Dr. Jacqueline Jere-Folotiya is an educational psychologist with more than 16 years of experience leading educational and developmental research projects in Zambia. As a project manager and principal investigator on numerous government- and donor-funded activities, she has engaged multiple stakeholders to develop operational plans, ensure engagement in measurement systems, and strengthen programmatic impact through thoughtful design. Her technical leadership has focused on early-grade literacy acquisition, teacher training, continuous professional development, Early Childhood Education (ECE), education assessments, and child and adolescent mental health. As a lecturer at the University of Zambia, she managed the Centre for Promotion of Literacy in Sub-Saharan Africa (CAPOLSA) from 2016-2021. As Project Co-ordinator of the Centre, she worked in collaboration with the Niilo Mäki Institute and Jyväskylä University in Finland to conduct research in Early Childhood Education (ECE) and the use of technology (GraphoGame) to promote the acquisition of early-grade literacy skills. 

The Centre specializes in recruiting, training, planning, implementing, monitoring research, data management and analysis, report writing, and results dissemination. Dr. Jere Folotiya has experience managing and conducting large-scale research studies in literacy. As Program Manager under the USAID Education Data Activity, she planned and implemented quasi-experimental research studies in education using standardized assessment tools such as the Measuring Early Learning Environment (MELE) and the International Development Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) for ECE studies and the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) across the ten provinces of Zambia. Her research has focused on assessing school readiness, learning outcomes in literacy and numeracy, and understanding factors that impact learning outcomes. Dr. Jere-Folotiya is a Zambia Early Childhood Network (ZECDN) member and past president of the Psychology Association of Zambia. She brings broad managerial and project management experience, leading diverse teams of staff, consultants, and implementing partners. She has worked closely with the Zambian Ministry of Education and various partners locally, regionally, and internationally and is employed as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Zambia. She supports the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) as their Senior Foundational Learning Expert.