Meghan Markle and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai have joined forces to support girls’ education, announcing a new philanthropic partnership around International Day of the Girl.
The Duchess of Sussex revealed the initiative after meeting Malala for afternoon tea at Claridge’s in London on October 7. Meghan said her lifestyle brand, As Ever, is partnering with Archewell Philanthropies and the Malala Fund, with 100% of net proceeds from As Ever jams and teas supporting the Malala Fund’s work to expand girls’ access to free, safe and quality education.
Sharing photographs from their London meeting, Meghan and Malala said, “When we support the girls of today, we empower the women of tomorrow. Access to education is the key to unlocking this.”
The initiative places girls’ education at the centre of a collaboration linking Meghan’s commercial brand with Malala’s global education campaign. The Malala Fund works with advocates and organisations in countries where girls face major barriers to education, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Brazil and Tanzania. The organisation says more than 122 million girls worldwide remain out of school.
The partnership is not the first time Meghan and Malala have worked together. The two previously held a virtual conversation in 2020 to mark International Day of the Girl, discussing the barriers preventing girls from accessing education. Malala later said they shared the belief that when girls have access to education, everyone benefits.
The latest announcement has also generated debate on social media, with some users questioning whether the campaign mixes charitable fundraising with product promotion. Critics particularly pointed to the invitation to purchase As Ever products alongside the announcement. However, there is no evidence that the photographs from the London meeting were staged, and the partnership explicitly states that the net proceeds from the specified jams and teas will support the Malala Fund.
For Malala, the initiative adds another high-profile partnership to her continuing global campaign for girls’ education. The Malala Fund continues to advocate for education rights and support local organisations working to remove the barriers that keep girls out of school.
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The collaboration between Meghan and Malala brings together two prominent voices from different backgrounds around a common message: expanding educational opportunities for girls can help shape a more empowered generation of women.
