Catherine Jere joined the EFA Global Monitoring Report Team in January 2013. Until her appointment she was a Research Fellow with the Centre of Educational Research and Training (CERT) at the University of Malawi, where she has worked since 2003. She has led a number of research and evaluation studies, both within Malawi and as wider collaboration within the Southern Africa region. These have included work on school-based gender violence, models of complementary basic education, youth service and volunteering and, most recently, using open and distance learning to address barriers to schooling presented by HIV/AIDS. Catherine has an undergraduate degree from the University of Edinburgh, a Masters degree in Education and Development from the University of Bristol and a PhD in Education and International Development from the Institute of Education, University of London.