Malala spoke at a secondary school in Dar es Salaam, calling for national action to protect girls' education and global debt reform to unlock funding for it in Tanzania and beyond.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Thank you, President Kikwete, Ministers, and all our esteemed guests, especially all the amazing girls.
Nimefurahi kuwa hapa (It’s great to be here).
Kwa wasichana wote, mnanipa furaha (To all the girls, you give me joy).
This is my first visit to Tanzania, but I can promise it will not be my last. Throughout my time here, I have met the most wonderful people and the most inspiring girls and young women. And what a privilege it was to celebrate my 28th birthday in this beautiful and vibrant country.
We are here today to celebrate the work that girls, women, and civil society leaders are doing to advance the rights and resources for education in Tanzania.
My life’s mission is to fight for a world where every girl, no matter her background or upbringing, can learn and choose her own future.
Every girl deserves to experience the joys of growing up surrounded by the laughs of her classmates, the mentorship of her teachers and the nurturing environment of a quality school.
In Tanzania, more than two million girls remain out of secondary school, and nearly one-third of all girls are married before turning 18. This means Tanzania is missing out on its full potential for economic growth and prosperity.
But what I have witnessed since coming here fills me with hope: people across this country work hard every day, with the government, to find practical local solutions to help more girls enter the classroom, pursue their dreams, and graduate.
And they have the full support of Malala Fund. We are working with amazing grantees right across the country and making real investments to help them succeed.
Moving forward, we must continue seeing progress and action in the following areas:
Re-entry policies must be enforced, so young mothers have the right to learn and can reintegrate into secondary school;
The law must protect girls from early forced marriage and violence;
Education must be comprehensive, covering sexual, reproductive and menstrual health;
Learning spaces must be inclusive and safe for all girls.
I am confident we will continue seeing progress, with commitment from the government and most importantly, the fearless advocacy of Tanzanian civil society and young women.
I am honoured to share this stage at this beautiful school with His Excellency, President Kikwete. For years, the President has been a powerful advocate for education. I am proud that the organisation he chairs, Global Partnership for Education, is a close partner of Malala Fund. Together, we are championing a world where every child has the rights and resources to complete 12 years of quality education.
While we have made much progress, girls’ education today is in a state of crisis globally.
A girl’s right to education is facing direct threats, from bombs destroying schools in Gaza to the Taliban banning all Afghan girls and women from learning beyond grade six.
Resources are increasingly limited: funding cuts threaten civil society, women’s rights groups and education programmes. On top of that, low-income countries facing the biggest barriers are crippled by unsustainable debt, preventing them from investing in education and critical services for their people.
In my home country of Pakistan, nearly half of the federal budget is consumed just to pay interest and principal on existing debt, while only 2% of GDP is invested in education.
The 10 countries with the greatest barriers to girls’ education spend four times as much on debt repayments than on education.
This cycle of debt means that budgets are constantly squeezed, schools have crumbling infrastructure, teachers are not trained and hired, students do not have materials or meals; and school buses are unavailable.
If we want to tackle the girls’ education crisis, leaders must tackle the debt crisis. Thankfully, there are concrete things governments can do now.
As we approach the G20 Leaders’ Summit in South Africa in a few months, I call upon governments to make debt justice for girls’ education an international priority. Now is the time to reform the G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatments and reduce debt servicing costs to sustainable levels.
I have already shared this message with G20 Finance Ministers and will continue championing this issue as we approach the Summit.
It is time we treat the girls’ education crisis with the urgency it deserves. Let us take our cues from girls and young women themselves – like those here today – who know what they want and need. And let us be inspired by the brilliant leaders here in Tanzania who show us the way.
Asante sana.
