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Ep 31. Suzanne Ehlers, CEO Malala Fund: Amplifying girls' voices!
49 Plays2 years ago
“Believe in yourself. Believe that you do have the power to make the change…
(Malala) believes in an individual’s ability and power to make the change that they so desire…
she tells young women everywhere… believe in your story and believe in your own capacity to catalyse that
change and make that impact.”
The world knows the story of Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani education activist, who was shot by the Taliban when she was just 15 years old. Shot, for speaking out on behalf of girls and their right to an education.
Malala Fund is working towards a world where every girl can learn and lead.
Suzanne Ehlers, CEO of the Malala Fund tells us about the work the organisation does to break down barriers that hold girls back, creating change pathways and amplifying girls’ voices. We also talk about our responsibilities as leaders to bring about true equity, diversity and inclusion, and how we can look to re-distribute and re-orient power in our own organisations.
Suzanne also shares her personal leadership journey and why the cause of fighting for equal rights for women and girls is her “true North”.
10 years after Malala’s shooting, the Taliban have once again decreed that girls cannot go to school in Afghanistan. And so, the fight continues.
Recorded May 2022.
Guest Biography
Suzanne Ehlers has served as CEO of Malala Fund since February 2020. In this role, she provides leadership to a global network of experts and advocates who are breaking down barriers that prevent girls from going to school. Suzanne works closely with co-founders Malala and Ziauddin Yousafzai, to advance progress toward girls’ education around the world. Prior to her appointment at Malala Fund, Suzanne served as President & CEO of PAI, a global advocacy leader in the effort to protect and promote the reproductive rights of women and girls. Earlier in her career, Suzanne was a grant-maker at Wallace Global Fund. Suzanne also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic (CAR) following her graduation from Cornell University with a degree in Government. Suzanne speaks French, Spanish and Sango (language of the CAR). She is an avid walker and baker. She grew up in south Texas and now resides in Washington DC, with her husband, two daughters and two dogs.
Links
https://malala.org/
(Malala) believes in an individual’s ability and power to make the change that they so desire…
she tells young women everywhere… believe in your story and believe in your own capacity to catalyse that
change and make that impact.”
The world knows the story of Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani education activist, who was shot by the Taliban when she was just 15 years old. Shot, for speaking out on behalf of girls and their right to an education.
Malala Fund is working towards a world where every girl can learn and lead.
Suzanne Ehlers, CEO of the Malala Fund tells us about the work the organisation does to break down barriers that hold girls back, creating change pathways and amplifying girls’ voices. We also talk about our responsibilities as leaders to bring about true equity, diversity and inclusion, and how we can look to re-distribute and re-orient power in our own organisations.
Suzanne also shares her personal leadership journey and why the cause of fighting for equal rights for women and girls is her “true North”.
10 years after Malala’s shooting, the Taliban have once again decreed that girls cannot go to school in Afghanistan. And so, the fight continues.
Recorded May 2022.
Guest Biography
Suzanne Ehlers has served as CEO of Malala Fund since February 2020. In this role, she provides leadership to a global network of experts and advocates who are breaking down barriers that prevent girls from going to school. Suzanne works closely with co-founders Malala and Ziauddin Yousafzai, to advance progress toward girls’ education around the world. Prior to her appointment at Malala Fund, Suzanne served as President & CEO of PAI, a global advocacy leader in the effort to protect and promote the reproductive rights of women and girls. Earlier in her career, Suzanne was a grant-maker at Wallace Global Fund. Suzanne also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic (CAR) following her graduation from Cornell University with a degree in Government. Suzanne speaks French, Spanish and Sango (language of the CAR). She is an avid walker and baker. She grew up in south Texas and now resides in Washington DC, with her husband, two daughters and two dogs.
Links
https://malala.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Violation of Afghan Women's Rights
00:00:00
Speaker
uplifting the voice and the stories of Afghan women and girls who are not allowed to go to school. It seems so absurd and so irrational in this moment in time. I dropped off my kids at school this morning and cannot imagine a world where I would not be allowed to do that because they are girls. We have to keep that story at the center of people's consciousness because it's so egregious and it's such a
00:00:24
Speaker
horrific violation of human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan and frankly of all of us broadly speaking.
00:00:39
Speaker
Welcome
Podcast Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:39
Speaker
to season four of the Charity CEO podcast, the podcast for charity leaders by charity leaders, bringing you inspirational and meaningful conversations with leaders who are driving change in the nonprofit space. I'm truly delighted and humbled that the show has been named in the Charity Times top 10 charity podcasts for 2022. Thank you all for that incredible endorsement. I'm Divya O'Connor, and here's the show.
00:01:07
Speaker
I am delighted to launch season four with Suzanne Ehlers, CEO of the Malala Fund. The
Malala Fund's Mission and Malala's Activism
00:01:12
Speaker
world knows the story of Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani education activist who was shot by the Taliban when she was just 15 years old. Shot for speaking out on behalf of girls and their right to an education.
00:01:25
Speaker
Established after her recovery, the Malala Fund is working towards a world where every girl can learn and lead. As a Nobel Peace Laureate, Malala has an incredible platform to advocate for girls' rights, and the Malala Fund leads this important work. Suzanne tells us about the work the organization does to break down barriers that hold girls back, creating change pathways and amplifying girls' voices.
