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Past Advisory Team Members
We extend our deepest thanks to the advisors who have helped shape GELYDA. Their leadership, insight, and generosity of time helped lay the foundation for our work and continue to guide the association's direction. We are grateful for their service and proud to count them as part of the GELYDA community.
Dr. Kirstin Kerr
Professor of Education at the University of Manchester, UK (England)
Kirstin Kerr is Professor of Education at the University of Manchester, UK. Kirstin’s research is concerned with understanding how educational inequities come to be ingrained in particular neighbourhoods and residential communities, and explores strategies for intervening in the link between education, disadvantage and place. She is expert in supporting the development of locally-designed and -led initiatives that aim to (1) establish long-term, comprehensive programmes of support for children – both throughout their schooling and in their family and community contexts – and (2) which bring together schools, wider services, and voluntary and community organisations. Much of her work is situated in a Development and Research approach and uses ‘theory of change’ to support the planning, monitoring and evaluation of complex social interventions, in partnership with local programme leaders.
Dr. Madhav Chavan
Board Member and Former CEO of Pratham Education Foundation (India)
Madhav Chavan moved from the field of Chemistry to the field of literacy a few years after his return to India having acquired a Ph. D. in the United States and some post-doctoral experience there. He worked in the field of adult literacy from 1989 to 1994 inspired by the National Literacy Mission launched by late Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. In 1994, Unicef in Mumbai put him in charge of creating a ‘societal mission’ to universalize primary education in the city of Mumbai. As a result he co-founded Pratham that started in 1994-95 as a Mumbai based organization and has now grown to be one of India’s largest NGOs working across the country with millions of children every year with a focus on basic learning outcomes including reading and math. Its flagship programs, Read India and the Annual Status of Education Report have earned the organization a reputation as a pedagogy and advocacy innovator that has influenced policy and practice at the national and international level. He stepped down as CEO of Pratham Education Foundation but continues to be on its Board and actively leading the new experimentation in use of technology for education.
Madhav has been personally recognized for his work with the WISE Prize and The Skoll Award for social entrepreneurship as his organization has received the Kravis Prize for Leadership and the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award for developmental work.
Kazu Furukawa
Former President of National Institution for Youth Education (NIYE) (Japan)
Kazu Furukawa graduated from the School of Foreign Studies of the Osaka University of Foreign Studies. She also graduated from the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, Sophia University.
She founded and engaged in activities with “Teaching Kids to Love the Earth,” a group focused on environmental and science education for children. She established the Action Learning Institute and conducted corporate training programs. She introduced experiential and inquiry-based science education methods from UC Berkley to Japan and founded the NPO, “Taikengata Kagaku Kyoiku Kenkyusho (Institute for Experiential Science Education),” remaining active in this role until 2016.
In 2017, she served as an Executive Consultant at HER Co., Ltd., conducting training programs. She also served as an auditor (part-time) at Tokyo Gakugei University from April 2015 to August 2020. She has been serving as the President of National Institution for Youth Education (NIYE) from April 2021.