Ziauddin Yousafzai

Ziauddin is an educator, human rights campaigner and social activist. He hails from Pakistan’s Swat Valley where at great personal risk among grave political violence, he peacefully resisted the Taliban’s efforts to shut down schools and kept open his own schools. Since college as a student leader, Ziauddin has stood up for the rights of those who couldn't speak for themselves. After graduating with an MA in English, his dreams came true when he established a successful school in his native Swat Valley. Zaiuddin spoke on national and international media resisting the Taliban’s atrocities and promoting the right of children's education and peace through active pacifism. His courage and passion inspired many people including his own daughter, Malala Yousafzai, to join him in standing up for human rights-the right of freedom, the right of education and the right of every child to attend school. Believing that “education is emancipation,” he tirelessly campaigned for girls’ education, in defiance of Taliban law, long before his daughter was born. As a long-time campaigner for peace and education, Ziauddin never dreamed the “sins of the father” would be visited upon his daughter rather than himself. Ziauddin jokes that Malala used to be known as his daughter, but now he is known as her father – and he is proud to have it that way.

With the help of many well-wishers, the family established the  Malala Fund in US which aims at empowering girls through education. Ziauddin is the co-founder and chairperson of the Malala Fund. He serves as the United Nations Special Advisor on Global Education, the educational attaché to the Pakistani Consulate in Birmingham, UK and Patron-in Chief of  Global Peace Council Pakistan.