We are proud to share some of our favourite moments from the last 10 years.
This year marks a decade of Malala Fund’s work for a world where all girls can learn and lead. Young women, year after year, shape our work and pave the way for the next generation of activists. Malala Fund is proud and excited to continue working alongside these changemakers.
Here are some of our highlights and achievements from the last 10 years:
Malala wins the Nobel Peace Prize
In 2013, Malala spoke at the U.N. on her 16th birthday about the global need for girls’ education.
“So let us wage a global struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism and let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons.”
The following year, Malala and her father Ziauddin founded Malala Fund to ensure every girl can learn and choose her own future. In recognition of this work, Malala received the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2014 — becoming the youngest-ever Nobel laureate.
We launch the Education Champion Network
Malala Fund started the Education Champion Network (ECN), originally called the Gulmakai Network, in 2017 to invest in education activists working to overcome barriers to girls’ secondary education in their communities. Through the ECN, we have supported 120 partner organisations across 10 countries to date.
We run the #FullForce campaign
In 2018, Malala Fund published the Full Force: Why the World Works Better When Girls Go to School report to examine the links between girls’ education and the global economy. It highlighted that if all girls had access to 12 years of quality education and entered the workforce, the global economy could gain up to $30 trillion in productivity and earnings each year.
Malala Fund also ran the #FullForce pledge campaign which resulted in more than 4,000 pledges to take action on girls’ education from policymakers, corporations, students and teachers — including Christine Lagarde, current president of the European Central Bank, and the European Commission.
We launch Assembly
Inspired by Malala’s secret blog at age 11, Malala Fund launched Assembly, a digital publication and newsletter by girls, for girls in 2018. It provided young women a platform to share their stories through original essays, photographs and artwork focused on the issues they care about.
Assembly published 835 stories by young women from over 100 countries, featured articles in 27 languages and distributed special print editions in 24 countries. You can find more girls’ stories in Malala Fund’s Newsroom.
We launch the Girl Programme
Malala Fund invests in feminist and young women-led movements, groups and organisations addressing the barriers preventing girls from completing 12 years of education. Our grants gave young women the tools to advocate for education and equality in their communities. Throughout the programme, we awarded 53 grants in eight countries totalling $4.7 million.
Carrying forward this spirit of investing in young activists, we will continue dedicating a percentage of our grants to girl or young-women-led organisations.
We keep girls learning during COVID-19
In September 2020, Malala addressed heads of state at the U.N. General Assembly, calling for significant investment in girls’ education to keep girls learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Malala Fund worked with national partners to rapidly assess the impact on girls’ education in marginalised communities in Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.
To support local initiatives that provided education to girls during and after the crisis, we also awarded $3 million in new grants to 34 organisations. Education Champions produced educational radio broadcasts in Nigeria and conducted lessons on mobile phones in Pakistan.
We help secure policies improving access to education for girls in Brazil, Nigeria and Pakistan
In 2020, after years of advocacy from Malala Fund Education Champions, Brazil’s National Congress approved an amendment making the Fund for Maintenance and Development of Basic Education and Valuing Education Professionals (FUNDEB) permanent. FUNDEB ensures marginalised girls get the resources they need to learn and excel in school.
In 2021, responding to pressure from our Education Champion Pamela Okoroigwe’s advocacy, the Ministry of Education in Kaduna state, Nigeria, instructed schools to stop collecting hidden fees from students — a significant barrier keeping girls from enrolling in school.
Malala Fund also partnered with Blue Veins in 2021 to advocate for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) state government to increase girls’ education funding by 24%. This increase included commitments to establish 70 girls’ secondary schools for 21,000 girls, rehabilitate 2,100 schools affecting 630,000 students and waive admission fees to increase girls’ enrolment.
In a landmark allocation, the KP government also announced that it would dedicate 47% of its 2022–2023 fiscal budget to education. The funding promoted girls’ education through adequate facilities, standardisation of primary and secondary schools to strengthen enrolment and retention and transition of girls into secondary school.
We relocate Afghan partners in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover
Following the Taliban takeover in 2021, we committed more than $2.6 million in emergency grants to support the evacuation and safe resettlement of more than 300 Afghan human rights defenders, including long-time Education Champion partners, team members and their families.
We advocate for expanding the global right to free education to 12 years
In 2023, Malala Fund worked with partners to advocate for expanding the international right to education to 12 years at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. Over 70 countries signed on to take steps to expand free education to the secondary level for all. Sierra Leone, the Dominican Republic and Luxembourg are leading the charge to agree on the next stage in developing a new legal mechanism to affirm the right to free education.
We launch the Afghanistan Initiative, calling for the codification of gender apartheid in international law
On December 5, 2023, Malala delivered the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg, South Africa, becoming the youngest person selected as a speaker. Her speech focused on the Taliban’s systematic oppression of girls and women in Afghanistan and called for international solidarity in recognising gender apartheid as a crime against humanity.
“It took a bullet to my head for the world to stand with me. What will it take for the world to stand with the girls and women of Afghanistan? To anyone who says they care about protecting girls and women, to anyone who says they care about education, to anyone who says they care about oppression…What are you waiting for?"
Malala Fund works closely with Afghan activists, human rights defenders and legal scholars to demand that the global community recognise gender apartheid as a crime against humanity.
To date, Malala Fund has provided nearly $6 million in funding to Afghan education activists — including those living in Afghanistan and in exile. Our funding currently supports partners delivering digital and alternative learning programmes for Afghan girls banned from secondary education and advocating for the codification of gender apartheid in international law.
In October, Malala Fund and our Afghan partners received the 2024 Champion of the International Rule of Law Award recognising our work on girls’ education and our efforts to end gender apartheid in Afghanistan.
We call on world leaders to prioritise girls ahead of the U.N. General Assembly’s Summit of the Future
In September 2024, Malala gathered with more than 50 young women activists from around the world to protest world leaders’ failure to prioritise girls at the Summit of the Future during the U.N. General Assembly. The demonstration was coordinated in collaboration with girl-centred organisations, funders and allies who came together to consolidate girls’ demands and launch the What Girls Want campaign. Alongside Tamilore Omojola, a Girl Fellow, Malala spoke on a panel offering solutions for the barriers to learning faced by girls and our work on Girls’ Vision for Education, where young women reimagine education systems to suit their needs.
Support Malala Fund’s work as we enter our next decade
Every girl deserves a future shaped by her dreams, not limited by her circumstances. Help Malala Fund accomplish even more in the next 10 years as we continue to fight for every girl’s right to 12 years of education. For a limited time, your gift to Malala Fund will have twice the impact, thanks to a special match commitment.
