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

World Humanitarian Day
Statements
World Humanitarian Day Statement by ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif Twenty years ago today, a terrorist attack on the United Nations compound in Baghdad took the lives of 22 humanitarian and development workers, including the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. With solemn hearts...
ECW Executive Director and youth take the stage at HLFC
Statements
International Youth Day Statement by ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif To save our people and our planet from the life-threatening risks of the climate crisis, we must invest in the education of today’s youth. They will be the climate activists, climate scientists, climate innovators, game-changers and leaders of the 21...
ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif with refugee children in Borota, Chad
Director's Corner
One of my favorite proverbs is Japanese, which states: “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.” Never has this proverb felt more important than in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 - especially the foundational goal, SDG4: ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for...
Children at playground holding hands
Statements
ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons As the world comes together to “reach every victim of trafficking and leave no one behind” on World Day Against Trafficking of Persons , it is essential that we step up funding to education initiatives across...
Learning a trade
Statements
ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on World Youth Skills Day
ECW Executive Director with children in Chad
Director's Corner
We all know and agree that patience is a virtue. It is indeed. With one exception. In the face of a child’s suffering, impatience is the highest virtue. Or as we say in the spirit of Education Cannot Wait: “We must be unapologetically impatient” in our collective goal to reach...
Yasmine Sherif
Statements
Read original on Modern Diplomacy ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on International Day for Women in Diplomacy 24 June 2023, New York – Today we honour the brave, fearless and dedicated women who have broken through confining norms and stereotypes in order to build peace, equality and human rights...
Teacher and student look at book together.
Statements
ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on World Refugee Day 20 June 2023, New York – There were 108.4 million forcibly displaced people worldwide by the end of 2022. This includes 62.5 million internally displaced people, 35.3 million refugees, 5.4 million asylum seekers and an additional 5.2 million in need...
Young girl from Haiti with her back to the camera.
Statements
ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict 19 June 2023, New York – Sexual violence is unacceptable in any shape or form, in all contexts, including those of conflict. As we come together on the International Day for the...
Yasmine Sherif speaks to a Sudanese refugee girl in Chad.
Director's Corner
As we head into June, we will commemorate a number of important international days that call for much-needed support to protect refugees, end child labour, stop sexual violence in conflict and ensure human rights for the innocent children victims of aggression. Together, this work will propel our efforts to achieve...
Young boy digging in a hole.
Statements
ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on World Day Against Child Labour 12 June 2023, New York – Worldwide, 160 million children are engaged in child labour. Without access to safe, quality educational opportunities, their dreams of a better future have been cut short. As we commemorate the World Day...
Girl stands in displacement camp.
Statements
ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression 4 June 2023, New York – Children are not targets. Children are not soldiers. Children are not weapons. As we commemorate the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression , we call on leaders...

Latest Videos

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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