The AGEE Team

Elaine Unterhalter is Professor of Education and International Development at the UCL Institute of Education. Her work is concerned with global and national policy and practice on gender equality in education, paying attention to intersectionality, the capability approach and human development. She has led research projects working in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Bangladesh. Her most recent publications review some of the histories of policy debates on gender, education and development. She is the Principal Investigator on the AGEE project.

Relebohile Moletsane is Professor and the FALF-WITS-NRF Research Chair on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) at the University of the Witwatersrand. She works in South African rural schools and communities, focusing on poverty alleviation, HIV & AIDS, gender inequality and gender-based violence as barriers to education and development. Her current projects focus on addressing sexual violence with girls and young women in rural communities. She is co-editor (with Claudia Mitchell) of the 2018 book, Disrupting Shameful Legacies: Girls and Young Women Speak Back Through the Arts to Address Sexual Violence. Rotterdam: Brill/Sense Publishers. She is Co-Investigator on the AGEE project.

Esthery Kunkwenzu is an Associate Professor of Education in the School of Education, University of Malawi (UNIMA). She has a PhD in Education specialising in curriculum studies. Esthery has published in areas of girls’ education, teacher education and school assessment. Her work also includes the introduction of the Critical Thinking project in Malawi schools and Teacher Training Colleges. Esthery has worked as a research consultant on Malawi government projects and for international organisations including UNICEF, World bank, UNDP, DFID, and Australia Council of Education and Research (ACER). She has experience working in Malawi, Egypt, Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom. She is a co-investigator on the Bridging AGEE project.

Dr Helen Longlands is Associate Professor in Education and International Development at the UCL Institute of Education, and Programme Leader for the MA Education, Gender and International Development. Her research interests are interdisciplinary and concerned with gender, inequalities and social justice, with a particular focus on masculinities, transnational relationships of power, and the interconnections between the spaces of education, gender, work and family. She is author of the research monograph Gender, Space and City Bankers (2021). She is a Co-Investigator on the AGEE project.

Dr Rosie Peppin Vaughan is Associate Professor in Education and International Development at the UCL Institute of Education. Her research focuses on transnational advocacy on girls’ and women’s education, and also draws on the capability approach and the concept of human development to explore the evaluation of educational equality and social justice. She has completed consultancies for several international organisations including Plan International, UNESCO and the UN Girls’ Education Initiative. She is a Co-Investigator on the AGEE project.

Caine Rolleston is Professor in Education and International Development at the UCL Institute of Education. He has worked on education and international development in a range of countries including Ghana, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Peru and India, including on the Young Lives International Study of Childhood Poverty based at the University of Oxford and on the FCDO funded RISE programme (Research on Improving Systems of Education). His research interests include issues in the economics of education in developing countries, school effectiveness, educational access and equity, privatisation, learning metrics and trajectories, longitudinal studies in education and development, cognitive and non-cognitive skills development and survey design. He is a Co-Investigator on the AGEE project.

Meaghan Malloy is a PhD candidate in Education, Practice and Society at the UCL Institute of Education. She conducts interdisciplinary research around the topics of gender, education, capabilities and youth. She is particularly interested in understanding the roles of youth in global development agendas, and how foreign aid policy and globally standardised measurements in gender and education address youth in crisis-affected contexts. Meaghan has over 10 years of practitioner experience managing gender, education and youth projects in Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Africa. She has consulted for various international organisations, foundations and nonprofits, including Education Development Trust, Glasswing International, UNDP, and UNICEF.

Clara Kaima is a postgraduate student in the Department of Mathematics and Science Education, pursuing Master’s degree in Education, Curriculum and Teaching Studies at the University of Malawi. She works as a secondary school teacher in the Ministry of Education (MoE) and has 6 years teaching experience at the secondary school level in Malawi. Her teaching subjects are Biology and Mathematics. Clara is passionate about science education and improving its quality by promoting gender equality. She is a research assistant on the Bridging AGEE project in Malawi.

