Malala and Apple launch partnership to get at least 100,000 underprivileged girls into school
'I'm just really hopeful that we can reach as many young girls and as many young advocates as possible'
A groundbreaking new partnership has been launched between the Malala Fund and Apple to get at least 100,000 underprivileged girls into education.
In a world exclusive interview with The Independent, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Malala Yousafzai revealed that the tech giant would offer considerable funding and resources to the charity to help its goal of delivering education to girls in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkey and Nigeria.
The wheels were set in motion for the partnership when the pair met in October last year at Oxford University and had a conversation about how technology could help get more disadvantaged girls into education.
"I really wanted us to work together because Apple has expertise: they are expert in tech, they have resources and they have amazing and incredible people," Malala said, while announcing the partnership alongside Cook in Beirut.
"Then the question was how can we use that? The Malala Fund is trying to reach out to girls, how can we bring these two together to reach more girls, as many as we can, to empower them through quality education. And that was my dream.
"So, things started happening and I just can’t believe it has been a few months and now we are here in Lebanon and announcing our partnership for the coming years."
In real terms, the partnership will mean expanding the Malala Fund's work and doubling the number of countries with access to Gulmakai champions, who are local advocates and education activists whose job it is to support students.
World news in pictures
Show all 50
World news in pictures
1/50 14 April 2020
Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was damaged in a devastating fire one year ago today
Reuters
2/50 13 April 2020
Wild bluebells, which bloom around mid-April turning the forest blue as they form a carpet, are pictured in the Hallerbos in Belgium
Reuters
3/50 12 April 2020
Pope Francis delivers his Urbi et Orbi message following Easter Sunday Mass behind closed doors at St. Peter's Basilica in The Vatican, during the country's lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 infection
VATICAN MEDIA/AFP via Getty
4/50 11 April 2020
A man watches Krakatau spewing ash during an eruption, in Serang, Indonesia's Banten province
AFP via Getty
5/50 10 April 2020
Women queue for distribution of food for those suffering under Kenya's coronavirus-related movement restrictions
AP
6/50 9 April 2020
Firefighter Sittiporn Singthong, dressed up as Spider-Man, sprays disinfectant at the Wat Tha Mai Buddhist temple in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand
EPA
7/50 8 April 2020
Tulip fields in Plomeur, western France
AFP via Getty
8/50 7 April 2020
A employee and a resident of the house for the elderly "De Ravenstein" react as nurses dance and sing in the garden, following the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium
Reuters
9/50 6 April 2020
A man stands in the balcony of his home with the moon in the background in Cali, Colombia
AFP via Getty
10/50 5 April 2020
A man holds a traditional lamp from the balcony of his house as torches and candles illuminate houses and high rise residential buildings as Indians mark the country's fight against the coronavirus pandemic a suburb of New Delhi, India
AP
11/50 4 April 2020
Medical staff load an infected patient into an ambulance at the Nimes air base, south of France, during an evacuation operation from the hard-hit east of the country where hospitals are overwhelmed
AFP
12/50 3 April 2020
A man prays inside the closed Moussawi Grand Mosque in Basra
AFP via Getty
13/50 2 April 2020
A City Hall health official wearing a protective suit sprays disinfectant at the entrance of City One condominium as the residential building was placed under lockdown after 17 cases of COVID-19 were detected, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
EPA
14/50 1 April 2020
Migrant workers wait on marked areas on the ground to maintain social distancing as they queue to receive food packets at an industrial area during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus, in Chennai
AFP via Getty
15/50 31 March 2020
Wedding dress and evening wear designer Friederike Jorzig adjusts a mannequin wearing a wedding dress with matching protective mask in her store Chiton in Berlin
AFP via Getty
16/50 30 March 2020
A stray dog walks in front of an empty historic India Gate, as nationwide lockdown continues over the coronavirus in New Delhi, India
Getty
17/50 29 March 2020
A man watches a TV screen showing a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul
AP
18/50 28 March 2020
Hong Kong's skyline is seen with some of its lights turned off to mark the Earth Hour, an environmental campaign
AFP/Getty
19/50 27 March 2020
Ukrainian citizens queue at the Polish-Ukrainian border during the coronavirus pandemic in Korczowa, Poland. On 13 March, Poland closed its borders due to the ongoing pandemic of the Covid-19 and has extended the measure until at least 11 April
EPA
20/50 26 March 2020
