Jessica Lowden is an international education expert with significant experience working with a wide range of international stakeholders and funders to use innovative approaches to improve education for marginalized populations in low- and middle-income countries.
At Results for Development (R4D), Jessica leads the EdTech Hub Helpdesk, providing technical leadership to this global education policy and program support initiative. She works with a team of education experts to respond to discrete requests from education officers working in low- and middle-income countries around the world who are looking for ways to incorporate EdTech into their education sectors. She helps the team analyze context and explore relevant approaches for complex educational settings, while also contributing to broader business development and partner engagement work across the Hub.
Throughout her career, Jessica has worked to expand access and improve the quality of basic education for marginalized and underserved populations. In Ghana, she expanded a media in the classroom pilot project from 15 schools to more than 300 schools under one of the first public-private partnerships with the UK Girls Education Challenge. In Uganda and Ethiopia, Jessica worked with the Ministries of Education, private and public funders to expand an innovative accelerated education program, to impact more than 300,000 students, teachers and community members.
Prior to joining R4D, Jessica worked for Geneva Global managing projects in Ethiopia, Lebanon, Liberia and Uganda. At Geneva Global, she worked closely with corporate, foundation and individual clients to leverage funds and early project results to double project funding and expand program activity under the flagship education initiative Speed School — an innovative accelerated education program focused on helping over-age, out-of-school children enter the formal school system. Prior to her work on Speed School, Jessica worked with Discovery Learning Alliance (now Impact(Ed)) to expand a pilot program in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria. She launched a new program office in the Northern Region of Ghana, significantly expanding operations and working closely with communities, school administrators and government education officials to improve enrollment, retention and learning outcomes.
Jessica holds a master’s degree in international educational development from Teachers College, Columbia University and a BA from The College of William and Mary. She speaks conversational Spanish.
