Dr. Elizabeth Randolph has worked internationally across sectors, in international health, gender justice and international education, primarily on the African continent, with country experience in Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Iraq, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The majority of Dr. Randolph’s technical work and research in international development has supported national systems strengthening to address sexual gender-based violence (South Africa), to eliminate violence against children in schools (Uganda), and to catalyze education systems change toward safer, more supportive, and more engaging classrooms.
Dr. Randolph describes her greatest accomplishments in international development as the collaborations with RTI colleagues to prototype instruments for measuring children’s experiences of violence, perceptions of school climate, attitudes about gender norms, and social and emotional learning and agency among primary school children, and to co-design small to large scale initiatives to promote positive school cultures, violence prevention, and to develop approaches for teachers to use in the classroom to nurture children’s social and emotional learning in the classroom.
Her overarching research question of interest is, “What can be done to support school culture shifts and systems change that ensures the experience of school life is positive and effective in supporting children’s social and emotional as well as academic learning”.
Dr. Randolph brings unique expertise and experience to the field of international development through her work with Arawana Hayashi of the Presencing Institute from 2007 to the present. Through her experience with Arawana, she developed an advanced practice in Social Presencing Theatre – a powerful reflective methodology for understanding and inspiring social and institutional change.
