WHAT IS UNGEI
Head of UNGEI Secretariat
UNGEI is a partnership working at global, regional and country levels that embraces the United Nations system, governments, donor countries, non-governmental organizations, civil society, the private sector, and communities and families. UNGEI provides stakeholders with a platform for action and galvanizes their efforts to enable girls as well as boys to complete a quality education – an essential step towards sustainable development and the eradication of poverty. As the Education for All (EFA) flagship for girls' education, the partnership increasingly makes use of gender as an entry point for addressing other disparities in education globally through mechanisms.
Ms. Faye has a rich background in programme management, fund-raising and social development. She held a series of positions with UNICEF including as the organization’s Representative in The Gambia, West Africa, its Deputy Representative in Cameroon, and its Communication Officer in Ethiopia. She also served briefly as Child Protection Advisor to the Special Representative of the Secretary General at the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her earlier professional experience includes educational planning in the Baltimore City Schools, the U.S. Foreign Service, and U.S. nonprofit organization management.
Ms. Faye earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania, USA, and a master’s degree in West African area studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK. She also has a postgraduate certificate in public policy and advocacy from Maastricht University, the Netherlands.
During Ms. Faye’s tenure, UNGEI has grown to include a total of 34 national partnerships across Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. Major achievements of the partnership during this period include the mobilization of many additional partners for girls’ education, including from the private sector; evidence-based advocacy resulting in high visibility and gender being placed high on the EFA agenda globally; and the evaluation of UNGEI’s approach to girls’ education. A frequent speaker at global education and development fora, Ms. Faye reminds audiences that, in the words of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, “There is no tool for development more effective than the education of girls.”
UNGEI Secretariat, December 2011
