The Malala Fund has approved $1.7 million in new funding for nine organisations in Nigeria to help reduce the high number of girls who are not in school.
The selected groups include:
- Aid for Rural Education Access Initiative
- Anti-Sexual Violence Lead Support Initiative
- Black Girls’ Dream Initiative
- BudgiT Foundation
- Centre for Advocacy, Transparency and Accountability Initiative
- Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative
- Participatory Communication for Gender Development Initiative
- Teenage Education and Empowerment Network
- Women, Children, Youth Health and Education Initiative
This funding is part of a larger $4.8 million package for 21 organisations in Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Tanzania.
According to a statement from the Malala Fund, the investment supports its 2025–2030 strategy, which focuses on areas where many girls are missing out on education. The organisation said 66% of the grant will go to groups led by young women — more than three times its original goal.
The Fund noted that Nigeria and Pakistan together account for 15% of all out-of-school girls in the world.
The Nigerian organisations receiving the grants will work on:
- improving gender-responsive budgeting
- promoting transparency and citizen oversight
- helping pregnant and married girls return to school
- using digital tools to track education funding and identify infrastructure needs
Malala Fund CEO Lena Alfi said the organisation supports groups that understand the challenges girls face in their communities. She said the fund gives long-term, flexible grants to help groups focus on what matters most, such as safe-school initiatives, policy advocacy, and programmes that help young mothers return to school.
Co-founder Malala Yousafzai said she is proud that most of the new funding will go to organisations led by young women. She said the support will help girls—especially married girls and young mothers in Nigeria—complete their secondary education.
The Malala Fund’s Education Champion Network works with civil society groups fighting for girls’ education and pushing for policy changes. The new partners will address issues like child marriage, conflict, gender discrimination, and shrinking education budgets in countries where 31 million girls are out of school.