Board members

Board member

Hon. Edgar Moyo is Deputy Minister of Education in Zimbabwe. He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA), a Bachelor’s Degree in Education Management and has 31 years of experience in teaching and leadership.

Alternate Board member

Hon. Farah Sheikh Abdulkadir is the current Federal Minister of Education, Culture and Higher Education of Somalia. With an overall 30+ years of experience, Hon Abdulkadir has been serving the government leadership for over 10 years. Prior to taking this role, he has served two terms as a federal parliamentarian, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in 2015 and as State Minister of Somalia Presidency.

Outside of the government sector, he has also served as the Advisor to the Direct Aid, Kuwait and the Country Director of Africa Muslim Agency.

He earned a master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute (ESAMI) Arusha, Tanzania in collaboration with Maastricht School of Management, in Netherlands. He also has a degree in sharia and Law from International Islamic University, in Islamabad Pakistan.

Board member

Hon. Kokoroko was appointed Minister of Primary, Secondary, Technical Education and Crafts on October 1, 2020. He remains the President of the University of Lomé, a position he has held since May 2016.

Hon. Kokoroko joined the University of Lomé in 2006 as an assistant. A year later, he obtained the degree of Associate Professor and in 2009 became Director of the Center for Public Law of the Faculty of Law. From 2010 to 2012, he headed the Doctoral School of the same Faculty, of which he would become Vice-Dean in 2012. Passed full Professor in 2014, he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Law, before being appointed President of the University of Lomé in May 2016.

Board member

Hon. David Sengeh has headed Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education since 2019. He is also the country’s current and first-ever Chief Innovation Officer. Born and raised in Sierra Leone, he completed his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he developed award-winning inventions and technology for human augmentation, designing comfortable prosthetic interfaces. Minister Sengeh has also been named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 in technology; he is also a Senior TED Fellow, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, on the Wired Smart List 2013, winner of the Lemelson-MIT National Collegiate Student Prize, an Obama Foundation Leaders: Africa Fellow, and a WEF Young Global Leader.

Alternate Board member

​Hon. ​David Adejo Andrew is a seasoned and experienced Public Administrator who has served for over 30 years in various national and international positions in Nigeria. He was appointed Permanent Secretary in the Nigerian Civil Service in 2019 and served in the Office of the Secretary of the Government of the Federation and currently serves as the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education.

Alternate Board member

Hon. Dr. Aishath Ali is the Minister of Education in the Republic of Maldives. She graduated from the University of the South Pacific in 2004 with the Gold Medal and was awarded the John Gibbons Prize for outstanding student graduating with a major in Biology. She contributed towards the establishment of the first university of Maldives and was the founding Registrar when the Maldives National University (MNU) was first established in 2011. She later worked in the Research Center of the MNU before taking the post of Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and continued there until she took office as the Minister of Education in November 2018.

Board member

Dr. Usman Sharifhodjaev graduated from Tashkent Institute of Finance in 2007 with a Bachelor's degree. He earned his Master’s degree from International Westminster University in Tashkent in 2011 and Ph.D. from Tashkent State University of Economics. Dr. Sharifhodjaev has worked as a Deputy Advisor of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on youth issues, science, education, healthcare, culture and sports, as a Vice President of the State Inspectorate for Supervision of the Quality in Education under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Since 2020 he holds the position of the First Deputy Minister of Public Education.

Board member

Dr. Didacus Jules has had a long multidimensional career focused on education, social transformation and organizational re-engineering. He is currently the Director General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). His career covers national, regional and international experience with the following highlights: Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Examinations Council; Interregional Coordinator of the International Literacy Support Service; Permanent Secretary for Education and Human Resource Development (St. Lucia); Permanent Secretary for Education and Chief Education Officer (concurrently) in Revolutionary Grenada. His qualifications include BA (Hons) UWI; MSc Curriculum University Wisconsin-Madison; PhD Education Policy University of Wisconsin-Madison and EMBA UWI.

Alternate Board member

Honorable Esponda is Minister of Education in Honduras. He graduated as an Outdoor Education Teacher in 2007 and, in 2010, graduated as a Professor of Secondary Education in Social Sciences at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional Francisco Morazán. He also has a Diploma in Higher Education obtained in 2012 and is currently completing his Master's Degree in Social and Cultural History at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras.

Board member

Joined the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2009, after 10 years of different experiences in teaching economics and social sciences in France and Brazil and conducting research works on education and health system management in developing countries.