00:01:49
Speaker
We also talk about our responsibility as leaders to facilitate true equity, diversity, and inclusion, and how we can redistribute and reorient power in our own organizations. Ten years after Malala's shooting, the Taliban have once again decreed that girls cannot go to school in Afghanistan. And so the fight continues. I hope you enjoyed the conversation. I certainly did.
00:02:16
Speaker
Hi, Suzanne, welcome and thank you for joining us for season four of the Charity CEO podcast. I'm so thrilled to have you with us today. And you have the special honor of being our very first guest from across the pond.
00:02:29
Speaker
Oh,
Personal Insights from Suzanne Ehlers
00:02:30
Speaker
that's wonderful. And also the inaugural kickoff for this fourth season. So thank you, Divya, for including me and including the Malala Fun Story in today's episode. Oh, absolutely delighted to kick off season four with you. And so we are continuing this season with our popular icebreaker format with a couple of small tweaks. So I have five questions for you, Suzanne. And if you're ready, we can dive straight into those. Let's do it. So question one, what are three words that your daughters would use to describe you?
00:03:00
Speaker
generous, funny, and active. Lovely. Question two, what would you say is your professional superpower? Humility. Question three, what is your guilty pleasure? Nacho cheese Doritos.
00:03:18
Speaker
Brilliant. And question four, Suzanne, if you could wave a magic wand and change one thing in the world right now, what would that be? Peace over all the lands. Very much needed at this time indeed. And our final icebreaker question, if you had the opportunity to interview anyone in the world dead or alive, who would it be and what one question would you like to ask them?
Malala Yousafzai's Personality and Leadership Journey
00:03:43
Speaker
I mean, he's alive and probably not too far from me. I would love to interview Barack Obama and I would love to hear from him the daily habit, the discipline that he must have had and no doubt still has to just withstand the critique and to withstand
00:04:03
Speaker
the attacks and the violent rhetoric about him and his leadership. I just love to know day in and day out, how did he do it? Yes, I think resilience is something that all leaders need and he absolutely has in spades. But Suzanne, I've had guests in the past on this show whose answer to that question has been that they would like to interview Malala Yousafzai. So on that note, given that you are, of course, the CEO of the Malala Fund,
00:04:30
Speaker
And of course, must have had myriad opportunities to speak with and engage with Malala. I'm going to start with a question that I probably guessed you've been asked before, but I know that it's one that our listeners would absolutely love to hear. What is it like working with Malala? I'm not actually asked that question as often as you might think. I mean, maybe by the younger generation, by my daughters and their friends, like,
00:04:55
Speaker
You have a WhatsApp exchange with Malala or they love to hear that she puts emojis in different messages. Day in and day out, I would say there's a couple of reflections. Number one, she really is as passionate and activist led and oriented as you think she'd be. It's not a show. It is who she is coursing through her veins.
00:05:16
Speaker
Every decision and choice point, she navigates through that lens of activism and of change making, which is pretty extraordinary to witness in an individual. I'd say number two, she's got a very wry sense of humor. I think people know that about her.
00:05:31
Speaker
They read her podium pieces on Facebook or they see her in interviews. She loves good television. She's just got a really good sense of humor, which every once in a while will surprise me and sort of a message or sort of a remark that she'll make. And it reminds me that she's human, just beautifully, beautifully human like the rest of us.
00:05:50
Speaker
And then I think the third thing is, is that there are a number of organizations out there led by or inspired by the vision of a famous person, but maybe none quite like Malala. She's just about to turn 25. She's just recently married, just recently graduated.
00:06:07
Speaker
has the sort of world at her fingertips in some respects. And all of that change and growth and journey that she's going through personally and professionally is part and parcel of her work with the fund. It's a pretty unique journey that we're all on. So I think I just have profound respect and
00:06:26
Speaker
appreciation for being a part of that. It's different than Melinda Gates or Oprah Winfrey or any number of other celebrities, Bono, who's deeply, deeply engaged in social justice and human rights change. It's fun to be on a one-of-a-kind adventure with someone like Malala.
00:06:41
Speaker
She sounds absolutely inspirational and staying with the theme of questions that my previous guests would like to ask Malala and Kate Lee, if you are listening, this question is for you. What
Empowerment and Global Advocacy for Girls' Education
00:06:53
Speaker
do you think, Suzanne, Malala's advice would be to empowering young women today to enable them to be as strong and resilient as she is? What do you think she would say to them?
00:07:04
Speaker
I hear her ask that question all the time. And I think her answer is usually pretty consistent. It's the believe in yourself. It's believe that you do have the power to make the change. Not all the change overnight, but change day after day, system after system, policy after policy. She just really believes in an individual's ability and power
00:07:28
Speaker
to make the change that they so desire. And she just tells young women, young people, old people everywhere, believe in your story and believe in your own capacity to kind of catalyze that change and make that impact. I mean, I think that's what she would say.
