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. She has also been honored as a Listee in Marquis Who's Who for her dedication to the field of international affairs and law, and leadership of ECW, as well as in the “Women Leaders 2024 Collector’s Edition" as a woman leader to look up to in 2024. 

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All Statements and Updates

11 March 2021
Videos

Launch of the EiE-GenKit

Yasmine Sherif, ECW Director, helps launch the EiE-GenKit. Director Sherif explains why this toolkit, which promotes gender-responsive and inclusive education interventions in emergency & protracted crises settings, is critical in improving gender and education outcomes of learners living in crises and addressing the realities on the ground.
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We Must Make It Happen_Together
10 February 2021
Director's Corner

We Must Make It Happen - Together

“As we enter 2021, education must be at the core of pandemic response and recovery efforts,” says António Gutteres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his interview with Education Cannot Wait (ECW), reminding us that “upholding our pledge to leave no one behind starts with education.” Indeed, without making inclusive...
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13 January 2021
Videos

Burkina Faso Field Mission

The Director of Education Cannot Wait – the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises – Ms. Yasmine Sherif, visits Burkina Faso from 13-15 January, 2021 to see first-hand the education needs of children and youth caught in the multiple crises affecting the country and announce new funding...
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Hope Thrives on Action
08 January 2021
Director's Corner

Hope Thrives on Action

As 2020 comes to a close and we reflect on Education Cannot Wait’s mission this past year, two things stand out: hope and action. Amidst multiple crises around the globe, exacerbated by the COVID-19 global pandemic, hope has been the fuel driving us all forward to take action to deliver...
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The Climate Education Crisis
21 December 2020
Op-Eds

The Climate Education Crisis

Climate change threatens the very future of humanity. Entire villages are already being washed to sea, and conflicts over scarce resources are intensifying around the world. Each year, more and more families are forcibly displaced by extreme weather events, creating a vicious cycle of extreme poverty, acute hunger, and insecurity...
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Education is a Fundamental Human Right and the Priority of the 21st Century
21 December 2020
Statements

Education is a Fundamental Human Right and the Priority of the 21st Century

On Human Rights Day, Education Cannot Wait Director Yasmine Sherif explains how education is the key to unlocking all other human rights
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Education is a Fundamental Human Right and the Priority of the 21st Century
21 December 2020
Op-Eds

Education Is a Fundamental Human Right and the Priority of the 21st Century

Education is not a privilege. It is a fundamental human right. Yet, education is undervalued even at the best of times. We often fail to connect the dots between the right to education and the realization of all human rights. As noted by the Nobel-winning economist Amartya Sen, we have...
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20 December 2020
Videos

ECW Mission to Lebanon

ECW Director Yasmine Sherif visits with leaders, students and other stakeholders impacted by the multiplying crises in Lebanon.
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They Deserve No Less in Central Sahel
16 November 2020
Op-Eds

They Deserve No Less in Central Sahel

“I am so happy. This is my success!” says 13-year old Cynthia , beaming proudly as she shows her Primary School Certificate with an average mark of 120 out of 150. Thanks to the Radio Education Programme, she will now graduate on to Grade 6! Cynthia’s sense of pride, joy...
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Statements of ECW director Yasmin
20 October 2020
Statements

Statement of the ECW Director, Yasmine Sherif, at the Ministerial Roundtable for the Central Sahel

20 October 2020 – as prepared for delivery Education Cannot Wait is the first and only global fund dedicated to supporting the education of children and youth in emergencies and protracted crises, including armed conflict. Following the escalation of the crises in Central Sahel in 2019, particularly in Burkina Faso...
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Scaling up SDG4 in Crises
15 October 2020
Op-Eds

Scaling Up SDG4 in Crises

Out of global crises spring opportunities for change. In crisis, change is not an option. It is a necessity. And, as Plato famously noted: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is an invention that sprang out of crisis and was borne of necessity. Education Cannot Wait...
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Teachers Shoulder the Burden
02 October 2020
Op-Eds

Teachers Shoulder the Burden: Improving Support in Crisis Contexts

By Yasmine Sherif, Dean Brooks and Mary Mendenhall Teachers are at the heart of children and young peoples’ educational experiences. Teachers play multiple roles in their students’ lives by supporting their learning, providing them with inclusive and safe environments to grow and develop, and helping them become more confident as...
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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