Executive Director's Corner

Yasmine Sherif speaking with a kid from Lebanon
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ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif

Yasmine Sherif is the Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW). A lawyer specialized in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law (LL.M), she has over 30 years of experience with the United Nations and international NGOs. 

Ms. Sherif has served in some of the most crisis-affected areas of the world, including Afghanistan, the Middle East, the Balkans, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan as well as in New York and Geneva. She has led high-level missions to numerous conflict and crisis-affected countries. Her expertise spans across the education, humanitarian, development, human rights, gender and peacekeeping spectrum.

She is the author of the book, The Case for Humanity: An Extraordinary Session, and a Champion for ‘No Lost Generation.’ In 2017, she received the annual award Sweden’s UN Friend of the Year, in 2020 she was awarded the Global Educator Award in the United States, and in 2022 she received on behalf of Education Cannot Wait, the prestigious Mother Teresa Award.

Ms. Sherif also received an award from the United Nations Association-USA Brooklyn Chapter in 2023, and was recently honored as a Listee in Marquis Who's Who for her dedication to the field of international affairs and law, and leadership of ECW. 

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All Statements and Updates

Girls attending class
24 January 2023
Op-Eds

On International Day of Education, We Must Prioritize Girls in Humanitarian Crisis By Yasmine Sherif and Stephen Omollo

“Is it a sin to be a girl? We don’t want to be at home and illiterate. We want to go to school, study and be intelligent.” In just a few words, this plea for education from a young Afghan girl has captured the world’s attention. Her heartbreaking question shows...
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ECW Director Yasmine Sherif with a child in Lebanon
24 January 2023
Statements

Investing in Education, Investing in Children, Investing in the Future

ECW Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on the International Day of Education 24 January 2023, New York - On the International Day of Education , we join donors, UN agencies and civil society partners in calling on world leaders to deliver on the promises outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable...
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Modern Diplomacy
22 January 2023
Director's Corner

U.S. Leadership is Essential in Delivering on our Promise of Universal Education

View original via Modern Diplomacy By investing in the education of the world’s most vulnerable children, we are investing in stability, peace and economic prosperity across the globe. By Yasmine Sherif and Joan Rosenhauer* We are experiencing an unprecedented global education crisis. In all, 222 million children are caught in...
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Illustration of girls in Afghanistan
22 December 2022
Statements

All Girls Must be Allowed to Return to Education in Afghanistan

ECW Director Yasmine Sherif Statement Education Cannot Wait stands in solidarity with every girl and woman in Afghanistan. Each one has an inherent human right to education. We also stand in solidarity with every Afghan father, brother, husband and son, suffering the pain of seeing their daughter, sister, wife and...
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ECW Director Yasmine Sherif at a classroom in DRC
14 December 2022
Director's Corner

We Can, We Must, and We Will

As 2022 draws to a close, my colleagues and I want to thank all of Education Cannot Wait’s strategic stakeholders worldwide for driving ECW fast-forward as a pioneering, effective instrument for delivering education in emergencies and protracted crises. During the past year, the global, multilateral family of ECW launched new...
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ECW commemorates Human Rights Day.
09 December 2022
Statements

Dignity, Freedom and Justice

ECW Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on Human Rights Day 10 December 2022, New York – As we commemorate Human Rights Day, let us recall the opening preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948: “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of...
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Girls reading a book
03 December 2022
Statements

Working Together for an Inclusive World

ECW Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities 3 December 2022, New York – ECW works together with governments, UN agencies, civil society and the private sector for an inclusive world where all children with disabilities are able to go to school in safe and...
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Yasmine Sherif
25 November 2022
Statements

End Violence Against Women and Girls 

ECW Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and #16Days of Activism 25 November 2022, New York - As we now have entered the 21 st century, we must end violence against girls and women. Attacking and abusing girls and women as...
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ECW Director Yasmine Sherif interacts with children in DRC
18 November 2022
Statements

Every Child Has a Right to Realize the Human Potential

World Children’s Day Statement by ECW Director Yasmine Sherif - 20 November 2022 On World Children’s Day , we must remember what it means to be a child born with a right to reach the human potential. Nothing is more precious, more priceless, than a child growing towards that potential...
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Girls at school
16 November 2022
Op-Eds

Connecting The Dots Between Climate Action and Education

Original Op-ed from Modern Diplomacy We are headed for a cliff. Rising seas, devastating droughts, spiking temperatures and a notable increase in the severity and frequency of natural disasters are forcing children, families and communities into displacement, disrupting the education of millions and, and putting lives and livelihoods at risk...
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ECW/UNICEF Mission in DRC
13 November 2022
Director's Corner

We Own Our Choice to Finance Education

There is a stillness to the tent as I enter. This is a place of loss and pain, yet also a place of resilience and hope; everything coming together all at once. Here in Tanganyika Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), six out of ten girls will be married...
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Yasmine Sherif at UN HQ
23 October 2022
Statements

Education for Peace & Security: UN Day Statement by Education Cannot Wait Director Yasmine Sherif

As the world marks United Nations Day , let us remember why the United Nations was created and the spirit of its founders. In 1945 and the ensuing years, there was optimism, hope and determination to achieve peace, security and human rights for all. Since its formation in 1945, the...
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Latest Photos

Access Photos of ECW Director Yasmine Sherif
ECW Director Yasmine Sherif at UN's Transforming Education Summit
ECW Director Yasmine Sherif at UN's Transforming Education Summit
ECW Director Yasmine Sherif at UN's Transforming Education Summit
The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, ECW Director Yasmine Sherif and ECW staff at UN's Transforming Education Summit
ECW Director Yasmine Sherif at UN's Transforming Education Summit
ECW Director Yasmine Sherif at UN's Transforming Education Summit
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Director Yasmine Sherif speaks with students during a school visit on her all-women mission to Afghanistan.
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Leading an all-women mission to Afghanistan, Director Yasmine Sherif arrives at a local school, hand-in-hand with female teachers and staff.
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Director Yasmine Sherif and actress and education champion Rachel Brosnahan take the stage at Global Citizen Live 2021 in NYC.
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Director Yasmine Sherif meets children with disabilities during ECW’s Lebanon Mission.
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Director Yasmine Sherif and Nasser Faqih, ECW Chief of Partnerships, visit a refugee camp with partners during a mission to Lebanon.
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Director Yasmine Sherif speaks with on-the-ground partners during ECW’s mission to Lebanon.

Latest Videos

Al Arabiya with Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait

قناة العربية: الشارع الدبلوماسي مع طلال الحاج يستضيف ياسمين شريف حول وضع التعليم في افغانستان

Diplomatic Avenue : Al Arabiya Exclusive with Yasmine Sherif, Director of UN Global Fund ECW

ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif Celebrates the Fifth Anniversary of Education Cannot Wait

[FR] ECW Director Yasmine Sherif mission in DRC - part 1

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Resolutions are just tiny steps. To make them a reality requires Action. Until it becomes action on the ground, those words mean very little. Not until you help that child to access a safe, quality education have you actually achieved the result.

Yasmine Sherif, ECW Executive Director