00:07:44
Speaker
She has enormous compassion and generosity for the adolescent girl when all of the change that adolescent girls are going through and that the world is sort of bearing witness to. And she just brings a lot of love and compassion to that audience. And yeah, I think tells them what maybe too few people tell them, which is
00:08:02
Speaker
you're enough and you're right and believe in your story and take it forward. Well, what you have just shared there so powerfully really feeds into the vision at the Malala Fund, which is a world where every girl can learn and lead. So on that note, Suzanne, tell us more about the organization and your work.
00:08:20
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the organization was founded in 2013 by Malala and her father, Zia-Din, use of Psy, and the original idea is what it still is, to champion the right of every girl to 12 years of free, safe, and quality education. Yes, our mission has sort of evolved. Our understanding of change has evolved. I mean, all of it is now
00:08:43
Speaker
a couple of years older than it was when we started in 2013, but we're still doing some of the same stuff just better. We're still investing in local education activists, just like Malala and Zia Dean were. We're still amplifying girls' voices, maybe through more channels and maybe to bigger audiences, but
00:09:02
Speaker
still putting girls voices at the center of change making for their education. And we are still advocating to hold leaders accountable all the way from the local level to the global level and back again. So that part has not changed in terms of kind of the pillars of our response and our approach. The organization works all over the world. I think as you know, Divya, I'm based in the US, we have an office in the UK, we have
00:09:26
Speaker
offices in both Pakistan and Nigeria, and then a number of programs and advocacy projects in nine total countries and were growing year on year. So the scale of it is quite a bit different than it was back in 2013, but the organization has remained really true to what our co-founder set out as the original vision.
00:09:45
Speaker
Talking
Digital Initiatives and Climate Change Impact
00:09:46
Speaker
about putting girls' voices at the center of really advocating for themselves, tell us a bit more about the Assembly platform. I know this started as a digital newsletter, but it's become so much more than that, hasn't it? So tell us about that. Oh, I love talking about Assembly. I mean, again, so much about Malala Fund. I can take no credit for having engineered and sort of catalyzed or inspired. I walked into an organization with just such incredible assets and such great ideas.
00:10:13
Speaker
So assembly was launched in 2018 and it was, as you suggest, it was a platform for young women around the world to share their thoughts, to share their challenges, their accomplishments. It was essentially a digital newsletter, gave everyone an opportunity to learn about this new generation of leaders. And I think what we have learned as an organization over time is that assembly, even though it's a quote unquote communications product, it's at the core of our mission.
00:10:41
Speaker
We didn't strategically design it maybe to be what it's become but what we did was we listened and responded to girls and young women when they came to us with the issues they cared about and if you do that and you really
00:10:57
Speaker
approach it with intention and care and you amplify their stories and then you also make commitments to change your own ways or introduce new projects and programs in response to what they've lifted up that are their priorities then all of a sudden like it becomes central to an organization strategic direction in some ways.
00:11:17
Speaker
So I think Assembly is still a digital newsletter. It is now also a way that girls and young women are convening and sharing thoughts and ideas from all around the world. It is also a feature of our girl program and the work that we do both as a feminist fund and with girl fellows in a number of different countries. So yeah, I feel like Assembly's this really organic story of letting a product
00:11:42
Speaker
begin to really inform and direct the strategic direction of an organization in a way that I'm really proud of. The example that I think I've shared with you before, Divya, is our work on climate change and education. And some on the outside would say, well, you're a girls' education organization. There's a lot of groups working on climate.
00:12:00
Speaker
Well, the fact is is that we were hearing from assembly contributors all the time that climate was at the center of their story. It was at the center of their social justice activism. It was at the center of some of the barriers they were facing in accessing school. It wasn't, unfortunately, at the center of the curriculum and the quality education they should have been receiving from those schools. I mean, we were hearing at it from like every angle that it was a racial justice issue, the climate adaptation in so many communities.
00:12:27
Speaker
was really interwoven with themes of racism and oppression. And so if you're hearing that from thousands of contributors all around the world, as a girls' education organization, you have to pause and say, what can we do institutionally to respond to what's so clearly a priority and an imperative for a key part of our audience? And we now work on climate change. It's not all we do. It's a piece of what we do. But it's very much in response to what we heard from girls and young women around the world. And there's a number of examples like that.
00:12:57
Speaker
It's really doing more than listening. It's actually listening and then doing something with what you've learned that changes the course of a direction for an organization.
00:13:06
Speaker
It's so fascinating to hear you talk about that, because I know that during the pandemic and the lockdowns, we all really saw the importance of having these digital tools and platforms and access in really enabling children to continue their education.
Pandemic Challenges and Local Activism
00:13:22
Speaker
And I'm sure we all have some war stories with respect to homeschooling, but I think that's for another podcast.