Since 2009, occupied several positions in the Ministry in Paris and abroad, focusing on economic cooperation, development and European affairs. He was Directorate of Sustainable Development, MFA, Paris and Deputy Head of the Human Development Unit. In charge of strategies and international cooperation on Education, Gender Equality, Health and Food security beginning of summer 2020. He has held various positions in the French embassies in Portugal and Malta from 2012- 2019 and was Political adviser, Directorate of Economic and Sustainable Development, MFA, Paris from 2009-2012.

Member of the G8/G20 task force (G8/G20 French Presidency in 2011), works on innovative financing for development, social safety nets programs, Deauville Partnership for financing development and investment programs in MENA region (Arab spring).

Alternate Board member

Ms. Martina Ramming is the Head Education Unit/Senior Education Policy Advisor at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for shaping the sector policy on education at SDC and representing Switzerland in international and multilateral policy dialogue on SDG 4. She has over 20 years of working experience in international cooperation, humanitarian aid and development cooperation in international organizations, NGOs and since 2007 at SDC. Martina Ramming has held different positions in Switzerland and abroad, managing programs in various thematic fields, including child protection, human rights and education in emergencies.

Board member

Line Friberg Nielsen has more than 15 years of experience from multilateral and non-governmental organisations, government entities and consultancies. She has several years of field experience, primarily from East and West Africa including fragile contexts such as Liberia. She now holds the position as Chief Technical Advisor in the department for Migration, Stabilization and Fragility, and is the lead on Danish engagement in global education including with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and Education Cannot Wait (ECW). Prior to her current position, she served as Senior Policy Advisor with Save the Children Denmark. Prior to joining Save the Children she was a Policy Officer with the UK Mission to the UN in New York, and before that she was with UNFPA for a number of years. Ms. Friberg Nielsen holds an MA degree in Communication and a BA degree in Development Studies.

Alternate Board member

Mr. Per Magnusson is an experienced senior education professional with more than 20 years of working in the field of education on different levels and in different institutions with strategic policy and technical expertise in national and international comparative education. He has demonstrated skills in governance and management, including several years of experience of board-level participation in multilateral organizations, a strong understanding of international relations and policy analysis, and direct experience with the international education landscape.

Alternate Board member

Ms. Louise Holt holds a BA Hons in Economics and Comparative Development Studies from Trent University, 1989 and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Carleton University 1995. She joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2002. At Headquarters, she served as the Deputy Director, Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights (2002-2005); as Director, Social Development Policy (2005 to 2009); and as Director, Sector and Thematic Specialist Division (2009 to 2012) at the Canadian International Development Agency. Overseas, she served in Nairobi from 2012 to 2014 and in Pretoria from 2014 to 2016 as Counsellor and Director of Development. From 2016 to 2018, Ms. Holt served as Director General, Canadian Partnerships for Health and Social Development. Most recently, Ms. Holt was Director General, Partnership for Gender Equality.

Board member

Ms. Camilla Helgø Fossberg holds the position of Education Policy Director in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was previously Chief of Education Section in the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and was in charge of education development assistance to amongst others the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), UNICEF and UNESCO, managing a portfolio of around USD 200,000.

She served as member of the Executive Committee of Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and Chair of the Financial Advisory Committee of the GPE. She was Lead Energy Sector Advisor at the Norwegian Embassy in Mozambique. When working at the Norwegian Embassy to Nicaragua for three years, she was in charge of a multi-donor anti-corruption fund. Prior to that she worked as Education Economist at Oxford Policy Management and held education positions with UNICEF and the World Bank, where she covered the regions of West and Central Africa and Latin America. She holds a PhD and a Master’s degree from the University of Cambridge, a Bachelor’s degree from School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and has written on the Chilean education system, education politics in Sub-Saharan Africa and on inequality of education theory.

Alternate Board member

Mr. Rashid Al Shamsi is the Director of Development Cooperation Department of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC) from January 2020 to date. He was the Director of Foreign Assistance Affairs – MOFAIC during the period February 2016 – December 2019 and Director of Aid Coordination Department of the Ministry of International Cooperation and Development (MICAD) from March 2013 to February 2016 when MICAD has been merged with Ministry of Foreign Affairs to form today's MOFAIC. Prior to that he was the Support Services Director of the UAE Office for the Coordination of Foreign Aid (OCFA) during the period from 2010 to 2013 when OCFA has absorbed into MICAD. He has been Head of Security and Safety with Al Ain Municipality in the UAE and he has also occupied the position of Human Resources Department Manager. Al Shamsi’s previous roles include working as Support Services Director of Al Ain Hospital and Senior Manpower Planning Officer of Tawam Hospital. He holds a BSc in Business Administration and an Executive MBA in Project and Operations Management.

