Stephen F. Moseley
Advocating for Global Education
As Bedrock of National Prosperity
by John Shaw
Stephen F. Moseley, president and chief executive officer of the Academy for Educational Development, is a warm, soft-spoken, mild-mannered man with a burning passion about the importance of education in building lives, stabilizing societies, and igniting economic growth. Moseley is convinced that economic development is propelled by strong education programs that extend to all levels of schooling and, crucially, that include both girls and boys.
““Education is the building block for everything: health, family planning, nutrition, leadership, democracy, economic development,” Moseley told The Washington Diplomat.
“We know that a basic education is essential for everybody. It’s critical to remember that no country has achieved sustained economic growth without having first attained near universal primary education,” he said. “But we also know that for a country to develop economically, it has to invest in all levels of education. For any growing economy, the whole spectrum of education needs to be attended to.”
Moseley has spent his entire career in the world of nongovernmental organizations, with a heavy focus on education. A graduate of the University of Hartford with a degree in English, he began his career at the nonprofit group Education and World Affairs, which was later named the International Council for Educational Development.
He joined the Academy for Educational Development (AED) in 1970 and has served as its president and chief executive officer since 1987. Founded in 1961, AED is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to solving social problems in the United States and throughout the world with education, research, training, social marketing, policy analysis and innovative program design. AED runs more than 250 programs across the world and serves more than 160 nations, working in partnership with governments, foundations, multilateral agencies, businesses, and public and private educational institutions.
Moseley presides over a staff of about 2,000 in 110 offices in 62 countries. AED’s annual budget is about $280 million, and the organization has a diverse funding stream, receiving contributions from more than 30 foundations. Various governments also provide funds, including the U.S. Department of Education, the Asian Development Bank and the government of Qatar.
Moseley said AED’s mission is to improve people’s lives by offering the best thinking, technologies and multi-disciplinary approaches to human development. It seeks to integrate policy, advocacy and hands-on service to implement solutions to critical social problems, and it works in all the major areas of development, including health, education, HIV/AIDS, youth, environment and civil society.
“The common theme is to build local capacity in local communities and local governments. Ideally, we’d work ourselves out of a job,” Moseley said. “We are not exporting a U.S. model. When it comes to education, what we are exporting is growing knowledge about how kids learn best and adapt that to local circumstances and cultures,” he added.
From his post at AED, Moseley has articulated strong views on the critical link between education and development. He is convinced that successful countries have built a broad base of primary education for both boys and girls, while expanding secondary and higher education more slowly as economic and social demand increases and as the resources for investment become available.
Moseley believes that a basic education, from kindergarten through middle school, generates a demand for more education and establishes the base of literacy and general knowledge that is essential for democratic societies. This contributes to better health for mothers and children, less child labor, and more economic productivity. He also believes that while this foundation of good basic education is being constructed, it is essential to have balanced investment in secondary and higher education as well.
Moseley argues that establishing quality education in a country takes at least two or three decades, and it requires continuing government and social commitment as well as increasingly transparent and effective public institutions.
Next Page