00:13:28
Speaker
But in the context, Suzanne, of 130 million girls who are out of education globally and potentially 20 million or so at risk of not going back to education post the pandemic, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the impact of gender with respect to the digital divide. Let's just pause and think about over two years ago when the pandemic
00:13:52
Speaker
first reared its head and the globe responded and everything that we knew to be a normal way of life from work to school to health care to the way we live in our neighborhoods and our communities just from one day to the next seems to have sort of shifted and now we know permanently really transformed. Schools were at the center of that. I have two daughters and one in middle school and one in high school and they like so many kids around the world it was just a sort of abrupt halt
00:14:19
Speaker
to their normal education and their traditional schooling experience. What we learned is that we already had digital technology and sort of the ed tech field in the larger sector. We already had notions of remote learning. We already knew that we were going to have to better incorporate new and emerging technologies into the school curriculum in order to turn out well-educated students who were ready to compete and work.
00:14:46
Speaker
in kind of a 21st century workplace. So let's not suggest that that was all there and happening before COVID. What I think COVID did is it really accelerated and sort of laid bare how much work we still had to do to sort of bridge the divide, not just to sort of low income communities or communities who
00:15:06
Speaker
had harder times accessing the technology and the remote work infrastructure. But we know in many places, girls in particular were disproportionately kept out of that digital space. Maybe there's limited numbers of smart devices at home and so girls get them last. Maybe parents have
00:15:25
Speaker
Rational fears around girls safety in the cyber world and don't want their girls exposed to the digital technology tools. Maybe there are cultural beliefs and attitudes and social norms about women in the stem and steam world and so.
00:15:42
Speaker
If that's not a career for you, why would you need to get exposed to these technologies that would further your learning in those spaces? Then basic internet connectivity and electricity issues, so much that kept so many kids out of the space, but then really disproportionately kept girls even more so out of the space. We did research in communities Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan,
00:16:08
Speaker
and found that, yes, girls had significantly less time and access to devote to learning during the COVID school closures. And a lot of that was hinged on access to technology and ability and capacity to use that technology to continue learning.
00:16:24
Speaker
And what are you at the Malala Fund doing to help bridge that divide? That question gives me a really important opportunity to say where Malala Fund and how Malala Fund makes change is always through the partners and the collaborators and the change makers who are on the front lines of policy change in key places. So what Malala Fund does is we identify this incredible network of education champions. We actually call it the Education Champion Network.
00:16:54
Speaker
It's in every country where we operate. So again, in Pakistan, in Nigeria, in India, in Ethiopia, in Bangladesh. And we support both financially and otherwise a really amazing range of powerful activists who are advocating for change in their communities to secure those 12 years of free, safe, and quality education for girls.
00:17:18
Speaker
And in many, many places, with many, many champions, this question of the gender-digital divide is at the center of their change-making strategy. So whether that's in Pakistan with our partner Haroun, who's working with a digital learning app called Talimabad, and having the Pakistan government
00:17:37
Speaker
In some ways, partner with him to make the national curriculum available digitally to children, school children throughout Pakistan, as one example. If it's working with someone like Kiki James in northern Nigeria and her group Ace Charity, lower tech, it was radio, but nevertheless, it was technology that was available to students in the moment.
00:17:57
Speaker
before COVID and then certainly in the COVID moment to keep kids connected to and tethered to learning in the midst of really uncertain and kind of transformative times in their communities. So for us, all of that change is shouldered by the education activists in whom we've been investing and with whom we've been partnering for many, many years. And then COVID gave us the opportunity to sort of reinvest and to really ramp up and accelerate some of those investments and some of those partnerships.
00:18:26
Speaker
so that they could deliver at scale in a moment of real crisis. So in
Leadership, Equity, and Inclusion
00:18:30
Speaker
the context of international development, we often talk about decentralized decision making and devolving authority to local actors. And it strikes me, Suzanne, that actually the Malala Fund has really got this ingrained in your model in terms of having these local education activists and change makers on the ground.
00:18:50
Speaker
Tell us a bit more about how that works in terms of what do you think might be some practical tips that you could share for other organizations really looking to have that structure in place for the work that they do? Let me start my answer maybe in a way that will surprise you, but I would say that you don't really have decentralized decision-making and authority figured out unless you've had
00:19:17
Speaker
really difficult conversations about power and where power really rests and really sits in an organization. And so back to my leadership value of humility, let me be really clear and very humble that we've made some progress in that at Malala Fund and not nearly enough and way more to do.
00:19:39
Speaker
in terms of redefining and reorienting where power sits within a global organization that might have offices in any number of countries, but has enormous access to resources and visibility and lift for the story of girls' education. And that power question is really at the heart of decentralized authority and decision making. I was listening to a podcast just this morning from the Racial Equity Index.
00:20:05
Speaker
And it's calling out the development sector on this idea of, everybody talks about locally led and locally rooted and anchored, but the real question is around power. So I just want to put that forward first, that I do think that institutionally we're asking good questions. And I think institutionally, we're not making the change at the pace that we can and should. So that's a challenge to myself and my leadership team and my board to say, can we always be asking the questions around power?
00:20:31
Speaker
Now, to your question and what we've done at Malala Fund from a practical tip and trick perspective, I guess I would first start with the idea that we are in at least part of what we do. We're a funder. Malala Fund has a number of what we call our change pathways. There's four of them that I would talk about with you today, but one of those is as a funder.
