Bidemi Carrol is an expert in international education who has contributed to projects in Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Uganda, Liberia, and Malawi. She has experience managing large-scale education programs, providing technical support to government agencies, designing and implementing education research, and evaluating education programs and policies.
Currently, Dr. Carrol serves as project manager for MERIT: The Malawi Early Grade Reading Improvement Activity, a $65 million USAID-funded activity to improve reading outcomes in Malawi. She is also conducting research for the Gates Foundation-funded Learning at Scale project and providing technical assistance to Liberia READ, Philippines ABC+, and other education efforts.
Dr. Carrol joined RTI in 2015. Her previous international development experience includes several positions focused on education in West Africa. As a human development specialist for the World Bank, she managed the Sierra Leone education portfolio and provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. For an FHI360 project funded by the UK Department for International Development, she coordinated the Girls’ Education Challenge in Sierra Leone, enabling marginalized girls to enter or remain in school and improve their learning. For the International Rescue Committee, she provided overall leadership for the LEGACY Initiative, which supported the reconstruction of education systems affected by conflict in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Cote d’Ivoire.
Dr. Carrol is skilled in data analysis software such as Stata, NviVo, and Dedoose. She is a member of the Comparative and International Education Society and the Sierra Leone chapter of the Forum of African Women Educationalists.
