Emmi Matsunaga’s Post

Back in London and reflecting upon all the brilliant sessions and discussions from my time in Washington DC for the USAID Global Education Conference and The Brookings Institution Symposium on transforming systems for and through Inclusive Education. I met a range of inspiring people doing a whole host of interesting work - here's a few things I've taken away…   📱 EdTech can do a lot to enhance education delivery, but the focus should be on learning outcomes not digital inputs. I especially appreciated Semra Seifu from USAID saying "You don't get a hammer 🔨 and then try to find something to hit – you encounter a challenge, then find the right tool". I was especially excited to hear Paul Atherton's thoughts on how AI could be a gamechanger in low-resource contexts, and am pleased there are some big brains focused on this!   📈Scaling what works is complex. We need to find more creative solutions to address the challenges and scale effectively. It was great to hear Benjamin Piper from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation highlighting that persistent and meaningful engagement with government leaders and permanent secretaries is essential to reaching more teachers in rural schools.   👩🎓 Addressing intersecting inequalities in education to reach the most marginalised is a priority. Gender, language, disability, tribal backgrounds are just a few of the factors affecting a young person's experience at school. At PEAS, we're focused on equipping our teachers with the skills and pedagogies they need to tailor support to each their students, and there’s so much more we can learn from the experts, such as the brilliant Maegan Shanks (my favourite presenter of the week!).   A massive thanks to Lee Suezan for all your support and this brilliant opportunity to share more about PEAS' work, my co-panellists Jonathan (Jake) Thomsen and Andrew McCusker for bringing the energy and candy for the last panel of the day, and to Yvonne Naluvwi, Pooja Reddy Nakamura, Simon King, Caitlin Hurley, Alison Naftalin, Inês Charro, Charlie Habershon, Joseph Di Silvio for the brill chats & company! PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools) #GlobalEducation #InclusiveEducation #EducationForAll 

The first two days of the USAID Global Education Conference have been packed with brilliant and inspirational talks, and I'm looking forward to our session today. If you're at the conference, please come join us in the Washington ballroom at 4p.m. I promise to try and bring some energy ✨ for the final slot of the day. See you there!

If you know of anyone who is organised, keen to learn new things and looking for a new challenge in an organisation having a massive impact - please forward this on! PEAS is looking for a new finance and admin assistant/officer, with some flexibility in working arrangements on offer. Link to apply: https://lnkd.in/eQXs3JD4. Deadline is 15th March. Do get in touch if you need any more information!

Have you heard of the Big Give Christmas Fundraising Challenge? Over the next 7 days of the #BigGiveChristmasChallenge, every donation to select charities will be DOUBLED! This year, I’m supporting two amazing causes ✨ and every donation, big or small, will have a transformational impact for children in Africa. First, a donation to PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools) will get more children into quality secondary education in Uganda, Zambia, and Ghana. PEAS provides better quality education, to poorer students at a lower cost per child than any comparison schools – which means a donation to PEAS is excellent bang for your buck, especially this week when you will double your money!   Secondly, a donation to S.A.L.V.E. International will help reunite street connected children in Uganda with caring and nurturing families. SALVE research has showed a 192% increase in the number of children on the streets of Jinja since 2017, so your donation is much needed to help resettle children (some as young as 3) into loving families and quality education. I’ll post more about each of these causes over the coming days, and links to each donation page in the comments below. Thank you! #ChristmasChallenge 

I'm extremely proud of PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools)' Ghana programme, which we launched in February this year with our partner Savannah Education Trust. It's been brilliant to work with Head Teachers like Luke, who have been keen to learn, quick to engage and are passionate about delivering a quality education for their students. #education #ghana #internationaldevelopment

Absolutely loved listening to this podcast🎙️ this morning, hearing from two PEAS teachers about the importance of role models, the power of safeguarding to transform children's lives and how PEAS' life skills training is helping students feel confident and excited for life after school. Our teachers truly are what makes our schools great, and have given me a boost of motivation ✨ this morning. Thanks to Chola & Bright for making me a proud Pea 🫛, and to Global Schools Forum for featuring PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools) in your series #education #secondaryeducation #africa #motivation

Final reminder 🔔 to all Education Finance Network members to register for this Thursday's webinar, where I'll be sharing some of the lessons from PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools) Zambia's brilliant work supporting 20 government primary schools to drive long-term school improvement, thanks to USAID. Look forward to seeing you there!

It's been amazing to be part of the team bringing up-to-date, insightful data to our School Leaders, allowing them to make the best decisions for every student every day. Looking forward to seeing how PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools) will continue using #technology to deliver big outcomes in 2023 🎆

Looking for a new challenge? Want to use your range of skills, but for the greater good? Come join us! We're looking to hire a Grants Officer with strong financial and project management skills to join PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools) and help make quality education a reality for children in Uganda, Zambia and beyond. Making the leap from banking to PEAS over four years ago completely changed my life for the better, so do take a look if you're feeling like you need a new challenge with a refreshed purpose. Please do share with anyone who might be interested! https://lnkd.in/dPKuGqpq #jobs #career #internationaldevelopment #education #banking #finance #grantsmanagement #grants