As Malala Fund prepares for a new chapter, the organisation is approaching leadership transition the same way it approaches its work: with purpose, clarity and a deep commitment to girls’ education.
For outgoing CEO Lena Alfi, this moment is a continuation of what Malala Fund has been building. Over the last several years, Malala Fund has sharpened its strategy, strengthened its foundations and deepened its support for the people closest to the work — the local educators, activists, organisers and partners challenging the barriers that keep girls out of school. Now, she says the organisation is ready to confidently build on that work under new leadership.
“What I most want people to feel when they hear about this transition is trust that Malala Fund’s mission is as steadfast as it has always been,” Lena said in a recent conversation with incoming CEO Nabila Aguele. “And excitement about seeing Malala Fund thrive under this brilliant leader.”
That confidence comes from the conviction that Malala Fund’s next phase will be led by someone who already knows the work from the inside and from the ground up.
Nabila, who has served on Malala Fund’s executive team while leading the organisation’s work in Nigeria, steps into the role after leading development of the country strategy, deepening relationships with local partners and bringing policy expertise to the organisation’s broader mission. Her appointment as Malala Fund’s first CEO based in Nigeria reflects an organisational choice as much as a leadership one: that proximity to the work matters.
“Oftentimes when you have a transition, you’re bringing in an external candidate who has to take time to understand the work, the ethos and the values,” Nabila said. “For me, there is momentum in not having to figure that out — and in being able to continue to build forward.”
That idea runs through both leaders’ reflections. They describe this transition as a moment of continuity and momentum — built on a shared belief that girls’ education is both a fundamental right and one of the clearest pathways to healthier, safer and more equitable societies.
A strategy in action
Under Lena’s leadership, Malala Fund has asked hard questions about where it can have the most impact and how it can work in ways that reflect the change it wants to see. That process helped shape the organisation’s five-year strategic plan, which centres girls’ voices, backs local activists and focuses on systems change rather than one-off interventions. Nabila points to that strategy as one of Lena’s most enduring contributions.
“She led the critical process of developing the strategic plan and putting together the organisational structure to honour and deliver on it,” Nabila said. “It is bold, ambitious and innovative — and it recognises local activists as the way forward.”
For Lena, the strategy matters because it brings discipline to ambition. In a field with overwhelming need, she says, leaders need to be clear about what their organisation is uniquely positioned to do and stay anchored to their mission even when the choices are difficult.
That same clarity shaped her view of Nabila’s readiness to lead. What stood out most, Lena said, was not only Nabila’s policy experience or ability to move across local, national and global spaces, but her values: her respect for partners, her strategic approach towards systems change and instinct to keep asking what solution is most aligned with girls’ needs.
“When I first met Nabila less than two years ago, there was an immediate spark,” Lena said. Over time, that first impression deepened into certainty. She watched Nabila build trust across teams, mentor colleagues and lead in a way that combined rigour with generosity. “She sees potential in everyone,” Lena said. “And she knows how to bring out the best in people.”
Nabila, in turn, describes Lena’s leadership as grounded in service. She points to the strategic choices Lena made, the way she helped build a team of passionate, values-led people around the work, and the trust she extended to others. Nabila also points to something less visible but just as important: the confidence partners and supporters have in Malala Fund because they know the organisation is trying to honour local leadership not only in theory, but in practice.
That focus on people is part of what Lena says she is most proud of. Reflecting on her time leading Malala Fund, she returns first to community. “I am most proud of the incredible community that surrounds our work,” she said of the grantee partners who know the barriers girls face best, the supporters who have stayed committed year after year and the colleagues who continue to push the mission forward.
She hopes that partners and girls will remember this chapter as one in which Malala Fund worked hard to become worthy of their trust: willing to listen and learn, and committed to asking how it can best support the people doing the real work of change. Above all, she hopes girls will know they remain at the centre of Malala Fund’s mission.
Nabila says that will not change. What also remains unchanged, she said, is Malala Fund’s singular commitment to ensuring every girl can access and complete school — and its belief that girls themselves should shape the future the organisation is working toward. That means continuing to centre adolescent girls’ needs, fund local actors and girl-led organisations and pursue the systems change that can expand opportunity at scale.
A global perspective, rooted in Nigeria
For Nabila, the moment is also deeply personal.
She grew up between countries and cultures, shaped by a life in Nigeria and across the world. Her mother has modelled what education makes possible for a woman. Her father, she said, gave her another gift: he never made her education conditional. It was always understood that she and her sisters would go to school, dream boldly and carry their ambitions with them into every stage of life.
That experience now informs how she thinks about the girls Malala Fund serves — and what leadership can signal to them.
“It means absolutely everything for me to be Malala Fund’s first CEO based in Nigeria,” she said. “There is power in proximity to the work.”
That proximity shapes how leaders listen, understand tradeoffs families face, and build relationships with policymakers, civil society and communities. It is also part of a broader shift in how power is imagined inside global organisations: not only who speaks, but from where.
Leaders closest to the work, Nabila said, often see what others can miss. They live with the realities that shape girls’ lives. They understand that change is rarely linear. And they know that progress depends on bringing many voices to the table, especially the voices that institutions too often overlook.
Her years in public policy deepened that conviction. She began her career practicing law in the United States before making the decision to return to Nigeria in search of work with deeper, more direct impact. Working inside government, she came to understand that lasting change is rarely won through one-off demands. It is built through patient relationship-building, technical credibility and a willingness to listen. That experience continues to shape how she leads today: with urgency, but also with the patience that systems change demands; with ambition, but also with humility about whose voice matters most in each moment.
That combination — ambition and humility, clarity and closeness to the work — is what both leaders believe makes this moment meaningful.
The next chapter
Lena believes Malala Fund is entering this next chapter from a position of strength. The organisation knows who it is, what it stands for and how it needs to work. Nabila believes that strength creates room to push further: to listen more closely, partner more deeply and help move the girls’ education sector toward a model that trusts local leadership not as rhetoric, but as practice.
By the end of their conversation, what came through most clearly was not only mutual respect, but genuine affection. The transition is strategic and well planned. And it is also human — built on trust, mentorship and shared conviction.
Asked what she would say to supporters about handing the role to Nabila, Lena did not hesitate: she said Malala Fund is about to be in the best hands it has ever been in.
And asked what Lena leaves behind, Nabila answered just as clearly: a bolder, more grounded Malala Fund — one that is living up to its name.
In times of global uncertainty, this transition is not a change in mission, but a deepening of it. The work continues, and the values hold. And Malala Fund, both leaders believe, will meet the future with courage.