Dr Lawalley Cole is the Executive Director of the Coalition on Media and Education for Development Africa Forum (CAFOR); Dr Cole has more than thirty years of progressively responsible experience in teaching, policy formulation and development planning, programme design, programme implementation, monitoring, research and evaluation, and other managerial areas mainly in the fields of education and communication for development. He has worked primarily in The Gambia, Mali, Zambia, and Burundi (for UNICEF as Chief of Education for fifteen years) and for the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) at the African Development Bank in Benin, Tunisia and Ethiopia for ten years as Coordinator, Communication for Education and Development. He is currently based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the African Union Commission Headquarters. Dr Cole regularly contributes to the African debate on development issues and other general activities in Africa by providing an active reflection on educational quality and current issues in education in Africa as well as input in the area of professional expertise, while also promoting the use of communication in support of education in Africa. Dr Cole has worked as a Consultant with various organizations and institutes, including within the United Nations, Foundations and the Government of The Gambia. He has held senior-level positions in the Ministry of Education of the Gambia Government between 1985 and 1991.

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