Harvard Center for International Development 127d ago

“I only have one regret. I was not ambitious enough. I should have thought about 100,000 rather than a thousand, because a thousand people is a very small number to actually make much of a difference in the Global South.” — Fernando M. Reimers, Ford Foundation Professor of the Practice of International Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education At CID’s Road to GEM Speaker Series, Reimers argued that ambitious education reforms often stall not because of weak ideas, but because systems lack the capacity to implement them—especially in the “missing middle” of district leaders, principals, and local administrators who translate policy into classroom practice. While countries continue to set bold goals for 21st-century skills, equity, and climate readiness, he emphasized that execution depends on coherence across levels of governance and sustained investment in leadership beyond ministers and top officials. Drawing on examples from Brazil and other contexts, Reimers called on universities—particularly in the Global South—to step up as long-term partners in building practice-embedded leadership capacity at scale. As development assistance shrinks and global challenges intensify, his message was clear: the ambition is already there. The missing piece is building the institutional capacity to make it real. Visit our website: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid Please follow us @HarvardCID on: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/harvardcid Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/harvardcid/ Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/harvard-cid Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/harvardcid.bsky.social Stay up to date with CID Events and jobs/opportunities by signing up for our newsletter: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid/subscribe #EducationLeadership #GlobalSouth #InternationalDevelopment #HigherEducation #EducationReform #PublicPolicy #CID #HarvardKennedySchool