Youth and development expert Clare Ignatowski joins Creative
June 22, 2017
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Clare Ignatowski, a recognized expert in the intersection between youth issues and development, has joined Creative Associates International.
She will serve as Senior Technical Advisor for Youth and Systems Thinking in the Workforce Development and Youth Employment Practice Area. In this role, she will provide technical and thought leadership on youth across Creative’s areas of expertise and global programs, says Earl Gast, Senior Vice President and Senior Director of Creative’s Economic Growth and Education for Development Divisions.
“Clare’s wealth of knowledge on youth issues will be an invaluable resource for the entire organization,” says Gast. “We are excited to work with her to continue finding new ways to improve the livelihoods and opportunities of young people in the communities where we operate.”
Ignatowski will lead the Creative-supported Youth Systems Collaborative, which brings together diverse researchers and stakeholders in youth development for large-scale collaborative projects.
She has dedicated her career to studying youth development, workforce systems and education reform in international development. In her 15 years of government service, she worked with the Peace Corps, U.S. Agency for International Development and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
She was a member of USAID’s Youth Policy Task Team, which crafted the agency’s overarching strategy to put youth issues at the center of development and get more young people involved in projects around the world. She also led the development of USAID’s youth conflict-sensitivity toolkit and designed youth strategies for projects in more than 20 countries.
Ignatowski is a research fellow with the Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a master’s in education and doctorate in anthropology.
She says she looks forward to working across each of Creative’s three divisions –
Economic Growth, Education for Development and Communities in Transition – to better serve youth through Creative’s projects in crisis and conflict-affected countries.
“I appreciated Creative’s search for innovative approaches to meeting the diverse needs of young people in challenging settings,” Ignatowski says. “I look forward to expanding on Creative’s substantial experience in youth development and sharing lessons learned with the wider development community.”
From the Caribbean to Afghanistan, Creative’s projects put youth at the heart of development and strive to foster meaningful opportunities for learning, employment, healthy lives, and civic participation and leadership.