Tenon hospital emergency services staff members gesture during a break, on March 26, 2020 in Paris, as the country is under lockdown to stop the spread of Covid-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
AFP via Getty
21/50 25 March 2020
Aerial view showing almost empty streets in Bogota, taken during the lockdown ordered by the government to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus
AFP via Getty
22/50 24 March 2020
Staff members line up to attention as they prepare to spray disinfectant at Wuhan Railway Station. China announced that a lockdown would be lifted on more than 50 million people in central Hubei province where the Covid-19 coronavirus first emerged late last year
AFP via Getty
23/50 23 March 2020
A public order agency officer sprays disinfectant over a woman before she enters a local government office as a precautionary move against the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus in Surabaya
AFP via Getty
24/50 22 March 2020
Boys wearing protective and N95 masks play with a football outside their homes in Gaza City
AFP via Getty
25/50 21 March 2020
A woman standing on her balcony reaches out to catch a rose delivered to her via a drone on Mother's day, in the Lebanese coastal city of Jounieh, north of the capital Beirut, as people remain indoors in an effort to limit the spread of coronavirus. In a quiet Lebanese town under lockdown over the novel coronavirus, a drone buzzed towards a balcony on Saturday to deliver a red rose to a mother grinning in surprise. The COVID-19 pandemic may have put a damper on Mother's Day this year, but three students have come up with a novel service to celebrate the occasion without flouting social distancing restrictions
AFP via Getty
26/50 20 March 2020
Newlyweds Diego Fernandes, 46 and Deni Salgado, 30, kiss through protective face masks at a wedding ceremony with only witnesses and no guests, as public gatherings are banned as part of Italy's lockdown measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease in Naples
Reuters
27/50 19 March 2020
Members of a medical assistance team from Jiangsu province chant slogans at a ceremony marking their departure after helping with the Covid-19 coronavirus recovery effort, in Wuhan. Medical teams from across China began leaving Wuhan this week after the number of new coronavirus infections dropped. China on reported no new domestic cases for the first time since it started recording them in January, but recorded a spike in infections from abroad
AFP via Getty
28/50 18 March 2020
Sri Lankan police wear face masks a rehearsal parade in Colombo
AFP via Getty
29/50 17 March 2020
Divers clean and swipe the floor and walls of a pool at an aquatic complex in Medellin after the closure of all sporting venues in Colombia as a preventive measure against the spread of the Covid-19
AFP via Getty
30/50 16 March 2020
Workers spray disinfectant as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus at the Mubarikiya market following the outbreak of coronavirus, in Kuwait City
EPA
31/50 15 March 2020
People gather with their belongings at the scene of the fire outbreak at Abule-Ado in Lagos, Nigeria
Reuters
32/50 14 March 2020
A man feeds pidgeons at Cataluna Square in Barcelona
EPA
33/50 13 March 2020
A mosso de esquadra police officer stands on the closed off road near Igualada, Spain. Over 60,000 people awoke Friday in four towns near Barcelona confined to their homes and with police blocking roads. The order by regional authorities in Catalonia is Spain's first mandatory lockdown as Covid-19 coronavirus infections increase sharply
AP
34/50 12 March 2020
Italian mechanics Giacomo and Alessandro pose at their garage in Rome, as Italy shut all stores except for pharmacies and food shops in a desperate bid to halt the spread of a coronavirus that has killed 827 in the the country in just over two weeks
AFP via Getty
35/50 11 March 2020
Monks pray for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster during a memorial service on the coast in Iwaki, Fukushima. Japan marked the ninth anniversary of the killer tsunami that triggered the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, but fears about the new coronavirus forced a scaling back of public commemorations
Jiji Press/AFP via Getty
36/50 10 March 2020
Revellers dance as they celebrate Holi, the spring festival of colours in Allahabad
AFP/Getty
37/50 9 March 2020
Medical staff celebrate after all patients were discharged at a temporary hospital set up to treat people with the COVID-19 coronavirus in Wuhan in China
AFP/Getty
38/50 8 March 2020
A hundred members of the conservative activist group called Manif pour Tous ("Protest for Everyone") dressed as Marianne, French Republic's allegory, stage a protest against assisted reproductive technology (ART) and surrogacy in front of the National Assembly in Paris, France
AFP/Getty
39/50 7 March 2020
A migrant man runs away as another one takes cover behind a bin as Greek police use water cannons to block them trying to break fences in the Turkey-Greece border province of Edirne
AFP/Getty
40/50 6 March 2020
Police and forensic experts inspect the scene of an explosion near the US embassy in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia
