emergency medicine, infant formula and food for families in need.
RAWA Fund
A community-first model that works through local activists to identify and meet urgent needs. Malala Fund has supported RAWA’s work in Gaza to increase access to clothes, food, community classes and health initiatives.
United Nations Relief and Works Agency USA (UNRWA USA)
Supports education, healthcare and nutritional aid for Palestinians across the region. Malala Fund’s grant helps extend these services in Gaza, with a particular focus on women and children.
Afghanistan
The crisis in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, the Taliban forbids nearly 1.4 million adolescent girls from going to school under their system of gender apartheid. Despite the escalating oppression they face, women and girls are resisting by continuing to learn, sharing their stories with the world and speaking out for their rights. Malala Fund’s response to this crisis includes global advocacy grants to Afghan women activists and civil society organisations campaigning for the recognition of gender apartheid as a crime under international law, and education in emergencies grants to partners providing alternative and digital learning programmes for girls inside the country.
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.
