Sheldon Shaeffer, Global Leader Regional Coordinator Asia Pacific
Sheldon Shaeffer was Director of UNESCO’s Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok for seven years, retiring at the end of 2008. A citizen of Canada, he was educated in history (B.A.), anthropology (M.A.), and comparative international education (Ph.D.) at Stanford University. He has taught, done research, and worked in development programmes in Southeast Asia for over 35 years including as the regional education advisor for UNICEF in Bangkok. He was also a senior research fellow at the International Institute for Educational Planning (UNESCO) in Paris, and before moving back to Bangkok with UNESCO, he was head of UNICEF’s global education programme in New York for three years. His professional interests include early childhood development, language policy in education, inclusive education, teacher development and management, and the impact of COVID-19 and climate change on the wellbeing of children.
Leonard Chumo, Global Leader Regional Coordinator Africa
Leonard Chumo Falex serves as a Regional Coordinator for Africa is himself a Global Leader alumnus from 2013-2014 cohort. Leonard is also the Executive Director and Founder of Early Start Africa (www.earlystartafrica.org), an organization dedicated to promoting access to quality care and education for young children in Africa through appropriate policy advocacy, program prototyping and early learning scholarships. He is a part-time lecturer at Daystar University Institute for Child Development and the former Chair for the Early Childhood Network for Kenya. Leonard is also part of the leadership of the Men in Early Childhood Care and Education Working Group and is engaged in programs related to men’s mentorship in Africa. Prior to founding Early Start Africa, Leonard held various positions at Aga Khan University Institute for Human Development, Missions of Hope International, International Child Resource Institute and Barclays Bank of Kenya. He holds an MA in Child Development from Daystar University, Master of Business Administration in Strategic Management and a BA in Economics and Sociology both from the University of Nairobi. He is a father of two and enjoys outdoors with his children.
Ebenezer Lartey, Global Leader Regional Coordinator Africa
Ebenezer Lartey, ICRI Africa Region Director, Global Leader, National Representative, Board Mentee. Ebenezer holds B.Sc. (Hons) Degree in Tourism from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana and also an Executive Mastery Certificate in Child Development and Early Childhood Education from Carayol College. He exhibits a good knowledge in a variety of disciplines. He is an expert in ICT Marketing, Corporate Project Planning and Management.
Ebenezer has trained in Early Childhood Education and has developed a considerable skill, knowledge and experience in handling children. In his child education delivery, Ebenezer allows the children to lead the curriculum. His role in the delivery process is to nurture, support and guide. Ebenezer incorporates the child’s interest into his learning delivery.
Ebenezer is a World Forum Foundation Board Mentee, National Representative and Global Leader for Young Children. He was selected based on his leadership and dedication to this work.
Ebenezer has facilitated several training programs on Early Childhood Education and has led a team of experts, consultants and academicians to enter into various education collaborations in Early Childhood Education. He is leading a team of professionals to collaborate with the University of Education Winneba to establish an Early Childhood Education Graduate Studies Program and to construct and equip the University with a state of the art Child Care/Resource Centre at Winneba.
Ebenezer is an excellent communicator and a skilled presenter, effective at the customer interface. He takes his delight in problem-solving and creative resource management. Ebenezer is highly proactive, visionary and a strategic thinker, with a strong bottom line focus. He focuses on organizational development. Ebenezer has the intrinsic desire to serve humanity, for this reason he participates in volunteer programs in any community, both locally and internationally. He is hard working and persists until he puts the smiles on the faces of his customers and clients. Through hard work and dedication to duty, Ebenezer has developed a very critical and objective mindset and he is well-versed in current affairs, research management and intellectual publications.
Lynette Okengo, Global Leader AfECN Liaison
Kim Nall, Global Leader Regional Coordinator, North America
Kim is the Child Care Center Director at the Colusa Indian Community, Hand-in-Hand Learning Center in Colusa, CA, USA, and has been in this position for the last 15 years. Her passion is expanding high quality early care and education for children and for Tribal Child Care in the United States, and learning about Global ECD initiatives. She has more than 25 years of work on behalf of young children and their families in the state of California, and within the United States. She is proud to have been able to work on several advisory groups and boards including the National Indian Child Care Association (NICCA), Co-Chair of the Tribal Child Care Association of California (TCCAC), Tribal Early Childhood Research Center (TRC) Steering Committee, National Farm to School Network Mentor, Peer Learning and Leadership Network (PLLN) Fellow and Mentor for Tribal Child Care Administrators, World Forum on Early Care and Education, Global Leader Regional Coordinator 2017-2018, and Global Leader 2011-2012, Equity in Farm to ECE Subgroup, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Advisory Council, Indigenous Peoples Action Group (IPAG), Georgetown University Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) in Family Friend and Neighbor (FFN) Care Workgroup, California Health and Safety Regulatory Workgroup. She regularly presents her work at local and national conferences, and workshops. She also volunteers her time with local organizations in her community and serves on several local committees and organizations.