00:20:52
Speaker
We raise resources in order to redistribute them. We're not an endowed fund. We're not a private philanthropic enterprise. We are a nonprofit organization like any other with a lot of incredibly generous supporters and stakeholders who invest in us because we then promise to invest in the best activist and advocates, again, on the front lines of change for girls' education. And in that role as a funder, we are flexible.
00:21:19
Speaker
We are trust-based. We know that our grantees and our champions know better than we do what works in their communities and their contexts. They know best the changes and the mid-course corrections that their projects might need. So that's one way that I think we try to show up as a funder that allows the authority and the decision-making to really rest with as much as it can.
00:21:44
Speaker
the funded partners and grantees in that equation. And we're always trying to do more in that space. And this conversation around trust-based philanthropy, as you well know, has been a huge topic of conversation over the last couple of years. I also think that the Education Champion Network, if we think again about our role as a funder, is that we just don't subscribe to this sort of one-size-fits-all model. We invest in projects that are already established, that are run by activists on the ground. They understand the landscape.
00:22:13
Speaker
being informed by the experience of those who really know how to make change in their communities, even if it doesn't always square with what our smart advocacy mapping would tell us. It's an extension of that trust base, but it's actually really letting the strategy be rooted in and led from the places where the change is ultimately going to happen or not. I think that's another way that we're trying to manifest that decentralized model.
00:22:42
Speaker
It's really refreshing to hear your thoughts on this, Suzanne, and if I may just delve a bit more into this concept of power and really redefining and reorienting where power sits in organisations. I mean, when you think about equity, diversity and inclusion have become such important concepts and constructs in today's society, what does it mean to be a truly global leader in the EDI space today, do you think?
00:23:09
Speaker
And do you mean global leader, be as an individual or malala fund as an organization or both? Both.
00:23:16
Speaker
I'll start with what does it mean as a leader and as a leader who is a white cisgendered, able-bodied American woman. What it means for me to be a leader is to constantly be making space for those conversations about power, about influence, about reorganizing the way an organization does its work.
00:23:39
Speaker
in order to walk the talk a little bit sooner than you would otherwise. It's about prioritizing the development of future leaders, really profoundly that one feels. I mean, in my instance, it's actually about prioritizing my current leader and my servant leadership, really, to someone like Malala, whose mission we follow and whose vision we're inspired by. I'm more of a train runner. It's not like that's the only thing I do is keep the trains running.
00:24:08
Speaker
But ultimately, I am really in service to her vision and her strategy for this movement. I feel like that's the best way that I can show up, given my demographic profile. I know how to run an organization. I know how to manage and develop a board of directors. I'm always learning about staff support, workplace culture, how you pursue a roadmap around diversity, equity and inclusion, all of that.
00:24:34
Speaker
But at the end of the day, it's all really in partnership and ultimately to help lift up and amplify the message of Malala. That seems to me the best way that I can show up as a leader in this new time. Remember, that's all personal work that then shows up professionally. I mean, I think there's maybe generational notions of that, like the separation of your home life and your work life and boy, has COVID
00:24:58
Speaker
broken down some of those walls a little bit. So for me, it's like my commitment is to sort of make sure that my personal cup is filled and that I'm in a loving partnership and a generous relationship with my family and my community, because that then allows me to show up for an organization in a way that it needs me to. And this is the last reflection. This doesn't sound very DEI or equity driven, but I really do believe this. Like you just have to show up
00:25:26
Speaker
all the time, on screen, if required, in the office, if possible. It's walks to go get a cup of coffee. It's emailing your team on the morning after racist and hatred-fueled mass shooting in Buffalo, New York over the weekend.
00:25:47
Speaker
It's not always having the answer and being very clear that you don't have the answer. It's being constantly curious about the team that you work for. I mean, you work for them, right? They're not my team. I work for this team. I work for this organization. I have been given a job that is in service to this greater mission. And, boy, you just have to remind yourself of that all the time to sort of stay true.
00:26:12
Speaker
That's sort of a set of personal reflections, I think, as a leader. One thing you said right at the end there about having to show up all of the time, because you are, as a leader, in essence, working for your team. And I was just wondering, Suzanne, if you had any advice to leaders who might be feeling quite burnt out by having to show up all of the time that feel that they have no space for themselves anymore? Yeah.
00:26:39
Speaker
I do think reminding yourself that you model what your team then sees. And so if you don't have time for yourself, you can be assured that your team's not making time for themselves. It's actually a requirement of the job. It's a requirement of the job that you close down at five o'clock and do a yoga class. It's a requirement of the job that you take a midday walk with your dog. It's a requirement of the job that you jump out for coffee chats with staff around the office.
00:27:07
Speaker
You've got to recharge the batteries in order to show up and make yourself available. And I was thinking about those early days of COVID, no doubt you had this experience where we were literally on like back to back Zoom calls, 30 and 45 minutes at a pop, just one after the other after the other. And I had this reflection that whoever is on my calendar for 4pm, it's not their fault that I've had 16 Zoom calls before them.
