Nobel laureate and education activist Malala Yousafzai has committed $3 million through the Malala Fund to support Afghan girls’ education and women’s rights under Taliban rule. The funding will be distributed through the Fund’s Afghanistan Initiative in the form of grants to ten organisations working on the ground or in exile to advance gender equality and access to education.
In a statement shared to Instagram, Yousafzai called attention to the Taliban’s education ban, writing: “For the past four years, the Taliban has barred Afghan girls from school past grade six.” Her post detailed how the grants will aid Afghan women leaders, human rights defenders, and local organisations striving to “keep girls learning under Taliban rule” and “defend their rights.”
The Malala Fund is partnering with the following 10 organisations:
Education Bridge for Afghanistan: Supporting 10,000 Afghan girls with digital literacy, high school qualifications, psychosocial support, and mentorship.
Defenders of Equality, Freedom and Advancement for Women: Documenting the stories of Afghan girls and advocating for international recognition of gender apartheid.
Afghanistan Accountability Collective: A women-led group pushing to make gender apartheid a crime under international law.
Centre for Dialogue and Progress — Geneva: Monitoring and reporting on Taliban human rights abuses.
Rukhshana Media: Telling the stories of Afghan women in English, Farsi, and Dari, while training female journalists.
Artlords: A collective using public art and murals to spotlight the struggle for women’s rights.
Women and Children Research and Advocacy Network: Advocating in Canada and Afghanistan for UN member states to take action on gender apartheid.
Rawadari: Working with victims of gender-based discrimination to present their cases at the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal in Italy.
Stanford University’s Program in Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies: Hosting a symposium to strengthen academic and legal frameworks on gender apartheid.
Afghans for a Better Tomorrow: A U.S.-based advocacy group pushing for international recognition and response to gender apartheid.
Malala Yousafzai, who survived an assassination attempt by the Pakistani Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls’ education, has become a global symbol of resistance to gender-based oppression. Despite being a divisive figure in some regions, she continues to champion education access through the Malala Fund, with active programs in countries across Africa and Asia.
This year, she celebrated her birthday in Tanzania with local schoolchildren, furthering her outreach in global education advocacy.
The move comes as pressure mounts on the Taliban government over its treatment of women. In July, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani on charges of crimes against humanity. Most nations still refuse to recognise the Taliban regime, now four years into its rule, citing its severe restrictions on women’s rights and public freedoms.
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