Global Education Learning Series: Distance Learning as a Tool for System Resilience

Sarah Banashek is the Deputy Director for the Office of Education and Health at USAID/Egypt. Sarah joined USAID in 2008 as a Foreign Service Officer. Prior to Cairo, Sarah served in Accra, Ghana; Dakar, Senegal; and Washington, DC. Sarah has worked in the education sector for over 20 years doing everything from teaching high school in the United States and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi, to working at USAID Washington as an institutional contractor and for USAID implementing partners. Sarah holds an Ed. M. from Harvard University and a B.A. from the University of California at Davis.

El Adawy joined USAID/Egypt in 2006 and is a Higher Education Project Management Specialist in the Office of Education and Health, managing the University Centers for Career Development and the Center of Excellence for Energy activities. From 2006 -2013, Ms. El Adawy was a Project Management Specialist in USAID's Office of Middle East Programs, managing Youth programs in the MENA region. Prior to joining USAID, Ms. El Adawy was Chief Editor for a widely-read Arabic monthly youth magazine. Ms. El Adawy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Cairo University and a Diploma in Executive Management from the American University in Cairo.

Chief Impact Officer

With over 20 years of leadership experience, Rebecca recently led World Vision’s engagement in All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development, a global initiative of USAID, World Vision, and the Australian Government, that seeks, tests and disseminates innovative education technology solutions to address child illiteracy. Previously at World Vision, she was Director for Child Development/Protection.

Rebecca also worked with World Relief, initially in Rwanda as their Director of Programs before relocating to their headquarters in the United States as Director of Global Program Operations. She has lived and worked throughout Africa and Asia for over 15 years. Chandler-Leege also spent six years in the private sector in international human resources consulting with Fortune 500 companies.

Senior Project Director

Carrie Lewis designs, implements, and manages programs that improve access to quality education. An expert in early education, literacy and teacher professional development, Lewis works to promote mother tongue instruction and resources for instruction, interactive audio instruction (IAI) and design early grade programs that are both context-relevant and sustainable. She is most interested in bridging schools with their local communities to achieve quality education. She manages work and provides technical assistance to several country projects.

Björn is an advocate for international cooperation and development, Global Public Goods, Open Access and Open Education and their role in global equity, specialising in sustainable and scalable approaches. He is the company director of Open Development & Education (https://opendeved.net), a founding director at the EdTech Hub (https://edtechhub.org) and a visiting researcher at the Faculty of Education, University of Johannesburg (https://www.uj.ac.za/faculties/facultyofeducation).