Jan van Ravens

Jan van Ravens’ present area of work is the development of strategies and scenarios to expand and improve early childhood services in low and middle income countries*. The emphasis is on policy development, planning and finance. Scientific evidence is being used for political breakthroughs. Partners include international organizations such as UNICEF, World Bank, UNESCO and Aga Khan Foundation, as well as ministries and civil society organizations in the countries. His mission is (i) to draw lessons from these country projects; (ii) to develop tools and methodologies; and eventually (iii) to arrive at more general recommendations for consensus building and policy development in early childhood development.

His former positions include (i) Senior Policy Analyst in a UNESCO-based team that issues the annual Education for All Global Monitoring Reports, (ii) Head of Multilateral Affairs in the Netherlands Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, and (iii) Policy Coordinator for Higher Education and Lifelong Learning in the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs. Having participated in OECD- and EU-networks, Jan sees international comparison as an important means to understand and improve the functioning of education, health and other public service systems.