AFP/Getty
41/50 5 March 2020
Migrants prepare for the coming night in a forest in the buffer zone at the Turkey-Greece border a crossing point
AFP/Getty
42/50 4 March 2020
A migrant rests with a child in his arms next to the Tunca river in Edirne, Turkey
Reuters
43/50 3 March 2020
Spanish policemen and civil guards sporting Guy Fawkes masks protest in front of Spanish policemen standing guard during a demonstration to demand fair wages in Madrid
AFP via Getty
44/50 2 March 2020
South Korean soldiers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant as part of preventive measures against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, at a market in Daegu
Yonhap/AFP via Getty
45/50 1 March 2020
A woman shouts as law enforcement officials move in to disperse a group of immigrants who had occupied a historic church and a square. They are demanding to be moved to another country as they claim to feel not safe because of xenophobic attacks in central Cape Town, South Africa
Reuters
46/50 29 February 2020
Greek border guard use teargas to push back migrants who try to enter Greece at the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Turkey
AP
47/50 28 February 2020
A woman makes her way and NGO's members help as a dinghy with 54 Afghan refugees lands ashore the Greek island of Lesbos. Turkey will no longer close its border gates to refugees who want to go to Europe, a senior official told AFP, shortly after the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in an airstrike in northern Syria
AFP via Getty Images
48/50 27 February 2020
Snow has fallen in high ground in Tasmania during the Australian summer
Tasmanian Rover Ski Club / Facebook
49/50 26 February 2020
Men ride a motorcycle past security forces patrolling a street in a riot-affected area of Delhi on Wednesday
Reuters
50/50 25 February 2020
Workers disinfect subway trains against coronavirus in Tehran, Iran
AP
1/50 14 April 2020
Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was damaged in a devastating fire one year ago today
Reuters
2/50 13 April 2020
Wild bluebells, which bloom around mid-April turning the forest blue as they form a carpet, are pictured in the Hallerbos in Belgium
Reuters
3/50 12 April 2020
Pope Francis delivers his Urbi et Orbi message following Easter Sunday Mass behind closed doors at St. Peter's Basilica in The Vatican, during the country's lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 infection
VATICAN MEDIA/AFP via Getty
4/50 11 April 2020
A man watches Krakatau spewing ash during an eruption, in Serang, Indonesia's Banten province
AFP via Getty
5/50 10 April 2020
Women queue for distribution of food for those suffering under Kenya's coronavirus-related movement restrictions
AP
6/50 9 April 2020
Firefighter Sittiporn Singthong, dressed up as Spider-Man, sprays disinfectant at the Wat Tha Mai Buddhist temple in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand
EPA
7/50 8 April 2020
Tulip fields in Plomeur, western France
AFP via Getty
8/50 7 April 2020
A employee and a resident of the house for the elderly "De Ravenstein" react as nurses dance and sing in the garden, following the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium
Reuters
9/50 6 April 2020
A man stands in the balcony of his home with the moon in the background in Cali, Colombia
AFP via Getty
10/50 5 April 2020
A man holds a traditional lamp from the balcony of his house as torches and candles illuminate houses and high rise residential buildings as Indians mark the country's fight against the coronavirus pandemic a suburb of New Delhi, India
AP
11/50 4 April 2020
Medical staff load an infected patient into an ambulance at the Nimes air base, south of France, during an evacuation operation from the hard-hit east of the country where hospitals are overwhelmed
AFP
12/50 3 April 2020
A man prays inside the closed Moussawi Grand Mosque in Basra
AFP via Getty
13/50 2 April 2020
A City Hall health official wearing a protective suit sprays disinfectant at the entrance of City One condominium as the residential building was placed under lockdown after 17 cases of COVID-19 were detected, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
EPA
14/50 1 April 2020
Migrant workers wait on marked areas on the ground to maintain social distancing as they queue to receive food packets at an industrial area during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus, in Chennai
AFP via Getty
15/50 31 March 2020
Wedding dress and evening wear designer Friederike Jorzig adjusts a mannequin wearing a wedding dress with matching protective mask in her store Chiton in Berlin
AFP via Getty
16/50 30 March 2020
A stray dog walks in front of an empty historic India Gate, as nationwide lockdown continues over the coronavirus in New Delhi, India
Getty
17/50 29 March 2020
A man watches a TV screen showing a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul
AP
18/50 28 March 2020
Hong Kong's skyline is seen with some of its lights turned off to mark the Earth Hour, an environmental campaign
AFP/Getty
19/50 27 March 2020
Ukrainian citizens queue at the Polish-Ukrainian border during the coronavirus pandemic in Korczowa, Poland. On 13 March, Poland closed its borders due to the ongoing pandemic of the Covid-19 and has extended the measure until at least 11 April