Board member

Mr. Seychell is a graduate in chemistry and pharmaceutical technology. He occupied the post of Head of Directorate for Foodstuffs and Chemicals at the Malta Standards Authority between 2001 and 2006, and that of Director of Environment Protection at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority between 2006 and 2011. He was appointed Deputy Director General for Health and Consumers at the European Commission in March 2011. Between 2014 and 2020 he was Deputy Director-General for Health in the Health and Food Safety Directorate-General (SANTE), responsible for directorates dealing with public health and health systems and products, covering a number of policy areas including health security, health systems, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, tobacco control and digital health. He also represented the Commission on the Management Board of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) between 2011 and 2020. He was appointed Deputy Director General responsible for Directorates G & R (Human Development, Migration, Governance and Peace (G), and Resources (R)) in DG INTPA in June 2020.

Alternate Board member

Dr. Heike Kuhn is a lawyer with more than 30 years of professional experience in foreign and development policy, human and social rights, strategies, budget, human resources management and change processes, communicating in six languages. She studied in Germany, Great Britain, Italy and the former Soviet Union, having gained extensive working experience in Bonn, Berlin, Brussels, Geneva and New York and several developing countries when negotiating (e.g. Cotonou Agreement, 2030 Agenda). Dr. Kuhn was posted to Rome from 2007 to 2011 as first female Board Executive Director to IFAD, also in charge of WFP. She is interested in a more equal, inclusive and sustainable world for all, striving for recovering better and more equal after COVID-19.

Board member

LeAnna Marr oversees USAID's Center for Education. As a USAID Foreign Service Officer since 2004, she has served as Education Office Director and Program Officer in Guinea, South Sudan, Sudan, and Macedonia, and was the Program Officer and Acting Mission Director of USAID/Morocco.

She also served as USAID’s Senior Education Advisor in the Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs. Prior to joining USAID, she worked as Associate Peace Corps Director in Guinea and as executive director of a non-profit alternative education program in Washington, DC. Ms. Marr has a Master’s degree in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and an undergraduate degree in French from Kalamazoo College.

Alternate Board member

Aedan Whyatt is the Assistant Secretary Global Programs and Partnerships Branch, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Aedan has 15 years’ experience working across a range of Pacific, Southeast Asian and thematic development policy roles. Aedan has represented Australia internationally as Counsellor Poverty and Social Development in Indonesia (2019-2020) and First Secretary Health in Papua New Guinea (2011-2013). Aedan holds a Master of International Studies from the University of Queensland.

Board member

Ms. Kira Boe is Oxfam’s Education Co-Lead with more than a decade of experience in global political spaces and a strong commitment to quality education for all. With extensive experience in international organizations and networks, Kira has served on the GPE Board representing CSO 1. The last two years, Kira has served on the GPE Board alongside Yona Nestel from PLAN International.

Alternate Board member

Ms. Yona Nestel is Plan International’s Education Policy and Advocacy Lead, with nearly 20 years of experience in education programing, advocacy and policy. Much of her career has been spent in developing countries working with CSOs and ministries of education on issues including gender equality and inclusion, early childhood education (ECD), and education in emergencies (EiE). Yona has actively contributed to the CSO 1 constituency since 2011 and has had the honor of serving as CSO 1 alternate representative alongside Kira Boe since 2019.

Board member

Ms. Solange Koumbon Napoe epouse Akpo-Gnandi, ANCEFA Regional Coordinator, is a lawyer and human rights activist. She joined ANCEFA in 2007, contributing to the coalition building and strengthening process, making the education advocacy and campaign in Africa more vibrant. She was one of the CSO 2 regional focal points for Africa set up by GCE and has also participated in several CSO 2 pre-Board meetings, and in GPE Board meetings as observer or technical advisor.

Alternate Board member

Ms. Abeer Darwazeh grew up in a country that believes in education as salvation for freedom and a key for success. In her career path, she was fortunate to be part of an organization that focuses on human rights education, citizenship and the right to education in the Arab region. This experience enriched her skills and knowledge and it became her way of living that goes beyond work. Currently, she is the capacity building and learning coordinator at ACEA, which encouraged her to continue advocating for the right to education. Ms. Darwazeh believes that education is the savior that is capable of bringing about social change and economic development to developing countries. She believes that CSOs are key actors for a better future that redeem the gap between policymakers and grassroots. We all should stand for this universal cause and maintain our joint efforts within the global movement to ensure education for all.

Board member

Ms. Haldis Holst is a qualified teacher with experience from teaching in primary, secondary and adult education in Norway between 1983 and 1997. Elected as a full time official at regional and national level of Union of Education Norway in 1997 – 2013, she also served on the Executive Board of Education International from 2004 to 2012. Ms. Holst is the Deputy General Secretary of Education International since 2013. She served as Chair of the Governing Board of the European Wergeland Center (2012-2020) and on the Board of Directors of GPE since 2018.

