Malala Yousafzai, co-founder of the Malala Fund, says the organisation is working with its partners to secure gender-responsive policies for girls in Nigeria.

The Nobel laureate stated this while speaking to newsmen at the fund’s high-level stakeholder event, themed ‘Partners in Change: Shaping the Future of Girls’ Education Together’ during a dinner on Monday in Abuja.

Malala and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, co-founder of the Malala fund, arrived in Nigeria on Friday to meet with its board of directors.

The visit is aimed at advancing its priorities on girls’ education in Nigeria, which include ensuring that married and pregnant girls can return to school.

Other priorities also include increasing education financing to meet girls’ needs and using education as a policy solution to end child marriage.

According to her, the Malala fund believes in investing in local education activists in Nigeria as partners and is proud of the work they are doing.

She said that the activists, through their decades of collective efforts, had recorded many achievements in securing better policies, particularly gender-responsive policies for girls.

Malala added that many of them were also young women and girls, who were passionate about leading that change themselves.

“I feel so privileged that I am in the company of these incredible people who are leading this work. I met the girls; I met the education activists here in Nigeria, and I am more determined than ever that change is possible.

“Which we will see happen in our lifetime when every girl in Nigeria will be able to have her right to a complete and quality education,“ she said.

Malala said the fund was advocating gender-responsive policies to guarantee 12 years of schooling for girls, which was already yielding results.

“I think now it requires more collaboration from all stakeholders, including ministers and government officials, to ensure that these policies are implemented. To also ensure there is financing for it so that we can see the real change happen on the ground,“ she said.

Malala described Nigeria as a very important part of the fund’s projects, with nearly 5 million adolescent girls of junior secondary school age currently out of school.

She added that girls in Nigeria, as  everywhere else, have the same dreams and determination to learn and secure a future for themselves.

Malala said she was in Nigeria as their sister, to ensure the realisation  of their dreams, noting their resilience and determination to access education.

“They know more than anyone else that education is the best solution and the best investment in their future,” she said.

Further highlighting the impact of its partnerships, Nabila Aguele, the fund’s chief executive in Nigeria, stated that one of its partners, Bridge Connect Africa in Kano, is working on gender-responsive budgeting with the state government and legislators.

Ms Aguele also stated that Adamawa had implemented a policy through which it received technical assistance from another Fund partner.

She explained that the partners work with communities, families, and traditional rulers to ensure that girls’ needs and aspirations both inform community understanding and influence policy-making around their re-entry to school.

Malala, alongside her father, the fund’s CEO, Lena Alfi, Ms Aguele, and board members, also met with young girls and education champions supported by the fund. The meeting was designed to listen to their experiences and the changes they desire to see in their communities.

Since 2014, the Malala Fund has invested over $8 million in Nigerian partner organisations working to break down the barriers that keep girls out of school.

(NAN)