EPA
20/50 26 March 2020
Tenon hospital emergency services staff members gesture during a break, on March 26, 2020 in Paris, as the country is under lockdown to stop the spread of Covid-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
AFP via Getty
21/50 25 March 2020
Aerial view showing almost empty streets in Bogota, taken during the lockdown ordered by the government to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus
AFP via Getty
22/50 24 March 2020
Staff members line up to attention as they prepare to spray disinfectant at Wuhan Railway Station. China announced that a lockdown would be lifted on more than 50 million people in central Hubei province where the Covid-19 coronavirus first emerged late last year
AFP via Getty
23/50 23 March 2020
A public order agency officer sprays disinfectant over a woman before she enters a local government office as a precautionary move against the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus in Surabaya
AFP via Getty
24/50 22 March 2020
Boys wearing protective and N95 masks play with a football outside their homes in Gaza City
AFP via Getty
25/50 21 March 2020
A woman standing on her balcony reaches out to catch a rose delivered to her via a drone on Mother's day, in the Lebanese coastal city of Jounieh, north of the capital Beirut, as people remain indoors in an effort to limit the spread of coronavirus. In a quiet Lebanese town under lockdown over the novel coronavirus, a drone buzzed towards a balcony on Saturday to deliver a red rose to a mother grinning in surprise. The COVID-19 pandemic may have put a damper on Mother's Day this year, but three students have come up with a novel service to celebrate the occasion without flouting social distancing restrictions
AFP via Getty
26/50 20 March 2020
Newlyweds Diego Fernandes, 46 and Deni Salgado, 30, kiss through protective face masks at a wedding ceremony with only witnesses and no guests, as public gatherings are banned as part of Italy's lockdown measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease in Naples
Reuters
27/50 19 March 2020
Members of a medical assistance team from Jiangsu province chant slogans at a ceremony marking their departure after helping with the Covid-19 coronavirus recovery effort, in Wuhan. Medical teams from across China began leaving Wuhan this week after the number of new coronavirus infections dropped. China on reported no new domestic cases for the first time since it started recording them in January, but recorded a spike in infections from abroad
AFP via Getty
28/50 18 March 2020
Sri Lankan police wear face masks a rehearsal parade in Colombo
AFP via Getty
29/50 17 March 2020
Divers clean and swipe the floor and walls of a pool at an aquatic complex in Medellin after the closure of all sporting venues in Colombia as a preventive measure against the spread of the Covid-19
AFP via Getty
30/50 16 March 2020
Workers spray disinfectant as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus at the Mubarikiya market following the outbreak of coronavirus, in Kuwait City
EPA
31/50 15 March 2020
People gather with their belongings at the scene of the fire outbreak at Abule-Ado in Lagos, Nigeria
Reuters
32/50 14 March 2020
A man feeds pidgeons at Cataluna Square in Barcelona
EPA
33/50 13 March 2020
A mosso de esquadra police officer stands on the closed off road near Igualada, Spain. Over 60,000 people awoke Friday in four towns near Barcelona confined to their homes and with police blocking roads. The order by regional authorities in Catalonia is Spain's first mandatory lockdown as Covid-19 coronavirus infections increase sharply
AP
34/50 12 March 2020
Italian mechanics Giacomo and Alessandro pose at their garage in Rome, as Italy shut all stores except for pharmacies and food shops in a desperate bid to halt the spread of a coronavirus that has killed 827 in the the country in just over two weeks
AFP via Getty
35/50 11 March 2020
Monks pray for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster during a memorial service on the coast in Iwaki, Fukushima. Japan marked the ninth anniversary of the killer tsunami that triggered the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, but fears about the new coronavirus forced a scaling back of public commemorations
Jiji Press/AFP via Getty
36/50 10 March 2020
Revellers dance as they celebrate Holi, the spring festival of colours in Allahabad
AFP/Getty
37/50 9 March 2020
Medical staff celebrate after all patients were discharged at a temporary hospital set up to treat people with the COVID-19 coronavirus in Wuhan in China
AFP/Getty
38/50 8 March 2020
A hundred members of the conservative activist group called Manif pour Tous ("Protest for Everyone") dressed as Marianne, French Republic's allegory, stage a protest against assisted reproductive technology (ART) and surrogacy in front of the National Assembly in Paris, France
AFP/Getty
39/50 7 March 2020
A migrant man runs away as another one takes cover behind a bin as Greek police use water cannons to block them trying to break fences in the Turkey-Greece border province of Edirne
AFP/Getty