Alternate Board member

Mr. Dennis Sinyolo is currently Africa Director of Education International. From 2006 to June 2020, Mr. Sinyolo was Senior Coordinator at Education International Headquarters in Brussels. He has served on several international boards and committees, among others UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report, the SDG-Education 2030 Steering Committee, the Steering Committee of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 and the Global Partnership for Education’s Strategy and Impact Committee. He holds a doctorate in Education Management from the University of South Africa. Before joining the EI Secretariat, Mr. Sinyolo was Secretary General of Zimbabwe Teachers Association and a teacher in Zimbabwe.

Board member

Mr. David Boutcher has been a corporate partner in the international law firm Reed Smith LLP since 1988 and from 2011 to 2016 he was part of the firm's senior management team, being head of all the firm's 800 transactional lawyers. He is a founding member and trustee of the global children's charity Theirworld, and Director of its subsidiary The Global Business Coalition for Education. He is also the existing Board member for the Private Sector at GPE. In June 2017 Mr. Boutcher was awarded the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honors for his services to children's charity and advocating corporate involvement.

Board member

Emily Friedman is the Head of Business Investment for Education Impact at the Global Business Coalition for Education. Previously, she was the Director of Strategy and Impact at WeWork, focused on the future of work, investing in social entrepreneurs, and designing company-wide impact policies. Before that, Emily served as the Deputy Director of the Clinton Global Initiative University at the Clinton Foundation, working to elevate and support young social entrepreneurs from around the globe. Emily has also led social impact campaigns for GOOD and Participant Media in Los Angeles in partnership with the Gates Foundation. She is the founder of an English language program in Costa Rica and developed and led a tourism-centered economic development initiative in Colombia. Emily holds a Master’s degree in International Development from Columbia University and received her BA in Political Science from Skidmore College.

Board member

Christopher Thomas is Director of Partnerships at the Yidan Prize Foundation. He recently completed two-years as Lecturer and Social Entrepreneur in Residence at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education. Before coming to the Yidan Prize and Stanford, he was the Advisor to the Education Global Practice at the World Bank. He has served in a range of corporate strategy and management roles at the World Bank Group, including Lead Strategy Officer, Advisor to the Managing Director, and Manager of human development programs in Asia and Africa. Mr. Thomas played a key role in forging the World Bank’s contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations agreements on Financing for Development, and partnerships with the IMF and multilateral development banks. Mr. Thomas holds an M.A. in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in Education from Stanford University.

Alternate Board member

As Program Officer, Ms. Carolyne Ng’eny manages Firelight Foundation’s secondary education and early childhood development /early learning initiatives in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia. Ms. Ng’eny has over 14 years of experience in managing interventions aimed at social justice for disadvantaged populations – including women and girls, youth, marginalized communities and people in low-income communities in eastern and southern Africa as well as India. Her experience spans across project and program management, capacity development and organizational development for community-based and civil society organizations. She has worked with civil society organizations and schools to achieve Education for All (EFA) goals and to improve quality, access, retention and transition in educational institutions in marginalized and disadvantaged areas.

Board member

Ms Stefania Giannini was appointed UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education in 2018, becoming the top UN official in the field. She provides strategic vision and leadership in coordinating and monitoring the Education 2030 Agenda, encompassed in Sustainable Development Goal 4.

During her term, she has given fresh impetus to multilateral and bilateral partnerships; increased global focus on education’s ethical role in providing learners with the skills to respond to 21st century challenges and heightened attention to the responsibility of universities in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. She affirmed UNESCO’s leadership in the COVID-19 response through global evidence, guidance, policy dialogue and collaboration with public and private partners, including through the Global Education Coalition.

With a background in the Humanities, Ms Giannini has served as Rector of the University for Foreigners of Perugia (2004 – 2012); Senator of the Republic of Italy (2013 – 2018) and Minister of Education, Universities and Research (2014 – 2016).

Alternate Board member

Ms. Valerie Newsom Guarnieri has been WFP Assistant Executive Director since January 2018. In this role, she leads cutting-edge program and policy development towards ending hunger, spear heading WFP efforts to ensure protection and inclusion, expand school meals and nutrition programs, empower women, build resilient food systems and support cash transfers and social protection. Previously, she also provided oversight for emergency and supply chain functions, ensuring delivery of essential food assistance to the most vulnerable, food-insecure people around the world. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Guarnieri served as WFP Regional Director for East and Central Africa providing supervision, strategic guidance and support for some of WFP’s largest and most complex country operations, as WFP’s global Program Director, and in a variety of country office, regional and headquarter positions since August 2000. Before WFP, she worked in the U.S. Government, at the National Security Council and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as part of dedicated, inter-disciplinary teams to save lives and help create conditions for sustainable peace, with particular focus in Africa. Ms. Guarnieri holds a Master of Arts from the School of International Service of American University in Washington, D.C.

