Director's Corner

Yasmine Sherif speaking with a kid from Lebanon
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ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif

Yasmine Sherif is the Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW). A lawyer specialized in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law (LL.M), she has over 30 years of experience with the United Nations and international NGOs. 

Ms. Sherif has served in some of the most crisis-affected areas of the world, including Afghanistan, the Middle East, the Balkans, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan as well as in New York and Geneva. She has led high-level missions to numerous conflict and crisis-affected countries. Her expertise spans across the education, humanitarian, development, human rights, gender and peacekeeping spectrum.

She is the author of the book, The Case for Humanity: An Extraordinary Session, and a Champion for ‘No Lost Generation.’ In 2017, she received the annual award Sweden’s UN Friend of the Year, in 2020 she was awarded the Global Educator Award in the United States, and in 2022 she received on behalf of Education Cannot Wait, the prestigious Mother Teresa Award.

Ms. Sherif also received an award from the United Nations Association-USA Brooklyn Chapter in 2023. She has also been honored as a Listee in Marquis Who's Who for her dedication to the field of international affairs and law, and leadership of ECW, as well as in the “Women Leaders 2024 Collector’s Edition" as a woman leader to look up to in 2024. 

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All Statements and Updates

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Statements
International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction Statement By Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director, Education Cannot Wait Read original from World Education Blog On this International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction, we must remember the power of education in protecting communities from disasters. By empowering the next generation for a resilient future...
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Statements
World Mental Health Day Statement by Education Cannot Wait Director Yasmine Sherif Children and adolescents should not need to ever experience the excruciating pain of conflicts, climate change and refuge. However, for as long as we fail to safeguard their rights – physical and legal protection – they will continue...
Yasmine Sherif interacting with a child in Ukraine
Director's Corner
The UN General Assembly and the Summit of the Future gave us not only an indication of what the future for young generations may look like, but also a platform to speak up for – and with – the children and adolescents, whose future is at stake. Brutal armed conflicts...
Gaza
Statements
Today with broken hearts, we mark the one-year anniversary since the implosion of Gaza on 7 October 2023. Today we honor the hostages, the arbitrarily detained and the more than 40,000 innocent civilians who have reportedly been killed in this brutal carnage, and the countless others that have been disabled...
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Statements
World Teachers’ Day Statement by Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif We must build a new social contract for education – a contract based on equality, equity, and universal human rights. At the center of our global efforts to ensure education for all, we must put teachers first in...
Girl inside a classroom holding a book
Statements
International Day of Peace Statement by Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif The longing for peace transcends time, geography and religion. Based on justice, human rights and universal values outlined in the UN Charter, a culture of peace brings us all together in our common agenda for humanity. We...
Afghan Girls Voices
Statements
Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif statement ahead of the 3-year anniversary of ban on girls’ secondary education in Afghanistan. Today, we stand with solemn hearts as the world marks this week the three-year ban on girls’ secondary education in Afghanistan. Today and everyday, we must stand up for...
Gir in a school in DR Congo
Director's Corner
The world is becoming more insulated, more isolated and more dangerous by the day. As nations turn toward domestic priorities, we are witnessing seismic shifts in the funding and delivery of international aid. Moves toward nationalism will have dangerous repercussions the world over, while at the same time limiting our...
Children writing on an impacted blackboard
Statements
International Day to Protect Education from Attack Statement by Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif When a school is bombed, hope dies. When children are abducted from their classrooms and pushed into unimaginable forms of modern slavery and abuse, our dream of peace and equality is destroyed. When teachers...
Jannat
Director's Corner
Seven years ago, a brutal campaign of violence, rape and terror against the Rohingya people ignited in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Villages were burned to the ground, families were murdered, massive human rights violations were reported, and around 700,000 people – half of them children – fled their homes to seek refuge in Bangladesh.
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Statements
World Humanitarian Day Statement by Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif On this year’s World Humanitarian Day , we are calling on people everywhere to #ActForHumanity. We must act for humanity in Gaza for the 40,000 fatalities – including at least 10,627 children killed – according to the Palestinian...
Yasmine Sherif with children at a school in Haiti
Director's Corner
Intellectual honesty and moral clarity are no longer virtues. Yet, we must all continue to hold on to the principles of the UN Charter and our shared humanity. We derive inner strength from this. The world we live in today is in acute crisis. Across the globe, hundreds of millions...

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Resolutions are just tiny steps. To make them a reality requires Action. Until it becomes action on the ground, those words mean very little. Not until you help that child to access a safe, quality education have you actually achieved the result.

Yasmine Sherif, ECW Executive Director