By Muhammad Amaan
The Malala Fund said it has reached more than 26 million students through its programmes aimed at enabling them to complete their education.
The figure, it said, was for its 2024 to 2025 fiscal year.
This is contained in its annual report published on its website on Monday.
According to the report, the fund invested $66.4 million while supporting 123 education champions, 65 girls’ programme fellows and partners.
It stated that within the period, the fund focused on six countries comprising of Nigeria, Pakistan, Brazil, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Tanzania and helped pass laws protecting girls’ rights in Nigeria, Brazil and Tanzania.
The report noted that with nearly five million adolescent girls out of school in Nigeria, its partners were advancing gender-responsive budgeting and policy reforms.
This was alongside strengthening civil societies’ capacity and community accountability to push for inclusive education.
In Kano State, Nigeria, it said, the BridgeConnect Africa Initiative’s advocacy led to the institutionalisation of the Gender Responsive Education Budgeting (GREB) framework.
It said that under the framework, more than 50 government stakeholders had been trained and a 15-member GREB Committee established.
“These efforts contributed to an increase in the education budget from 19 per cent to 35 per cent for girls’ education.
“This resulted in the reopening of 15 girls’ secondary schools, expanded access to free transportation and uniforms and recruitment of more female teachers,” it said.
In Adamawa State, the report stated that the Centre for Advocacy, Transparency and Accountability Initiative (CATAI) partnered with the government to unveil the state’s first comprehensive education policy.
The policy, it noted, addressed gender disparities through mentorship, safe school environments, gender-sensitive leadership and strong parental engagement.
It further stated that through its partners, the Fund advanced the global movement to end gender apartheid in Afghanistan, which had remained the only country that banned girls from secondary school.
“We also launched a new initiative to reform global debt structures and unlock billions for education, as the current debt crisis cripple government’s ability to build schools, pay teachers and ensure safe transport for girls,” the report stated.
According to the report, the Fund awarded grants of $10.2 million to 57 organisations across ten countries.
Most of it, the report stated, were directed to its Education Champion Network (ECN), the Afghanistan Initiative and the Girls’ Programme, while additional grants were awarded to partners responding to crises disrupting girls’ education.
Meanwhile, the Fund’s Chief Executive Officer, Ms Lena Alfi, stated in the report that the fund unlocked $7 billion in donor commitments to finance education and supported 13 million students to continue learning amid unforeseen setbacks.
Ms Alfi added that its grantee partners played key roles in passing and implementing laws guaranteeing the right to education for all children.
“From a constitutional amendment in Brazil which cemented education funding for marginalised girls, to the Child Rights Act in Nigeria which protects girls from child marriage.
“They made sure policies and budgets actually improved girls’ ability to learn, from ensuring adolescent mothers in Tanzania can return to school to increasing funding for teacher salaries and safe transportation in Pakistan,” she said.
According to Alfi, the impact recorded during the fiscal year marked the end of the fund’s 2020 to 2025 strategy, paving the way for its next five years.
The Malala Fund, co-founded in 2013 by Malala and Ziauddin Yousafzai, champions 12 years of free, safe and quality education for every girl globally.
