Dr Mary Joy Pigozzi is executive director of Educate A Child (EAC), leading the programme since 2012. Before joining EAC, she served as senior vice president at FHI 360. Previously, she directed the Academy for Educational Development’s Global Learning Group followed by UNESCO’s Division for the Promotion of Quality Education. As senior education advisor for primary education at UNICEF she developed both the UN system-wide Girls’ Education Initiative and UNICEF’s global Girls’ Education Programme.

Dr Pigozzi’s expertise ranges from early childhood interventions to junior secondary and higher education, and includes both formal and non-formal approaches. She has extensive field experience.

Born and raised in Botswana and educated in Botswana and Zimbabwe through secondary school, she earned her doctoral degree in education in the US. Dr Pigozzi served on the faculties of Indiana University and Michigan State University, has experience in public and private education, and works in English and French.