Barbara Trudell

Barbara Trudell has lived and worked in the global South since 1982, first in Peru and then in sub-Saharan Africa. Her research, advocacy and consulting work over that time have focused on empowering minoritized language communities to use their languages for learning, communication and development. Barbara’s particular areas of interest include the links between language, literacy and development; the use of local languages in both formal and nonformal learning contexts; and communities’ engagement in the development of their own languages. 

In the past decade, Barbara has done consulting work for organizations including UNICEF, UNESCO, USAID, the World Bank, the British Council, GIZ and the Gates Foundation. She is a member of UNESCO’s expert panel on literacy, and was a member of the panel of judges for the 2018 Global Learning XPRIZE. Barbara has extensive experience as a writer and speaker, with more than 25 publications and 20 presentations in the last ten years.

Barbara holds a PhD in international education from the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for African Studies. She currently resides in Cape Town, South Africa where she is a senior consultant with SIL Africa Learning & Development (https://africa.sil.org).