00:27:32
Speaker
They are showing up for me with as fresh and new a perspective, and they deserve the same for me. And the only way that I can deliver that is if I'm caring for self and I'm giving myself the time to have new and innovative thinking and to have energy to apply to the mission. So that's, I don't know, I mean, that sounds very self care ish, which I know sometimes falls a little flat with leaders who feel just
00:27:56
Speaker
so exhausted right now and stretched, but the truth is, it's the truth, right? Like it's setting the boundaries and really respecting yourself within those boundaries so that you can be what your team needs you to be. Yeah, thank you. I think there was some really important reflections there and I didn't want to lose it, but did you have more to say in terms of the second part of the question, in terms of reflecting on Malala Fund as a leader in the EDI space as an organization?
00:28:23
Speaker
I think as an organization certainly with as well known a name as Malala Fund, I think maybe we have sort of an extra set of responsibilities than the average organization. One is to show up and share lessons learned or talk about the journey or show our mistakes or don't be too embarrassed about our failures. And that's not just in the EDI space, it's sort of across the board, but I do think that
00:28:49
Speaker
When you've got a name like Malala and you know that you have automatically more visibility and more brand recognition, you might as well take that leader of the pack responsibility pretty seriously and share the good stuff along with the bad or the tough, I should say, the times where you've stumbled or had some major hiccups.
00:29:08
Speaker
I think that's one piece is just radical transparency almost. I think the other part too is this idea of if it's that much easier for us to either leverage funding from a donor or to get in the room of a high level policymaker to remember that we have a responsibility to bring
00:29:27
Speaker
the field or the sector with us, that we've got to tell a collective story, not just our own. That doesn't sound maybe as specific to your EDI question, but it's about the institutional posture of generosity and collaborative leadership that I really believe in. That reminds me a little bit of something you and I had talked about on a previous conversation around fundraising and resource mobilization.
00:29:48
Speaker
I think, again, if you are in a space, there's enough money in the world. You've been in the sort of private sector space previous in your career. You know, there's plenty of wealth sort of floating around. Absolutely. That doesn't get attached to charitable and social justice enterprise like it should. I think that's the other thing that we try to model as an organization is that there is enough to go around.
00:30:12
Speaker
that we have to stop fighting at this sort of small pie level and really, really fight to have the pie increase so that there's enough for all of us to not just do the programmatic work and the mission work that we're known for, but also to do all of this infrastructure and back-of-house work, right? Like the EDI approach to policies and procedures and human resources or
00:30:35
Speaker
the staff learning and development plan that keeps your workforce at the very top of their game. Like that all contributes to mission and program and all of it should be generously and well-funded over multiple years for everybody in the charitable sector who's making good change and good impact. So that feels to me like another institutional responsibility that we have that I as a leader at the organization try to take really seriously.
00:30:59
Speaker
And
Taliban's Impact on Afghan Women's Education
00:30:59
Speaker
talking about that leader of the pack responsibility, Suzanne, I'd like to now talk about the crisis for women in Afghanistan. As we all know, the Taliban are preventing girls from attending secondary school and just a couple of weeks ago have decreed that all women must now wear a face veil in public there. So the situation for women and girls in Afghanistan is getting really difficult.
00:31:23
Speaker
And I know the Malala Fund recently published a white paper titled Rights in jeopardy, which sets out certain key actions for the international community in order to ensure that Afghanistan's and indeed the Taliban's original commitment to girls education is upheld. So tell us about that and where things are right now.
00:31:43
Speaker
Well, I will say first and foremost, and no doubt those who watch Malala Fund closely will already know this, this issue is absolutely at the center of who we are and what we're doing right now. It's an institutional priority of the highest order. There is no other place in the world where any individual is being denied their education on the basis of their gender.
00:32:09
Speaker
girls are not going to school because they are girls. And that's sort of our raison d'etre, right? That's like why we exist. So it is absolutely at the center of who we are. It's a deeply personal issue for both Malala and Zia Dean. And I think what we've tried to do is a couple of things. And this gets to, again, some of those change pathways that I talked about earlier. One other way that we make change in addition to being kind of a funder or re-funder, if you will,
00:32:37
Speaker
is that we do influencing at the highest levels. And boy, have we leveraged Malala and Zia Dean's voice, I think, really successfully in this respect to make change, not just in the context of a paper like the Rights in Jeopardy, but at the UN Security Council in meetings with State Department and USAID in Washington when she was through DC for a quick trip.
00:32:59
Speaker
at the Doha Forum where she sat with any world leader who would spend any amount of time with her to sort of drive home the humanitarian crisis that was facing Afghanistan and the particular crisis for both women and girls. I think we're also always thinking about influence at the other levels, not just at the Malala sort of superstar level. And that's really what the paper gets at, is outlining those key actions that the international community writ large kind of can and should take to alleviate the girls' education crisis.
00:33:29
Speaker
everything from backing those human rights monitoring mechanisms that are important so that we really understand the story, we really understand what's happening in Afghanistan to women and girls, that we're not captured by headlines, but that we have evidence and data collected from provinces throughout the country that feed back to us what really is the situation for human rights in a Taliban Afghanistan. We also are shoring up
00:33:55
Speaker
the education system with humanitarian support and trying again to sort of yield influence in this professional world of economic development and humanitarian response.
