Nabila Aguele joins as Chief Executive, Nigeria and Gayatri Patel joins as Chief, External Affairs.
Malala Fund is proud to welcome two sector leaders to drive forward the organisation’s work for girls’ education. Nabila Aguele has joined as Chief Executive, Nigeria, and Gayatri Patel has joined as Chief of External Affairs — two new roles in the organisation’s executive leadership team.
“Our organisation is proud to celebrate a decade of impact this year. We are reflecting on learnings and using them to define our new strategy,“ says Lena Alfi, Chief Executive Officer at Malala Fund. “Welcoming Nabila and Gayatri to the team is a key step toward that future. These women are innovative leaders and passionate advocates who will help strategically guide our team’s work to improve girls’ access to education around the world.”
Since 2014, Malala Fund has invested more than $7.8 million in partner organisations and their programmes across Nigeria. As the new Chief Executive, Nigeria, Nabila will serve as the senior leader in the country, setting the direction for Malala Fund Nigeria’s advocacy and grantmaking portfolio, operations and external affairs approach. Nabila is an accomplished lawyer, public policy expert and advocate for gender equality with more than 20 years of experience. As an expert in sustainable development, she employs data-driven and narrative-based advocacy to shift societal norms. Before joining Malala Fund, Nabila served as a Special Adviser to Nigeria’s Minister of Finance. In her role, she championed gender-responsive fiscal policies and budgets and helped craft Nigeria’s Integrated National Financing Framework.
“To help girls learn, we are advocating for the creation and implementation of key education policies. We are also supporting partner organisations working in states where girls face the greatest challenges to going to school,” says Nabila. “I am thrilled to join this team, connect with our partners and support the next generation of girls in Nigeria.”
In the last decade, Malala Fund’s global advocacy and campaign work has influenced policy change, elevated the issue of girls’ education on an international scale and increased governments’ funding commitments to education. As the new Chief of External Affairs, Gayatri will lead a department that combines advocacy, government relations and strategic communications to drive policy change and help more girls access and complete their education. Gayatri is a passionate advocate and influential leader advancing gender equality. She has more than two decades of experience in engaging the U.S. government, multilateral organisations and non-governmental organisations on critical humanitarian issues, international development and human rights. Her distinguished career includes pivotal roles at the Feminist Foreign Policy Collective, Women’s Refugee Commission and CARE. She also provided a decade of invaluable counsel to the U.S. State Department on a range of human rights and humanitarian concerns.
“Led by a young woman with passion and purpose, Malala Fund is ready to build a world where every girl is free to learn and choose her own future,” says Gayatri. “While there are many challenges facing girls and our world, I am so excited to work with and learn from the dedicated activists, leaders and partners in Malala Fund’s network. I look forward to the change we can create together.”
