Courtesy of Parisa Azadi for Malala Fund
Thirty-seven Education Champions attended the 2019 Global Gathering — their work for girls’ education spans Afghanistan, Brazil, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
Last month in Dubai, Malala Fund held its second annual Education Champion Network Global Gathering. The week-long conference provides Malala Fund Education Champions with the opportunity to collaborate, attend trainings and connect with the organisation’s co-founders, board and staff.
Thirty-seven Education Champions attended the 2019 Global Gathering — their work for girls’ education spans Afghanistan, Brazil, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. The conference focused on capacity building, networking and celebrating the Education Champion Network's achievements of the previous year.
“The Global Gathering allows the champions from across the world to share experiences, learn from each other, exchange ideas and collaborate on mutual objectives,” said Malala Fund’s Chief Programmes Officer Maliha Khan. “It is essential in turning a group of individual activists into a vibrant network that is greater than the sums of its parts.”
During the week, Malala and Ziauddin Yousafzai discussed how their work as local girls’ education advocates in Pakistan inspired the creation of the Education Champion Network. They also shared advice for Education Champions and their vision for the network’s future. Board members, including board chair Susan McCaw, spoke about their careers and advised Education Champions on business models and scaling their work. And Malala Fund staff led sessions on social media and the organisation’s advocacy priorities.
Education Champions led workshops to discuss how they’re addressing threats to girls' education in their communities. Nayla Fahed, an Education Champion from Lebanon, held a session about how her organisation created Tabshoura in a Box, a digital learning platform that helps Syrian refugee girls without internet access the educational materials they need.“You feel like you’re not doing the work alone — that you’re part of a movement,” said Pakistani Education Champion Huma Faran about the gathering. “There are like-minded people who have the same goal: girls’ education.” Huma is part of the newest cohort of Education Champions. With her Malala Fund grant, she is leading a national advocacy campaign calling on four provincial governments in Pakistan to increase the number of girls’ schools and the budget allocation to education.
At 22, Munira Yerima from Nigeria is the youngest Education Champion. In Munira’s home community of Maiduguri, parents are often hesitant to send their daughters back to school after they were forced out by Boko Haram insurgents. With support from her Malala Fund grant, Munira leads a group of local leaders, parents and school officials in educating families on the value of girls’ education.
“I had incredible conversations with activists from all over the world — we shared ideas that I’m going to take back and it’s going to help me in my work,” Munira said. “I learned about advocacy tools, and that I can use different tactics to approach different target [audiences].”
At the end of the week, Education Champions attended the Global Education and Skill Forum, which brought together leaders from the public, private and social sectors, including present and past heads of government, ministers of education and 2,000 participants from 144 countries.
Learn more about the Education Champion Network at malala.org/champions.
