Judith Reen

Judith Reen is a senior education and development adviser with over 20 years’ experience in fragile, post-conflict, and complex development settings. Her expertise spans education sector reform, strategic leadership, governance, gender and social inclusion and crisis response. Judith has designed and led impactful programs in the Pacific, Southeast Asia and Australia, advising governments, donors, and civil society organisations on systemic reform, policy implementation and localisation strategies.

Judith currently provides strategic advisory support to Australian Government-funded education programs in the Pacific, including Australia Awards Fiji, Australia–Fiji Education Program, and Partnerships for Improving Education (PIE) in Papua New Guinea. She brings deep technical expertise in monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL), sector-wide reform, and inclusive education. She works closely with government partners to ensure alignment with national priorities, strengthen leadership and accountability systems, and foster sustainable change.

Judith was previously the Team Leader for the PIE program, Papua New Guinea’s largest education reform initiative, where she oversaw national and sub-national implementation and played a pivotal role in advancing early grade learning, teacher professional development, and inclusive school governance. Her leadership contributed to improved literacy outcomes for more than 130,000 students and strengthened the policy and institutional foundations of the education system.

Judith has also held senior management roles in Australia, including as Executive Manager at One Tree Community Services. There, she oversaw a national portfolio spanning early childhood education, women’s safe houses, mental health programs, inclusion support and community hubs. She developed a strategic roadmap aligning service delivery with organisational goals and led business development, quality assurance, and sector partnerships, including delivery of the organisation’s Reconciliation Action Plan.

Prior to this, Judith held senior technical roles with UNICEF, Save the Children and the Aga Khan Foundation, delivering education and protection responses in humanitarian and emergency settings. She has worked extensively in community-driven and decentralised service delivery, with a strong focus on equity, resilience and social accountability. She began her career as a teacher and curriculum designer, working across primary, secondary, and tertiary levels in Australia, the UK and Chile. She also worked delivering education and wellbeing services for displaced populations living in highly securitised and politically sensitive environments.

Judith combines rigorous technical expertise with strong relationship management and cross-cultural leadership. She is deeply committed to locally led development and inclusive systems change.

Expertise

• Education system reform and leadership development in fragile and conflict-affected contexts
• Education in emergencies and crisis response
• Program design, delivery, and risk management
• Cross-cultural team leadership and mentoring
• Strategic planning, MEL, and evidence-informed policy design
• Gender equality, disability and social inclusion
• Community engagement and school-level governance.

Key Projects

• Partnerships for Improving Education (PIE), Papua New Guinea
• Australia–Fiji Education Program (AFEP)
• Australia Awards Fiji
• UNICEF Education in Emergency Response and Recovery Plan, PNG
• Save the Children education interventions; Rapidly Improving Standards in Education (RISE), Life Literacy and League, post-Highlands earthquake response
• Aga Khan Foundation Government Schools Support Program, Afghanistan
• Save the Children Nauru Refugee and Asylum Seeker Education Services.