Kevin Charles Watkins is at the London School of Economics as a visiting professor of development practice at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa. [1] [2] Recently the chief executive of Save the Children UK, from October 2016 until his resignation in July 2021. [3] He was previously at the Overseas Development Institute as executive director in June 2013. His research focuses on education, globalization and human development. He is a former nonresident senior fellow at the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution. He was previously the director and lead author of the UNESCO's Education for All Global Monitoring Report.[ citation needed ]
Kevin Watkins has a BA in politics and social science from Durham University (University College). [4] He also has a doctorate from Oxford University. He spent one year in India doing research for his dissertation: "The economics and politics of Indian Nationalism from 1880–1947". [5]
Kevin Watkins served as researcher for the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (1983). He was then appointed as head of international development at the Catholic Institute for International Relations (1987–2001). He also became head of research in Oxfam (1991) where he covered issues such as debt relief, education, [6] social policy and poverty.
In 2000, he was part of the drafting committee for the framework of action and the six Education For All goals during the World Education Forum.
From 2004 to 2008, he was director of the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report. During this time, he directed a total of three reports, from 2005 to 2008:
Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world
Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis
International cooperation at a crossroads: Aid, trade and security in an unequal world
As lead author of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report he produced the 2009, 2010 and 2011 reports: [7]
The hidden crisis: Armed conflict and education
Overcoming inequality: why governance matters
He was senior visiting research fellow at the Global Economic Governance Programme at University College of the University of Oxford. [8] He has participated on the World Economic Forum as a discussion leader on the IdeasLab on the Global Redesign Initiative (Values and People) in 2010. [9] In addition, he is a board member of the Center for Global Development, UNICEF’s Innocenti Research Centre and the Journal of International Development. He also has a blog on The Guardian .
Overseas Development Institute (ODI) is a global affairs think tank, founded in 1960. Its mission is "to inspire people to act on injustice and inequality through collaborative research and ideas that matter for people and the planet." It does this through "research, convening and influencing, to lead new thinking and future agendas to deliver transformational change." Its chair is Suma Chakrabarti.
The history of education in Africa can be divided into pre-colonial and post-colonial periods. Since the introduction of formal education by European colonists to Africa, education, particularly in West and Central Africa, has been characterized by both traditional African teachings and European-style schooling systems.
The United Nations Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI) is an initiative launched by the United Nations in 2000 at the World Education Forum in Dakar at the primary school Ndiarème B. It aims to reduce the gap in schooling for girls and to give girls equal access to all levels of education.
The International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED) is a training and research centre located in the People's Republic of China. The main sponsors of INRULED are the Chinese government and UNESCO.
Federico Mayor Zaragoza was a Spanish scientist, scholar, politician, diplomat and poet. He served as the director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) from 1987 to 1999. After his tenure as director-general, he continued to participate in various peace-related organizations, such as the Foundation for a Culture of Peace and the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, as a member of their honorary boards. Additionally, he served as the honorary chairman of the Académie de la Paix.
The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) 2005–2014 was an Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) initiative of the United Nations. The Decade was delivered by UNESCO as lead agency, and gave rise to Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) networks, and the GUPES universities' partnership. The launch of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development started a global movement to reorient education to address the challenges of sustainable development. It was the first UN Decade to establish a global monitoring and evaluation process and expert group. Building on the achievement of the Decade, stated in the Aichi-Nagoya Declaration on ESD, UNESCO endorsed the Global Action Programme on ESD (GAP) in the 37th session of its General Conference. Acknowledged by UN general assembly Resolution A/RES/69/211 and launched at the UNESCO World Conference on ESD in 2014, the GAP aims to scale-up actions and good practices. UNESCO has a major role, along with its partners, in bringing about key achievements to ensure the principles of ESD are promoted through formal, non-formal and informal education.
Mahmoud Mohieldin, is an economist with more than 30 years of experience in international finance and development. He is the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for Egypt. He is an Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund. He has been the United Nations Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda since February 2020. He was the Minister of Investment of Egypt from 2004-2010, and most recently, served as the World Bank Group Senior Vice President for the 2030 Development Agenda, United Nations Relations and Partnerships. His roles at the World Bank also included Managing Director, responsible for Human Development, Sustainable Development, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Finance and Private Sector Development, and the World Bank Institute; World Bank President's Special Envoy on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Post-2015 Development Agenda, and Financing for Development; and Corporate Secretary and Executive Secretary to the Development Committee of the World Bank Group's Board of Governors. Dr Mohieldin also served on several Boards of Directors in the Central Bank of Egypt and the corporate sector. He was a member of the Commission on Growth and Development and was selected for the Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2005. His professional experience extends into the academic arena as a Professor of Economics and Finance at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University and as a visiting professor at several renowned Universities in Egypt, Korea, the UAE, the UK and the USA. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of Durham University Business School. He also holds leading positions in national, regional and international research centres and associations. He has authored numerous publications and articles in leading journals in the fields of economics, finance and development.
