Designation: Collaborator

David has been teaching with EducAid, his alma mater, for the past five years and has one of the best track records in maths teaching in the country. David has played a key role in a number of climate action projects. He has also worked as a researcher for the Education Workforce Initiative (EWI) and the Open Development for Education (ODE). As a researcher, he has shown keen interest in finding out about what is happening in the world paying more attention to education.
David graduated from the University of Makeni (Unimak) with a Bachelor of Science in Business administration and management. He graduated as a Division one student with a grade point of 4.45 on a scale of 5.

Emmanuel works as an educator for EducAid Sierra Leone. He has spent the last nine years teaching economics and other business-related subjects at EducAid. In addition, he worked as a department head, supervising and collaborating with other team members to provide excellent learning materials for the EducAid schools. He currently serves as the head of school for EducAid Lumley.

His fervent dedication to providing high-quality, holistic education has paid off handsomely, with his school consistently ranking among the top schools in the nation. Emmanuel is a native of Sierra Leone. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and will begin his executive master’s in business administration postgraduate studies in November 2022.  Due to his enthusiasm for education, research, and developmental work, he can fit in and perform well in any environment as a team member. He is flexible, open to new experiences, and willing to contribute ideas when they are needed. He respects diversity and has strong interpersonal as well as basic digital skills.

Fatmata is a feminist advocating for women and girls in Sierra Leone to have equal access to education and all walks of life. She was appointed as a teacher in EducAid after taking her final high school exams to teach Economics and English language for entry-level classes. Due to her hard work and passion for girls’ education, she was later appointed as the equality coordinator in EducAid. Fatmata has handled this role with passion and commitment. Born and raised in Sierra Leone, she is aware of how women and girls are treated in their homes and communities.
She has dedicated herself to work with and for girls to ensure they are treated fairly. She has organised many sessions and training for girls and women on a range of empowerment issues to ensure that they are well-equipped and ready to change the narratives of how people see women in her community, Sierra Leone, and
beyond. Fatmata achieved a bachelor’s degree in Accounting in 2021.

Ibrahim Tholley has been an EducAid Sierra Leone educator since 2014. Before becoming a senior teacher,  from 2018 to 2022, he was a volunteer teacher for EducAid Sierra Leone. With his nine years of teaching experience, he has held a wide range of positions including Deputy HoD, HoD Commercial, Climate Change Advocate, Research Officer, and
Quality Assurance Officer. He has a track record of success in using creative strategies and building a powerful team. In fact, he helped EducAid achieve the best WASSCE results in the organization’s history. Ibrahim has represented EducAid as an organisation in a number of national educational fora. Ibrahim graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Applied Accounting from IPAM-University of Sierra Leone. Furthermore, he is in his final year of the University of Makeni’s Master of Business Administration in Finance degree. He was a member of the team conducting Design-Based Implementation Research to examine the impediments and facilitators to primary school teachers in Sierra Leone pursuing successful continuous professional development.

Abdullah is a previous Associate Manager of Open Development & Education. He has experience in public and private sector consulting, with a focus on education and educational technology. He has supported, developed and implemented several EdTech related programs in the development context. These include Activating EdTech, a project aimed at introducing Agile practices to EdTech policymaking, and Miyamiya, an initiative supporting out of school refugees through educational technology. Previously, Abdullah worked at PwC Dubai and the Queen Rania Foundation in Jordan. He holds a BA in International Relations from Brown University. Abdullah left OpenDevEd at the end of March 2022.

Publications available here.

Aditi Bhutoria is an education economist, and her current research focuses on the design, delivery, and impact of educational policy and related technological interventions across developed and developing markets. She has completed her Ph.D. in the economics of education from the University of Cambridge (UK) and M.Sc. in economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK). Prior to joining the Public Policy and Management Group at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C) as faculty, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School (USA). During this period, she worked with the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia to develop education and evaluation policies related to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. She has also worked as a research consultant for the Judge Business School,  University of Cambridge (UK), the Government Office for Science (UK), and the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), amongst others. Prof. Bhutoria’s private sector experience includes working with Swiss Re Services Ltd. (London, Zurich) with their Financial Audit team; and PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd. (India)  with their Social Sector Advisory, mainly engaging with state governments across the country. Prof. Bhutoria is currently a Research Fellow at the Asian Century Foundation and a Strategic Advisor with the Global EdTech Hub (UK). She is a Research Affiliate with the Education and Training Evaluation Commission (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the University of Cambridge (UK), Open Development and Education Ltd. (UK), and the Social Informatics Group (IIM-C, India).

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Full list of publications available here.

Dr. Margo O’Sullivan is a Senior Education Specialist at Open Development and Education. She is a seasoned educator, beginning her career as a primary teacher 35 years ago in Ireland. She has worked and lived in 13 countries with schools, universities, Ministries of Education, NGOs and multi-lateral/bilateral organisations, which included 10 years as Head of Education for UNICEF China and UNICEF Uganda, where she led many education programmes. Upon leaving UNICEF in 2019, she set up Power Teachers (www.powerteachers.org), an organisation focused on supporting teachers in low-income countries.  She has published widely, with 27 articles in peer reviewed journals ( https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2921-6756 ).

Salma is an analyst at Open Development and Education. In 2020, she completed her MPhil in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge where her research explored the concept of informality, MOOCs and the digital divide, and global inequality. Prior to joining ODE, she was a full-time consultant at the International Organization for Migration in Egypt, where she was part of the intake and outreach team. Her previous experience includes professional conference organizing and educational support for children with learning disabilities.

Sarah-Lee is an analyst at Open Development & Education based in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. In 2016, she completed a Masters degree in Applie ctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania and her research investigates language policy and literacy development in St. Vincent. She is also interested in research on Indigenous language revitalization in the Caribbean and she is an advocate for the introduction of the Garifuna language in Vincentian schools. Her previous professional experience includes time spent as a curriculum officer in the ministry of education and as a primary and secondary education teacher in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. She is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Full list of publications available here.