Sally Gear
Practice Lead - Gender Equality and Inclusion, GPE Secretariat

Sally joined the GPE Secretariat as their senior lead on gender in May 2022. She has worked in gender, education and development for over 25 years in academia and for both government and non-governmental organizations. After completing her master’s degree, she lectured in Social Development and Gender at the International Development and Policy Management (IDPM) institute at the University of Manchester.
Since 2007, Sally has been an Education Adviser, Senior Education Adviser and most recently the Education Head of Profession for the UK Department of International Development (DFID), now the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office). She was the Department’s technical lead on Gender and Education for several years. During this period, she designed and lead the £335mn Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) Programme (first stage), which was the largest global fund focusing specifically on the most marginalized girls in low-income and fragile-affected countries.