Ian Andrew Goldin is a South African-born British professor at the University of Oxford in England, and was the founding director of the Oxford Martin School.
UNESCO defined the Gender Parity Index (GPI) as a socioeconomic index usually designed to measure the relative access to education of males and females. It is used by international organizations particularly in measuring the progress of developing countries. For example, some UNESCO documents consider gender parity in literacy.
Obiageli "Oby" Ezekwesili is a Nigerian economic policy expert, an advocate for transparency, accountability, good governance and human capital development, a humanitarian and an activist. She is a former vice president for the World Bank, co-founder and founding director of Transparency International, co-founder of the #BringBackOurGirls movement and has served twice as federal Minister in Nigeria. She is also the founder of #FixPolitics Initiative, a research-based citizen-led initiative, the School of Politics Policy and Governance (SPPG), and Human Capital Africa.
The Institute for International Economic Policy is a research institution dedicated to the study of global economic governance, based in Washington, DC at the Elliott School of International Affairs of the George Washington University. Notable IIEP members include Sabina Alkire, James Foster, and Jeni Klugman. Partnerships with organizations like the World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund, Internet Society, and The Nature Conservancy have led to academic conferences and policy seminars.
Sir Arthur "Richard" Jolly, is a development economist who served as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1982 to 2000. He has been named one of the fifty key thinkers globally in developmental economics.
Tawanda Mutasah is a lawyer, human rights advocate, and formerly Global Director of Programs at the Open Society Foundations.
Jeni Klugman is a development economist. She is managing director of the Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University and a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government's Women in Public Policy Program at Harvard University. She was formerly Director of Gender and Development at the World Bank Group, where she served as lead spokesperson on gender equality issues and was responsible for developing strategic directions to support the institution's gender and development priorities. She also serves or has served on several advisory boards, including the World Economic Forum's advisory board on Sustainability and Competitiveness, and those related to the work of the Council on Foreign Relations, Plan International, International Civil Society Network, UNDP 2013 World Report on Democratic Governance, and a European Union research program on GDP and beyond. Prior to taking up this position in August 2011, Klugman was the director and lead author of three global Human Development Reports published by the United Nations Development Programme: Overcoming Barriers: Human Mobility and Development (2009); The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development (2010); and Sustainability and Equity: a Better Future for All (2011). From 1992 to 2008, she held various positions at the World Bank, focusing in particular on poverty, inequality, and human development in low-income countries in Africa, Europe, and Asia. Klugman has published a number of books, papers and reports on topics ranging from poverty reduction strategies and labor markets to conflict, health reform, education, and decentralization. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Australian National University, as well as postgraduate degrees in Law and Development Economics from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar Jeni is the daughter of former Labor MP, Richard Klugman, and civil libertarian Kristine Klugman.
Winifred Byanyima, is a Ugandan aeronautical engineer, politician, human rights activist, feminist and diplomat. She is the executive director of UNAIDS, effective November 2019.
The Global Migration Group (GMG) is a group consisting of fourteen UN agencies, the World Bank and the International Organisation for Migration that work to address global migration issues.
The Development Policy Centre (Devpol) is an aid and development policy think tank based at the Crawford School of Public Policy in the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. Devpol undertakes independent research and promotes practical initiatives to improve the effectiveness of Australian aid, to support the development of Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands region, and to contribute to better global development policy.
Aaron Benavot is a global education policy analyst currently working as the director of Education for All Global Monitoring Report.
The History of early childhood care and education (ECCE) refers to the development of care and education of children between birth and eight years old throughout history. ECCE has a global scope, and caring for and educating young children has always been an integral part of human societies. Arrangements for fulfilling these societal roles have evolved over time and remain varied across cultures, often reflecting family and community structures as well as the social and economic roles of women and men. Historically, such arrangements have largely been informal, involving family, household and community members. The formalization of these arrangements emerged in the nineteenth century with the establishment of kindergartens for educational purposes and day nurseries for care in much of Europe and North America, Brazil, China, India, Jamaica and Mexico.
Anriette Esterhuysen is a human rights defender and computer networking pioneer from South Africa. She has pioneered the use of Internet and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to promote social justice in South Africa and throughout the world, focusing on affordable Internet access. She was the executive director of the Association for Progressive Communications from 2000 until April 2017, when she became APC's Director of Policy and Strategy. In November 2019 United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Esterhuysen to chair the Internet Governance Forum’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group.