The Yidan Prize Foundation today announced the appointment of three Advisory Committee members to complement its existing advisory team: Baela Raza Jamil—CEO, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA); Ruth Kagia—Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff, Executive Office of the President of Kenya; and Professor Pauline Rose—Director, Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre, University of Cambridge.

Together with the Advisory Committee’s six existing members, the new advisors will help the Yidan Prize—the world’s greatest education accolade—make further progress toward its mission of creating a better world through education.

Drawing on their expertise and experience in running major international organizations and education programs across Africa, Europe, and South Asia, they bring diverse knowledge and insights into the current and emerging challenges and opportunities facing global education. They are committed to help improve access to high-quality education for people of all ages around the world.

“We are delighted to welcome Baela Jamil, Ruth Kagia, and Professor Pauline Rose to our Advisory Committee,” said Dr Qian Tang, Chairman of the Yidan Prize Advisory Committee, and former Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO. “They bring a wealth of expertise, a diversity of perspectives, and complementary global views on education research, policy, and practice. Importantly, they share our unwavering belief in the potential to create a better world through education.”

Baela Raza Jamil is a public policy specialist and former technical adviser to the Federal Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan. Baela has been spearheading education and learning reforms in Pakistan. She has led nationwide social movements for early years, girls’ education, second-chance programs on education life skills and livelihoods, and the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Pakistan on learning, equality, and inclusion since 2008. Baela is also invested in ending violence against women, and early and forced child marriages.

“I look forward to working closely with my new colleagues to continuously improve the most prestigious prize in the education sector globally. It is a privilege to be in the company of an outstanding group of experts so passionate about what they do and stand for—all geared to supporting our journey from great to greatest,” said Baela.

Ruth Kagia is the Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff in the Executive Office of the President of Kenya. In this role, she provides technical leadership in the coordination of the President’s flagship and international development cooperation programs. Prior to re-joining the Government of Kenya in 2014, Ruth worked at the World Bank from 1990–2013 during which time she held various positions including Global Director for Education (2002–2008) and Country Director for Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, and for part of that time Mauritius, and Madagascar (2008–2012).

“We are on the verge of a breakthrough in education—while education is critical to the recovery of economies, the learning losses incurred during Covid-related school closures revealed the underbelly of education systems in terms of equity and equality. We need to urgently address these issues and to make education more resilient to achieve the promise of education as a critical lever for post-pandemic recovery of economies,” said Ruth. “I’m really excited to join the Yidan Prize Foundation because it represents a wide spectrum of perspectives that are outside of the Western framework, and has the potential to catalyze and tap into new innovations and paradigms that other prizes cannot.”

Professor Pauline Rose is a professor of International Education at the University of Cambridge, where she is Director of the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre. She has collaborated on large research programs with teams in sub‐Saharan Africa and South Asia, tackling education issues related to inequality, policy and practice, financing and governance, and international aid. Throughout her career, she has worked closely with national governments, international aid donors, and non-governmental organizations to provide evidence-based policy advice on a wide range of issues aimed at fulfilling commitments to quality and inclusive education for all.

“I am privileged to join the Yidan Prize Advisory Committee, working with esteemed colleagues to celebrate research and programs around the world to create a better future through education,” said Pauline. “I am particularly excited about promoting the Prize’s recognition of high-quality research that has an impact on improving education for the most marginalized children and young people.”

The new Advisory Committee members will begin their roles with immediate effect.

For press or media enquiry, please contact media@yidanprize.org.