Safeena Husain

A social impact leader, Safeena Husain is the Founder of Educate Girls, an Indian non-profit that partners with communities to mobilize volunteers and resources for girls’ education in some of India’s most underserved and remote regions. In 2023, she became the first Indian woman to be honoured with the WISE Prize for Education for her transformative work in advancing gender equity through education. In 2024, in recognition of her work, Safeena was awarded an honorary doctorate by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Under Safeena’s leadership, Educate Girls has pioneered innovative models that harness the power of community volunteering—most notably through its Team Balika network of over 23,000 community-based champions, who have worked tirelessly to help enrol over 2 million out-of-school girls and improve learning outcomes for more than 2.4 million children since inception. She also spearheaded the world’s first Development Impact Bond in education and led the organization to become Asia’s first TED Audacious Project.

Drawing on her lived experience, Safeena brings a deep understanding of the challenges faced by the communities she serves. Her vision for the next decade is to empower 10 million learners through scalable, community-driven solutions grounded in volunteerism, participation, and equity.