00:34:07
Speaker
to kind of marry them so that they're providing the right kind of support in the right moment at the right time for the very particular and unique crisis that Afghanistan is in. And where girls are going to school, not at the secondary school level, but below, that they can do so safely and that older girls will be able to go back also safely when they reopen. And I will say when and not if, because I have to believe and we have to have hope that that will happen.
00:34:36
Speaker
And then, of course, the other piece of getting back into the classroom is how do you prevent rollbacks on the quality of education and make sure that the curriculum that all kids are receiving, much less my secondary school girls that Malala Fund is so laser focused on, that all of them are receiving education of the highest quality and that really prepares them to be, again, a part of that future workforce in the world that will help take the whole country forward in the years and decades to come.
00:35:04
Speaker
So a multi-pronged response to what's happening in Afghanistan, but I appreciate your raising it because it's so at the center of who we are as change makers right now as an organization. If somebody
Call to Action for Global Support
00:35:14
Speaker
listening to this podcast wanted to help or get involved, they're just an ordinary citizen in the US or UK or anywhere in the world really, how can somebody help?
00:35:24
Speaker
A couple of different ways. I mean, we partnered with a number of Afghan leaders and advocates on a petition on Avaz, and it's still live and still collecting signatures. So sign that petition. Contribute to the broader Afghanistan humanitarian appeal that's being led by UNICEF and a number of key agencies.
00:35:43
Speaker
wherever you are in the world, if you have a local representative or an elected policy maker, let that person know that you care about what's happening in Afghanistan. It's fallen from the headlines, but the crisis is far from over. And I think that the war in Ukraine and any number of other conflicts, including in Ethiopia or what I've just talked about is yet another spate of horrific mass shootings in the US. There's so much
00:36:12
Speaker
that takes our attention and deserves our energy and care, and Afghanistan has to remain one of those issues that's at the forefront of policymakers' minds. And then I think even just when you're keeping the conversation alive in your own personal and professional pursuits, the workplace, your community, your kids, school parents, uplifting the voice and the stories of Afghan women and girls who
00:36:34
Speaker
are not allowed to go to school. It seems so absurd and so irrational in this moment in time. I dropped off my kids at school this morning and cannot imagine a world where I would not be allowed to do that because they are girls. We have to keep that story at the center of people's consciousness because it's so egregious and it's such a horrific violation of human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan and frankly of all of us, broadly speaking.
00:37:01
Speaker
There's a bunch that individuals can do. Malala Fund welcomes your support, of course. I mean, we are working with so many Afghan partners that we had been supporting before the crisis. And we'll continue to work with them, lift them up, amplify their stories, and really think about alternative education provision up until the time that schools will be reopened for secondary age schoolgirls. So a lot of avenues and not all just financial support, but really lifting your voice as an activist is super important in this moment.
00:37:31
Speaker
Indeed, and for those of you who may not know, the word avas in Hindi means voice or noise, so I think the concept of really uplifting the voice or making noise in order to amplify is probably the best way that everybody can get involved to really clamour for change to take place. I love that, thank you. I wouldn't have thought to sort of lift up the meaning of avas, so thank you for that.
00:37:55
Speaker
Absolutely, my pleasure.
Suzanne's Background and Leadership Advice
00:37:56
Speaker
Suzanne, I'd love to hear more of your personal story. I mean, tell us how you got to where you are today and why this causes your two North, as I have heard you describe it. Hmm. Where do you start when you sort of think about your personal leadership journey? But I would say, I mean, it all starts where you're born and how that can so
00:38:18
Speaker
define what's important to you and what your priorities are. Born in South Texas in the United States to a family that was middle-class-ish. Parents were relatively and are still relatively devout Catholics, played my sports and did my school leadership activities. But just from the earliest age, remember always being so put out by anybody who expected less from me because I was a girl.
00:38:46
Speaker
or didn't expect me to want to participate in certain activities because I was a girl or didn't think I'd be good at a certain sport because I was a girl. I just remember being so indignant about those presumptions made based on my girlhood.
00:39:03
Speaker
And I have to say that that, in some ways, I've never been able to shake off that indignant attitude. I believe so deeply in the potential of women and girls. It has just been my life's work. I worked in my university years for one of the first, I think, feminist organizing groups that was on campus at Cornell University in upstate New York. I did the United States Peace Corps right after university in the Central African Republic and
00:39:32
Speaker
Every single story that I took home from those days is around a young woman or a girl who helped keep me alive, who taught me the language, who helped me figure out how to do my laundry, who taught me how to cook good dishes. I mean, how to stay safe in the community. Every single story I have from those days is of a feminist leader who inserted herself into my heart and helped me better understand the struggle for women and girls in
00:40:01
Speaker
basically every corner of the globe. And then since my professional career started, I was first in philanthropy and then I was at a women's health organization and now at Malala Fund. I mean, honestly, Divya, I could be working on any issue, whether it be land rights, financial literacy, economic participation.
00:40:20
Speaker
peace-building, climate change, women's reproductive health, now girls' education. So long as the rights of women and girls are at the center of the equation, I'm gay. Sign me up. I love the work. It's always been my true north. I hope that it always will be. I have two daughters who I hope I'm providing a powerful feminist example for. But yeah, I mean, and my parents have been nothing but supportive of my leadership journey. I'm married to an incredible feminist.