Dr Eliza Ngutuku is a Research Fellow at the UCL Institute of Education. She has over 20 years of experience working on interdisciplinary issues related to children, youth and women. She is interested in understanding the role of children and youth voice in local, national and global development agendas, child poverty and vulnerability, sexual and reproductive health and rights and movement building in early childhood and girls’ education. Eliza has worked on Education Issues in Asia and Africa and as an Executive Director of a leading Non-profit organization in Eastern Africa. She is also a researcher at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is a Research Fellow on the Bridging AGEE project.

Justine Sass is the Chief of the Section of Education for Inclusion and Gender Equality at UNESCO’s Headquarters. She leads UNESCO’s global initiatives to support gender-transformative and inclusive education with a lifelong learning perspective, providing strategic directions and supporting knowledge generation, technical assistance and global cooperation. She currently oversees the Global Platform for Gender Equality and Girls’ and Women’s Empowerment in and through Education, and other initiatives to improve data on gender equality in and through education. Justine has been part of the AGEE community of practice since 2016 and is currently cooperating with UCL on its expansion at country-level geared towards capacity development, cross-sectoral dialogue and systems strengthening.

Matthias Eck is Programme Specialist in UNESCO’s Section of Education for Inclusion and Gender Equality. He has worked with the Global Education Monitoring Report, the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and UNICEF, and published research with Routledge and peer-reviewed journals. He co-authored UNESCO’s report on boys’ disengagement from education. Matthias provides technical advice and coordination for the AGEE KIX-GPE project.

Tamara Martí Casado has been working at UNESCO’s Education for Inclusion and Gender Equality Section since 2021. As an Associate Project Officer, she contributes to the design, implementation, and monitoring & evaluation (M&E) of educational projects, supports research and data reporting, and assists in organizing national, regional, and international events. She holds a PhD in Human Sciences at Sorbonne University (Paris, France). Tamara supports the coordination, effective planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting for the AGEE KIX-GPE project.

Cresti is Associate Project Officer for Gender & Education in UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office in Jakarta, Indonesia. Prior to working with UNESCO, Cresti worked with UNFPA, UNICEF and organizations working on women’s empowerment in Indonesia. Cresti co-authored research on adaptation of RESPECT framework to prevent VAWG in Indonesia and girls targeted scholarship program for child marriage prevention. She holds Master’s Degree in International Development Studies from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Cresti contributes to the research, project management and evaluation of Accountability for Gender Equality in Education (AGEE) in Indonesia supported by KIX-GPE.

Mercy Mwongeli is an Associate National Project Officer at UNESCO Kenya, on the AGEE KIX-GPE project. She is a social scientist, with a devotion to further global, regional, and national agenda around sexual reproductive health, HIV, human rights, and gender equality, especially as pertains to adolescents, young people, and other marginalized groups. Mercy holds a master’s degree in Gender and Development Studies from The University of Nairobi. She is a certified Monitoring and Evaluation expert, and Associate Environmental Audit and Impact Assessment practitioner.

Elaine Unterhalter is Professor of Education and International Development at the UCL Institute of Education. Her work is concerned with global and national policy and practice on gender equality in education, paying attention to intersectionality, the capability approach and human development. She has led research projects working in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Bangladesh. Her most recent publications review some of the histories of policy debates on gender, education and development. She is the Principal Investigator on the AGEE project.

Relebohile Moletsane is Professor and the FALF-WITS-NRF Research Chair on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) at the University of the Witwatersrand. She works in South African rural schools and communities, focusing on poverty alleviation, HIV & AIDS, gender inequality and gender-based violence as barriers to education and development. Her current projects focus on addressing sexual violence with girls and young women in rural communities. She is co-editor (with Claudia Mitchell) of the 2018 book, Disrupting Shameful Legacies: Girls and Young Women Speak Back Through the Arts to Address Sexual Violence. Rotterdam: Brill/Sense Publishers. She is Co-Investigator on the AGEE project.

Dr Helen Longlands is Associate Professor in Education and International Development at the UCL Institute of Education, and Programme Leader for the MA Education, Gender and International Development. Her research interests are interdisciplinary and concerned with gender, inequalities and social justice, with a particular focus on masculinities, transnational relationships of power, and the interconnections between the spaces of education, gender, work and family. She is author of the research monograph Gender, Space and City Bankers (2021). She is a Co-Investigator on the AGEE project.