40/50 6 March 2020
Police and forensic experts inspect the scene of an explosion near the US embassy in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia
AFP/Getty
41/50 5 March 2020
Migrants prepare for the coming night in a forest in the buffer zone at the Turkey-Greece border a crossing point
AFP/Getty
42/50 4 March 2020
A migrant rests with a child in his arms next to the Tunca river in Edirne, Turkey
Reuters
43/50 3 March 2020
Spanish policemen and civil guards sporting Guy Fawkes masks protest in front of Spanish policemen standing guard during a demonstration to demand fair wages in Madrid
AFP via Getty
44/50 2 March 2020
South Korean soldiers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant as part of preventive measures against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, at a market in Daegu
Yonhap/AFP via Getty
45/50 1 March 2020
A woman shouts as law enforcement officials move in to disperse a group of immigrants who had occupied a historic church and a square. They are demanding to be moved to another country as they claim to feel not safe because of xenophobic attacks in central Cape Town, South Africa
Reuters
46/50 29 February 2020
Greek border guard use teargas to push back migrants who try to enter Greece at the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Turkey
AP
47/50 28 February 2020
A woman makes her way and NGO's members help as a dinghy with 54 Afghan refugees lands ashore the Greek island of Lesbos. Turkey will no longer close its border gates to refugees who want to go to Europe, a senior official told AFP, shortly after the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in an airstrike in northern Syria
AFP via Getty Images
48/50 27 February 2020
Snow has fallen in high ground in Tasmania during the Australian summer
Tasmanian Rover Ski Club / Facebook
49/50 26 February 2020
Men ride a motorcycle past security forces patrolling a street in a riot-affected area of Delhi on Wednesday
Reuters
50/50 25 February 2020
Workers disinfect subway trains against coronavirus in Tehran, Iran
AP
"Many of the champions who are supporting [the girls] are using technology and finding new ways to make it easier for girls to have access to education, whether it’s e-learning or getting STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] skills," Malala added.
"So, I'm just really hopeful that we can reach as many young girls and as many young advocates as possible.”
Mr Cook went on to explain that the partnership between Apple and the Nobel Peace Prize winner was in keeping with the vision held by the company's founder Steve Jobs.
"We have expertise in education," he said.
"You know, we've been serving the ed’ market for 40 years; for the length of time of the company. It was a key focus of Steve’s from the start and so we’ve built an expertise of what our products can do in a teaching environment and how they can fuel student achievement.
"We’ve done that in many different settings from very underprivileged schools to the polar opposite. And we have touched a significant number of people with our coding initiative, using our retail stores working with many different groups that are touching girls' organisations and students in general, but very focused on girls as well.
"And so we bring all of that. Of course, we have an expertise in scaling and we have lots of people in different countries across the world. So, it seemed like the most important thing to me is always values and the vision. And those are the same and then when I thought through this, it seemed like we could bring a lot in support of Malala's vision."
Comments
Share your thoughts and debate the big issues
Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines.
You can find our Community Guidelines in full here.
-
Newest first
-
Oldest first
-
Most liked
{{/moreThanOne}}Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines.
You can find our Community Guidelines in full here.
-
Newest first
-
Oldest first
-
Most liked
{{/moreThanOne_p}}Follow comments
Vote
Report Comment
Subscribe to Independent Premium to debate the big issues
Want to discuss real-world problems, be involved in the most engaging discussions and hear from the journalists? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Already registered? Log inReport Comment
Delete Comment
About The Independent commenting
Independent Premium Comments can be posted by members of our membership scheme, Independent Premium. It allows our most engaged readers to debate the big issues, share their own experiences, discuss real-world solutions, and more. Our journalists will try to respond by joining the threads when they can to create a true meeting of independent Premium. The most insightful comments on all subjects will be published daily in dedicated articles. You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment.
The existing Open Comments threads will continue to exist for those who do not subscribe to Independent Premium. Due to the sheer scale of this comment community, we are not able to give each post the same level of attention, but we have preserved this area in the interests of open debate. Please continue to respect all commenters and create constructive debates.