Gulf Times Exclusives: From slammed doors to global recognition

When Educate Girls became the first Indian non-profit to win the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award 2025, it wasn’t just an institutional milestone—it was a victory for millions of girls who had once been told that school was not for them. For founder Safeena Husain, the award represents the resilience of the girls who refused to give up on their dreams, the determination of communities who chose change, and the dedication of thousands of volunteers who have gone door to door convincing families to keep their daughters in school.

“To be the first Indian non-profit ever to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award is historic. For me, this award belongs first and foremost to the thousands of girls who refused to give up on their dreams”

In this exclusive interview, Safeena reflects on her two-decade journey of championing girls’ education—from the challenges of walking through deeply patriarchal villages facing slammed doors, to pioneering innovative models like the world’s first Development Impact Bond in education. She shares moving stories of transformation, strategies that have helped over two million girls return to school, and her ambitious vision for the next decade: reaching 10 million learners in 10 years.
At its heart, her message is clear—girls’ education is not a local issue, but a global priority, and real change begins when communities themselves take ownership of that future.

Q: Congratulations on winning the Ramon Magsaysay Award 2025 — the first for an Indian organization. How did you feel when you heard the news, and what does this recognition mean for you and your team?
A: It was an incredibly emotional moment. To be the first Indian non-profit ever to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award is historic. For me, this award belongs first and foremost to the thousands of girls who refused to give up on their dreams.
For our team, it is an encouragement to double down on what works and to share our learnings widely so that millions more girls benefit. But above all, it is a collective win for every family that chose to keep a daughter in school, every volunteer who knocked on a door, every government that partnered with us, every donor and partner who believed in us, and every girl who dared to dream bigger. This recognition tells the world that girls’ education is not a local issue; it is a global priority.

Q: You have spent nearly two decades championing the cause of girls’ education. What inspired you to dedicate your life to this mission?
A: My own journey is what led me to start Educate Girls. I had a very difficult childhood growing up in New Delhi, but thanks to the support of my family friend and aunt, I became the first in my family to go to university, studying at the London School of Economics. When I returned to India in 2005, I was confronted with the stark reality that millions of girls were still denied even basic education.
I remember visiting a village in Rajasthan where a 10-year-old girl spent her days grazing goats because her family believed school was unnecessary. Sitting with families like hers, I saw both the barriers and the untapped potential of these girls. That conviction that education transforms not just a girl’s life but her entire family and community is what inspired me to dedicate myself to this mission.

Q: Looking back to when you founded Educate Girls, what were the biggest challenges you faced in the early years?
A: Convincing parents and communities proved to be the toughest. Walking door-to-door in deeply patriarchal communities, I often had doors slammed in my face and was told I was wasting my time. Poverty and social traditions made families hesitate about sending girls to school. Many would say, “Why educate her if she will get married?” But what kept me going was my faith in the girls and the power of communities. Slowly, we found and nurtured local leaders and volunteers who became change agents in their own villages. We also discovered that men could be powerful champions in the gender equity movement.

Q: How has your own upbringing and life experiences shaped your vision for Educate Girls?
A: I remember the uncertainty and isolation that came with being out of school. It was only because of my aunt’s support that I got a second chance at education. That personal experience gave me a glimpse of what millions of girls feel when they are denied opportunities, and it has stayed with me ever since. Later, living abroad deepened my appreciation for what education makes possible, and when I returned to India, I felt a strong responsibility to ensure that girls were not left behind.

Q: Educate Girls has impacted millions of children in rural India. Can you share one story of transformation that personally moved you?
A: I recall meeting Dinesh in Rajasthan, the father of one of the first girls we helped return to school in 2008. At that time, he told us he believed in education, but only for his sons, while his daughter Shobha stayed at home. When I visited them again last year, Dinesh said something that has stayed with me ever since: “The world today is built for the educated. If you are not educated, you will be exploited like animals.”
That shift—from excluding girls to recognizing their right to belong in that world—is perhaps the true work of changing mindsets. When communities change, culture changes, and norms begin to shift.

