Guitele Nicoleau serves a Chief of Party specializing in international education in RTI’s International Development Group. She has 25 years in education leadership roles and 14 years’ experience leading large and complex USAID-funded programs in Senegal and Ghana with demonstrated results in building government capacity, taking ownership of reforms, and partnering with the public and private sectors. Dr. Nicoleau’s leadership has resulted in a nationwide change in curricula, lucrative public-private partnerships, locally tailored programs for children, and thousands of teachers trained. Her current work involves leading a project with a major government-to-government component of the USAID Renforcement de la Littératie au Sénégal (RELIT; Strengthening Literacy in Senegal) Program, which aims to expand bilingual reading instruction in Senegal to include multiple local languages and French.
Before joining RTI in 2021, Dr. Nicoleau contributed to educational and health strategies in the US and in Haiti, focusing on girls’ education and HIV and AIDS prevention in youth. She has experience teaching French, Haitian Creole, and English as a second language in the classroom. She has also coordinated program activities in the US and internationally with diverse groups of stakeholders and beneficiaries—including ministries of education, school officials, and civil society organizations—for results-driven program implementation leading to systems change for long-term educational impacts.
Dr. Nicoleau is based in Dakar, Senegal and is fluent in English, French, and Haitian Creole.