00:40:49
Speaker
who doesn't work outside the home, he has really stepped into the leadership role and the primary caregiver role so that my external work that supports the family financially is coupled with all that he does to keep us running smoothly as a unit. I think that's a little bit of a snapshot of why I do what I do. It's immensely gratifying work, that's for sure.
00:41:11
Speaker
Absolutely. And looking back on your leadership journey then, Suzanne, what advice would you give to yourself perhaps on day one of becoming a CEO?
00:41:22
Speaker
I would say, number one, know your values. Mine, as I said earlier, one of them is humility. I'd say the other two are integrity and generosity. I don't think there's any way to be a leader that's not values driven, and those values show up and manifest in all sorts of different ways in the workplace, but you should know what really makes you tick as a human because that's who you are as a leader.
00:41:45
Speaker
I would say don't sweat the small stuff. I would say don't bring any extra drama as a leader. Bring a steady and calm influence. People watch you and read you for signals and energy. Even if it's a crisis, it's your job to keep your head on straight and to not
00:42:03
Speaker
bring unneeded and extra energy to an equation that already is amped up. I wish I'd known that back in the day. This one is about feedback, is to really be both open to receiving feedback and really good at giving feedback. I've always aspired to lead organizations that are feedback driven in their culture.
00:42:25
Speaker
It's not easy. Nobody really wants to hear the hard stuff. I mean, you want to be told that you're doing a great job all the time and you should just do more of it. But the truth is, is that you're not doing a great job all the time. You have blind spots or you have a hard time being as clear and consistent as you need to be as a leader or your time management really stinks.
00:42:43
Speaker
Just figure out as a leader how to be open to that feedback. It doesn't mean you have to do everything that people tell you you should do, but it does mean that you should be open to the feedback, you should integrate it into your own thinking, your own understanding of your approach in the world, and then you should be constantly evolving in the course that you're charting for yourself and for your organization. It's a constant evolutionary journey.
00:43:08
Speaker
I love that and I'm just going to repeat those because I think there's so much wisdom in there, Suzanne. So know your values and I love your values of humility, integrity, and generosity. Don't sweat the small stuff. And this one I particularly like, don't bring extra drama, but be a calm and steady influence. And feedback, I think that's absolutely critical, being open to receiving feedback and also being really good.
00:43:34
Speaker
at giving feedback and I think absolutely that is something as you say in the evolutionary journey of becoming better and learning from setbacks and moving forward in order to really drive change and deliver for the mission of the organizations that we all work for. I think that's incredibly important.
00:43:50
Speaker
Suzanne, it has been so inspiring speaking with you today. Thank you so much. In closing now, do you have any final thoughts or reflections that you would like to share? What is one thing you would like listeners to take away from this conversation?
00:44:05
Speaker
The premise of this podcast is such a beautiful one, right? It's sort of talking to other leaders like yourself who are in the charitable sector, the development sector, the social justice space. I think that we all feel like we're living through really unusual times and especially challenging times.
00:44:24
Speaker
And we're right, we are. I just want everyone to remember that you are enough in the way that you show up. You are enough as a leader. You're never going to get it all right. It's not a popularity contest. You're never going to make everybody happy all the time.
00:44:42
Speaker
But if you are really led by, again, the values of integrity, the values around impact and change, the values of human rights for all people everywhere and peace across the globe, if that is what is directing you day in and day out, the journey will forgive you. And to remember that, I guess that's what I would want to say, is that you're doing beautiful work and you may not always
00:45:07
Speaker
feel seen or feel heard, but you've got a community of quiet peers out there that know from our own rough road that it's worth it. It's really worth it and that you're doing incredibly important and pivotal work and keep at it. Thank you, Suzanne. That was such a beautiful message with which to end the show. Thank you so much for being a guest on the show. It was a pleasure. Thank you, Divya.
00:45:37
Speaker
Wow, what a truly inspiring conversation. I could have talked with Suzanne Ehlers, CEO of the Malala Fund, for hours. I want to echo what Suzanne said at the end there, that as leaders in the nonprofit space, we are all doing important and pivotal work.
00:45:52
Speaker
We are all changemakers in our own right, and sometimes just continually striving forward with the drive and intention of having a positive impact in the world is enough. Because the collective efforts of all our energies will bring about change. So keep at it.
00:46:10
Speaker
I
Conclusion and Future Updates
00:46:10
Speaker
hope you enjoyed this latest episode of the Charity CEO podcast. A show that thanks to you, our listeners, has repeatedly reached the number one spot in Apple's nonprofit podcast category. If you found this conversation valuable, please share or tag us on Twitter or LinkedIn or Instagram, and make sure you subscribe to the show by clicking the subscribe button on your podcast app.
00:46:32
Speaker
If you are feeling inspired or uplifted by what you have just heard, please share the joy and leave us a five-star review. Visit our website, thecharityceo.com, for full show details, information on previous season episodes, and to submit ideas for future guests. In order to balance my personal and professional commitments, the show will now come to you once a month instead of fortnightly. But I assure you, it will be worth the wait. Thank you for listening.