What will it take? Innovating Education in Fragile Contexts
Wednesday, September 18th – 10:00–11:30am ET
Wednesday, September 18th
10:00–11:30am ET
Host & Speakers
Vongaishe Changamire
Vongaishe is a seasoned specialist in education, gender, and child protection with over 14 years of experience in supporting and leading education programs. She is an expert in education social justice, education financing, education in emergencies, youth empowerment, non-formal education program and curriculum development. Currently, Vongaishe holds the position of Education Technical Specialist at World Vision Canada, where she provides technical advice and direction for education programs across WV’s programming countries in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Vongaishe is also pursuing an Ed.D. in Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on understanding the historical participation of women in education policy formulation, framed by concepts of gender, intersectionality and empowerment in contemporary and neoliberal contexts.
Nancy Del Col
Nancy is the Education Sector Lead with World Vision Canada. She is a teacher by training and spent many years in the Canadian public education system before moving into international development. Nancy supports World Vision’s technical education work globally with a special interest in teacher professional development, educational technology and literacy. She holds a Bachelor of Education and Master of Education from University of Toronto and a post-graduate diploma in International Project Management from Humber Polytechnic.
Louange Koffi
Louange is a passionate and dedicated nurse, mentor and advocate for education and gender equality. She served as a UNFPA Youth Leaders Fellow (2022/2023) and is a member of the Amahoro Coalition Fellowship and Solutions for Youth Employment Coalition. She also served as a member of the Refugee Education Council in 2023. She represented the Council at the Global Refugee Forum (2023) in Geneva, where she helped amplify Canada’s work in education in crisis.
Louange was an assistant caregiver at Point Hope International (NGO), based in Krisan Camp. There, she assisted caregivers in caring for children between the ages of two and four and prepared them for learning. Further, during the COVID-19 lockdown, Louange taught students at Krisan Refugee Camp, recognizing the importance of education in challenging circumstances.
Beyond her work and advocacy in health and education, Louange shines as a mentor to refugees and her fellow nurses. With a special focus on refugee girls and marginalized communities, her dedication is driven by a vision: a world where access to quality healthcare and education is a universal right.
Dr. Philip C. Abrami
Dr. Philip C. Abrami is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Concordia University in Montreal. He is the leader of the Learning Toolkit Team that develops, disseminates and validates interactive multimedia tools for teaching and learning especially in Low and Medium Income Countries. Abrami and his team have worked actively with World Vision for years both in Western Kenya and Rwanda. Together, they have made impressive gains in both teacher professional development and student learning of emerging literacy skills.
Darcy Ataman
Elisha Byalungwe
Dr. Carly Tubbs Dolan
Dr. Carly Tubbs Dolan recently joined Education Cannot Wait as a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, where she is working to support grantee and organizational capacities for learning and sharing whether and how education programming is working – and how it is not working — to ultimately support children’s holistic learning in emergency contexts. She previously was a deputy director at New York University’s Global TIES for Children, a research center she helped found and launch. Since receiving her Ph.D. in Psychology and Social Intervention from NYU in 2017, her work has focused on partnering with diverse stakeholders moving to and working at national scale to mutually strengthen capacities for developing, testing, using, and aligning culturally, contextually, and developmentally appropriate holistic learning frameworks and assessments for population monitoring and program evaluation purposes.
Martin Diarra
Martin Diarra is a teacher by training. He joined World Vision Mali in June 2013 as the WASH supervisor for two area programs, then in 2014 supported the PASEQ Education project financed by Global Affairs Canada (GAC). Martin held the national level position of Education and Life Skills Advisor and is now the Education Technical Manager for all education projects in WV Mali, including the GAC funded IMAGINE Girls’ Education project. He is based in Bamako, Mali.
Mesfin Jonfa has over 15 years of experience managing and leading education, child protection, and multisectoral projects across Ethiopia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Afghanistan. His expertise includes education in emergencies (EiE), gender-based violence (GBV), project design and implementation, staff capacity building, and partnerships. Mesfin has worked in conflict, post-conflict, and post-disaster settings, including refugee, IDP, and returnee communities. Notable projects include responses to the World Vision Dollo Ado Somalia refugee crisis, the South Sudanese crisis, Afghan returnees, Kigoma refugees, and the Northern Ethiopia crisis.
He is well-versed in various non-formal education approaches for out-of-school children, such as Accelerated Learning Programs, remedial classes, and catch-up programs. Mesfin has experience with the Ethiopian Ministry of Education, has conducted Training of Trainers (ToT) on mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) and social and emotional learning (SEL), and has managed partnerships for training educators. He has also utilized cash and voucher assistance (CVA) in EiE projects, including market assessments and post-distribution monitoring. Mesfin holds a Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in EiE, Higher Education in Emergency, and Digital Learning from the University of Geneva.
Dave Potter
Dave Potter is the Senior Director of Engagement for Take Action Global. He is passionate about helping all students achieve a world-class education. For the past 30 years, Dave’s focus has been to build partnerships that empower teachers and students to build global competence while taking action on issues vital to the health and welfare of the planet. Priority partnerships have include those that support environmental justice, civic engagement, and social-emotional learning during our transition to new hybrid education models. Dave is particularly interested in using his experience with strategic planning, purposeful storytelling, and grants management to form long-term partnerships with high-poverty and marginalized communities worldwide. During his career, Dave has helped establish and expand the field of virtual exchange to build 21st century skills and foster empathy in K-12 education. He has helped create and fund sister cities programs, the National Security Language Initiative for Youth, the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program, the Chris Stevens Youth Network (now the Stevens Initiative), and numerous multilateral exchange programs. Based in San Francisco, Dave has a BA in Astrophysics from UC Berkeley and an MS in Environmental Systems, International Development Technology from Humboldt State University.
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