Q: What strategies have been most effective in enrolling out-of-school girls and improving their learning outcomes?
A: Our biggest strength has been the community itself. Through Team Balika (Team for the girl child), who are educated youth from the same villages, we go door to door, identify out-of-school girls, and build trust with families. Because they are from the community, they understand local dynamics and can change mindsets in ways outsiders cannot.
Once the girls are back in school, we use Gyan ka Pitara, a remedial curriculum designed to build foundational literacy and numeracy. It helps children learn at their own pace through engaging, activity-based methods, enabling them to catch up, as they are often first-generation learners. That’s why it’s so important, because enrollment alone is not enough.

Q: Collaboration with local communities is central to your model. How do you build trust and ensure long-term sustainability?
A: Our most effective strategy has been to put the community at the centre. Today, we have over 23,000 Team Balika volunteers, from the same villages, who know every lane, every family. Their proximity builds trust, which is often the key to persuading parents to send their daughters to school.
We also work hand-in-hand with governments so that enrollment drives, School Management Committees, and open schooling systems reach the very last girl. Once girls are enrolled, ensuring they stay and learn is critical. Over time, this has resulted in more than 2.4 million children improving their learning, alongside a 90% retention rate for the girls we enrol. It’s really a combination of community ownership, government partnership, and evidence-driven tools that has allowed us to bring more than 2 million girls into education and to ensure they don’t just sit in classrooms, but actually learn and thrive.

Q: You pioneered the world’s first Development Impact Bond in education. How did that innovation change the way education programs are funded and delivered?
A: The Development Impact Bond gave us a way to link funding to outcomes, not just activities, and we actually overachieved those targets. As validated by a rigorous gold-standard Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), Educate Girls achieved 116% of its enrollment goals and 160% of its learning targets, equivalent to an additional year of learning gains.
For us, the DIB was more than just innovative funding; it became a learning engine. It helped sharpen our model on two critical fronts: first, by developing a more targeted remedial learning curriculum focused on micro-competencies; and second, by revealing through the data that out-of-school girls were disproportionately concentrated in a smaller subset of villages, setting the stage for precision at scale. It also attracted partners who might never have invested in education otherwise, showing that social programs can be both accountable and ambitious.

Q: Looking ahead, what are your top priorities for the next decade of Educate Girls?
A: The bad news of winning an award like this is that we are getting more ambitious. In the last 18 years, we have brought over two million girls back into education by mobilising communities around them. But the next decade is about 10×10 – reaching 10 million learners in 10 years. That means going where exclusion is deepest, in the most marginalised and remote geographies.
We want to crack open flexible pathways for adolescent girls and young women who have no structured way to return to education today. Technology and data will help us find out-of-school girls with precision, but the real engine will always be the community – the families, volunteers, and local leaders who change mindsets door by door. And just as important, once a girl is in education, we must ensure she learns well, develops skills, confidence, agency, and the power to shape her own life.

“Over the past 18 years, we have brought more than two million girls back into education by mobilizing communities around them. The next decade, however, is about 10×10—reaching 10 million learners in 10 years”

Q: With accolades such as the WISE Prize, the TED Audacious Project and now the Ramon Magsaysay Award, what drives you to remain deeply connected to the work on the ground and close to the communities you serve?
A: The real reward comes from being in the villages, sitting with girls and hearing their dreams for the future. That’s where the energy comes from. Awards are encouraging, but they are not the reason we do this work. The reason will always be the girl who learns to write her own name for the first time, or the parent who proudly says, “My daughter is the first in our family to study.” At Educate Girls, we’ve always said that the community is the heart of change.

Q: What advice would you give to young changemakers and social entrepreneurs who want to create large-scale impact?
A: I suggest approaching problems with a long-term, problem-solving mindset rather than a project-oriented one. Start by understanding the realities on the ground and leverage what already exists, whether it is community programs, government schemes, or local resources. Build ownership within the community, because true leadership comes from within. Change does not come from the outside in; for it to be sustainable, it must be led by local voices with empathy and cultural insight. And above all, remember that change is rarely quick; it requires patience, persistence, and an unshakable belief that things can be different.