Malala Fund

When Malala Yousafzai was 15 years old living in Pakistan, she was shot in the head by terrorists who wished to punish and prevent girls from getting an education. Malala was a young activist in Pakistan who spoke out publicly about the rights of girls to obtain an education. In response, in 2012 the Taliban attempted to assassinate her by shooting her on her school bus. Miraculously, she survived and was medevaced to England where she received first-world medical care and recovered. In 2014 she established the Malala Fund, a nonprofit organization devoted to providing education for girls in the developing world, including the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Turkey. 

In 2014 Malala received the Nobel Peace Prize for her brave and courageous efforts to promote education and peace initiatives. Today, the Malala Fund is committed to ensuring 12 years of safe, free, quality education for girls throughout the world, and works at both the grassroots level and international levels to enact policy changes that promote girls' education. Her courage in the face of violence and potential death is an inspiration to countless girls and women around the world. 

“No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men. There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women.”

― Malala Yousafzai, I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World

Education is one of the most powerful weapons that can change the world. Education opens the hearts and minds of young people and allows them to envision a better world that they can create. Education grows the brain, improves IQ and intelligence, and fosters critical thinking skills and intellectual curiosity. Education empowers and enhances creativity, problem-solving skills, and fosters a love of lifelong learning. Reading improves the brain’s neural connectivity, enhances mental concentration and focus, and grows vocabulary. The mind can only conceive to the level that it has been expanded. Education also fosters tolerance, acceptance, and cosmopolitan thinking by opening the mind to diverse ideas and ways of seeing the world. This is why education is feared by authoritarian rulers and actors and is being actively suppressed and censored today.

“Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.” ― Malala Yousafzai

Image courtesy of Southbank Centre

Malala, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech 2014

“Dear sisters and brothers, the so-called world of adults may understand it, but we children don’t. Why is it that countries which we call “strong” are so powerful in creating wars but are so weak in bringing peace? Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard? Why is it that making tanks is so easy, but building schools is so hard?”