Board member

Mr. Robert Jenkins, Global Director, Education and Adolescent Development, joined UNICEF in 1995. He brings over 20 years of experience in international development and humanitarian programming in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Jenkins served as the UNICEF Representative in Jordan, from 2014 to 2019, and Deputy Director, Division of Policy and Strategy in UNICEF Headquarters from 2009 to 2014. Mr. Jenkins serves on several executive boards including the Global Partnership for Education, Education Cannot Wait and the Global Education Monitoring Report. Mr. Jenkins holds a Doctor of Education Degree, University of Bath and a Master’s degree, London School of Economics.

Interim Alternate Board Member

Dr. Becky Telford, OiC Deputy Director, Chief of Education Section, in the Division of Resilience and Solutions at the UNHCR. She is an education specialist with 20 years of experience supporting children whose lives are affected by crisis and conflict. She has a diverse background working on issues of youth engagement, education in emergencies, and working with partner governments to strengthen systems. Working at headquarters and in the field, Becky has spent more than 10 years based in sub-Saharan Africa. She joined UNHCR in 2019 from the UK’s Department for International Development following a career with UNICEF, NGOs and corporate foundations. Becky was awarded a doctorate from the UK’s Leicester University in 2018 with a thesis that sought to understand the local realities of teaching with technology in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp.

Board member

Mr. Luis Benveniste is the Human Development Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank. He was a co-author of the World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. His research interests focus on teacher policies and student assessment practices. Other publications include Teaching in Cambodia (2008), with J. Marshall and M. Araujo, Teaching in Lao PDR (2008), with J. Marshall and L. Santibaez, "The political structuration of assessment: Negotiating State power and legitimacy," in A.H. Halsey, P. Brown, H. Lauder & J. Dillabough (eds.), Education: Globalization and Social Change (2006) and All Else Equal (2003), with M. Carnoy and R. Rothstein, a book on accountability and the organization of public and private schools in the United States. Mr. Benveniste has also previously worked on a wide variety of World Bank education projects in Africa and East Asia and Pacific. He received a B.A. Magna Cum Laude in Psychology from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in International Comparative Education from Stanford University.

Alternate Board member

Syed Husain Quadri leads the Islamic Development Bank’s engagement in the areas of climate change, fragility, conflict and violence, gender empowerment and youth development to support its 57 member countries. This engagement includes the formulation of high-level views and positions of the Bank on key development challenges, the development and implementation of financing strategies. In addition, he is also the Head of the Global Muslim Philanthropy Fund established between the Bank and UNICEF. Previously he was the Ag. Director for Country Strategy and Cooperation where he was in-charge of regional integration, investment promotion, south-south cooperation and strategy development.

Board member

Hon. Nesmy Manigat is the Minister of Education of Haiti. He served as Minister of National Education and Vocational Training from April 2014 to March 2016 and was re-appointed Minister on November 2021.

Nesmy Manigat began his career as an executive at the Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation of Haiti and then at the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (Central Bank). He headed the department of Small and Medium Enterprises and was a professor of entrepreneurship at Quisqueya University, Haiti. He was also a professor of entrepreneurship at the Gamal Abdel Nasser University in Conakry and at the National School of Arts and Crafts of Guinea. Nesmy Manigat brings over 25 years of experience in both the private sector and public institutions in the Caribbean and West Africa.

Hon. Manigat served on the Board of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) for the Latin America-Caribbean constituency. From February 2016 to April 2021, Mr. Manigat served as Chair of the Governance, Ethics, Risk and Finance (GERF) Committee of GPE and as a member of the Coordinating Committee. On April 2021, he was appointed Chair of the Finance Risk Committee (FRC).

Marie Soulié is the Head of the gender, education, sexual and reproductive health and rights, childhood and youth unit at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. With more than 12 years experience within the field of development aid, both abroad and in France, she started her career as a program manager in the field of gender and education. She spent more than ten years in developing countries mainly in the Caribbean and West and Central Africa, coordinating gender and sexual and reproductive health and rights programs. Her experience with various NGOs, multilateral organizations, and at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs allowed her to develop a great understanding of education issues, including related to gender and in fragile and complex environments, and a strong expertise in monitoring, evaluation and learning.