Before coming to CIE, Laura spent four years in North Carolina and Malawi working with World Camp, a non-profit organization that educates primary teachers and their students on HIV/AIDS, the environment, life skills education, and gender equality
After finishing her degree Laura spent two years working in Malawi for AIR as the Learning Resource Coordinator for the Malawi Teacher Training Activity. Her primary responsibility was to develop learning materials, including resource manuals and handbooks for training workshops. She also worked regularly with Fritz Kadyoma monitoring MOE training workshops on the new primary school curriculum.
Laura returned to the U.S. to work as the Volunteer Services Manager for Habitat for Humanity in Asheville, North Carolina. In that role she coordinated over 2000 annual volunteers and worked to cultivate relationships with individuals and community partners to create an engaged, committed, and growing volunteer force.
In 2014 she joined the International Rescue Committee, first as an Education Coordinator in Islamabad, Pakistan, and then as an Acting Children and Youth Protection Coordinator in Erbil, Iraq. In Iraq she oversaw management of programs for refugees and IDP’s in camps and host communities.
After a short period working as the Education Cluster Coordinator with UNICEF in Nepal on earthquake recovery, she moved to Pakistan to spend a year working for the International Organization for Migration. There she helped coordinate the Natural Disasters Consortium that focused on response, recovery and preparation for disasters in Pakistan.
In late 2017 she began working as an Emergency Coordinator with UNICEF in the British Virgin Islands. She coordinated UNICEF’s programs after two category five hurricanes had devastated the territory. She also had responsibility for activities including distribution of supplies, Temporary Learning and Protective Spaces and WASH facilities, and providing technical support for the re-opening of schools.
She received her Ph.D. in Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis from North Carolina State University in 2022 where her studies focussed on school leadership and early childhood education.
Laura is now working as an Education Specialist with the Global Partnership for Education, a position she began in mid-2022. In this position she has occasional contact with Paul Frisoli and, again, with Fritz Kadyoma in Malawi.
She lives in Cary, North Carolina with her husband and son. [5-23]
Email: lauraivdixon@gmail.com