Emily Vargas-Barón
The Institute for Reconstruction and International
Security through Education "The RISE Institute"
USA

Dr. Vargas-Barón is an experienced policy planner, program developer and researcher in the fields of international education and early childhood development. Her Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Anthropology and Education from Stanford University , and M.A. and B.A. degrees in History from the University of Washington formed the foundation of her commitment to international education. Early on, she designed UNDP education programs in UNESCO/Paris and developed grant making strategies in education for The Ford Foundation's Andean Office.

During this early period, she was also a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle , the Sorbonne in Paris , and Javeriana University in Bogotá. Subsequently, she founded a non-profit research and development institute in the U.S. to improve child and family development in low-income urban communities that became a nationally recognized institution with widely replicated programs. Concurrently, she was a professor at the University of Texas and consulted for federal and state agencies, international organizations, and developing nations.

From 1994 to 2001, Dr. Vargas-Barón served as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Human Capacity Development of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she led programs for education, workforce development, international training, and telecommunications.

She guided 30 professionals, developed Strategic Objective Teams, and managed an annual budget of $70 million to support USAID offices in 80 nations. She led a successful effort to establish an agency-wide Goal for Basic Education, and positioned USAID to play a global leadership role in improving educational access and quality. She developed new USAID education programs for HIV/AIDS-affected children; workforce development; secondary and youth education; information technologies; basic education to combat child labor; girls' education; food for basic education; and higher education partnerships.

She represented USAID on international commissions, established several inter-agency working groups, and represented the U.S. at the World Education Forum in Dakar , the Second Congress on Technical Vocational Education and Training in Korea , and several other global conferences. She helped prepare the "Education for All" Dakar Framework for Action, and she was a prime contributor to G-8 initiatives for basic education. Currently, she directs The RISE Institute for education and child development, and she consults for UNICEF, UNESCO, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Association for the Development of Education in Africa, the Netherlands , and others. She has extensive consulting experience in over 50 countries of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America .

In summary, Dr. Vargas-Barón's approach to education and early childhood development is integrative and participatory. She is deeply committed to strategic planning, building inter-personal and inter-institutional partnerships, and designing, managing and evaluating innovative programs. She is the author of several books, articles and other documents.