Tensions are high at the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, and their backdrop paints two starkly different pictures — one of a boss whose “bullying” has gone largely unaddressed, according to some staff, and the other of a reform-minded leader steering a perpetually underfunded agency and a workforce averse to change.
Founded in 1999 as an independent UNESCO sub-agency, UIS is mainly responsible for tracking global progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4, which covers education, and collecting data on science and culture. The institute, based in Montreal, Canada, has fewer than 40 staff and a budget of $14 million in 2022.
UNESCO is known best for its work preserving the world’s cultural heritage, but education is meant to be the agency’s main focus.
About the author
Sophie Edwards
Sophie Edwards is a Devex Contributing Reporter covering global education, water and sanitation, and innovative financing, along with other topics. She has previously worked for NGOs, and the World Bank, and spent a number of years as a journalist for a regional newspaper in the U.K. She has a master's degree from the Institute of Development Studies and a bachelor's from Cambridge University.
