Jeannette Vogelaar is UNICEF’s Regional Education Advisor for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. She has over 25 years of experience working in the education sector, gained by working in and with international organizations, bilateral donors, NGOs and national governments, in Africa, Asia and more recently in the MENA region. She has profound knowledge of education systems in development and technical competence in the areas of (decentralized) educational policy analysis and development, planning and financing, monitoring and evaluation, result-based and change management, institutional capacity building and training.

At UNICEF in the MENA region, she focusses on promoting a transformative learning agenda through open and flexible learning systems. Children anywhere should be able to acquire the necessary skills to engage in meaningful life-long learning, access employment, become active citizen and be in control of their own personal growth and development. In countries affected by crisis, many children have lost out on opportunities to learn. The impact of this will be felt in many years to come. We therefore should join efforts in finding ways to (re)engage children and youth in learning, help them to overcome their traumatic experiences and develop their full potential.