By Shumaila Aslam
Bureau Chief Pakistan
SNN News Finland
Claims that money raised in the name of Afghan girls’ education has been misused have put the Malala Fund and several organisations working with Afghan women under renewed scrutiny, after an investigative report published by the Indian outlet ThePrint on 15 October 2026 questioned how donations for Afghanistan are spent.
SNN Finland has reviewed the disclosed financial figures, the fund’s published statements and the sourcing behind the accusations. The most serious allegations remain contested, attributed and unproven.
What the allegations claim
The investigation, reported by ThePrint journalist Debdutta Chakraborty, cites Afghan-German investigative journalist Zarlashta Daisy Watanmal, who alleges that donations collected in Europe and North America for Afghan girls’ education did not reach classrooms inside Afghanistan.
According to the report, the claims include that material presented online as evidence of schooling had no connection to Afghanistan.
Similar accusations have circulated for several years on social media in Pakistan and among diaspora critics of the Nobel laureate’s family. SNN Finland has not been able to verify them independently, and no regulator in the United States, Britain or the European Union has made a finding of fraud against Malala Fund or the organisations named in the allegations.
What the financial disclosures show
At the centre of the scrutiny are two organisations that have raised substantial sums in the name of Afghan women and girls. According to disclosure figures reviewed by this reporter, the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA) received about 63 million US dollars between 2021 and June 2025 and currently holds roughly 46.95 million dollars in net assets.
A separate financial review circulating among donors states that SOLA holds about 47 million dollars in net assets, including 36.4 million dollars in investments, without a published reserve policy, and that its chief executive’s pay rose from roughly 174,000 dollars in 2021 to about 402,000 dollars. Those figures have not been audited by SNN Finland and remain the subject of dispute.
Women for Afghan Women (WAW), a New York-based organisation, saw its revenue spike to 20.95 million dollars in 2021 before falling to 8.19 million dollars, according to the same disclosure review, and has recorded three consecutive annual deficits.
What the Malala Fund says
Malala Fund publishes annual reports and grant announcements, and it says the money it raises is channelled to Afghan-led organisations working on alternative learning. In a statement released on 20 August 2025, the fund announced 3.26 million dollars in new and expanded grants aimed at meeting urgent education needs and pushing for long-term justice for girls and women.
“We are backing Afghan girls and women who refuse to be erased who are leading the global fight,” the fund said in that announcement, describing its partners as Afghan-led efforts providing alternative learning and challenging what it terms gender apartheid.
An earlier Malala Fund review of its first decade described the organisation as a global education advocacy fund. The fund has not been shown to have diverted money for personal use, and its published accounts describe spending on programmes and advocacy.
What remains unverified
SNN Finland could not independently confirm the claim that no money reached girls’ education inside Afghanistan. Three factors make that claim difficult to test. Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have barred girls from secondary schooling since 2021, which makes independent measurement of classroom outcomes inside the country extremely difficult.
Much of the funding in question flows to partner organisations rather than directly to schools, so figures attributed to one body often describe money handled by another. Most of the largest sums in the public record are drawn from United States and European nonprofit filings, which report revenue, assets and executive pay but not classroom-level results.
The founder of the education campaign, Malala Yousafzai, has not been charged or investigated by any authority in connection with the allegations. SNN Finland will update this report if documented evidence establishing or disproving the claims emerges.
Why the dispute matters
The dispute has wider reach than one fund. According to donor-accountability reviews of roughly 90 organisations registered in the United States, Britain, France and Germany, funding for Afghan women and girls is heavily concentrated in a small number of founder-led bodies, and money has tended to follow evacuation headlines rather than measured long-term results.
Because many of those groups operate across several countries at once, coordinated oversight is difficult, and donors often have no common reporting standard to compare. That gap is now the focus of the scrutiny around Malala Fund’s Afghanistan spending.
Key facts
- An investigation published by ThePrint on 15 October 2026 questioned how Malala Fund donations for Afghanistan are spent.
- SOLA received about 63 million dollars between 2021 and June 2025 and holds roughly 46.95 million dollars in net assets, according to disclosure figures reviewed by this reporter.
- Women for Afghan Women reported revenue of 20.95 million dollars in 2021, falling to 8.19 million dollars, with three consecutive deficits.
- Malala Fund announced 3.26 million dollars in grants for Afghan-led learning programmes on 20 August 2025.
- No regulator has found Malala Fund or the named organisations to have committed fraud.
FAQs
Has Malala Fund been found to have committed fraud?
No. No regulator in the United States, Britain or the European Union has issued a finding of fraud against Malala Fund. The allegations reported by ThePrint are claims by named critics and remain unproven.
Where do the financial figures in the allegations come from?
The largest figures come from nonprofit disclosure filings in the United States and Europe, which list revenue, net assets and executive compensation for organisations such as SOLA and Women for Afghan Women.
Does Malala Fund run schools in Afghanistan?
Malala Fund describes itself as a funder and advocacy organisation. Its 2025 announcement said grants support Afghan-led organisations that provide alternative learning for girls.
Why is independent verification so difficult?
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have banned girls from secondary school since 2021, and most funding moves through partner organisations, so classroom-level results inside the country cannot easily be audited from outside.
Can the allegations be resolved?
They can only be settled with audited partner-level accounts and on-the-ground reporting inside Afghanistan. SNN Finland will report further if such evidence is published.
Further detail on the original investigation is available in ThePrint’s report on the fund’s Afghanistan spending, and Malala Fund’s own grant announcement is published on malala.org. Related SNN Finland coverage includes Malala Yousafzai Responds to Clinton Criticism Over Gaza.
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