Shama Kheraj has over 8 years of strategy consulting, research, and policy advisory expertise in the education sector in Tanzania and across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Shama has deep expertise in the education sector in Tanzania, particularly focused on play-based learning for early childhood development, pre-primary, and primary school children.

• Shama supported BRAC International to develop a sustainable model for delivering play-based early childhood development services, building on their Play Labs program funded by the LEGO Foundation. The research included understanding the demand and supply of ECD services as well as assessing the policies and systems that support the ECD ecosystem.

• Shama conducted a landscape and funding gap analysis in pre-primary education in Tanzania for Children in Crossfire.

• Beyond Tanzania, Shama has assessed the effectiveness of teacher professional development models in Ghana, conducted a landscape analysis of pan-African EdTech entrepreneurs and ecosystem players, and designed country-level youth development programs in Rwanda.

Shama has developed strong networks in the education sector in Tanzania that can be leveraged to conduct stakeholder interviews and access existing research.

• Stakeholders include funders, advocacy organizations, government officials, education technology partners, and entrepreneurs. Shama directly led client management and built relationships with several clients as well as stakeholders within the education sector.

• In her role as the co-lead for the Education practice and Early Years Development practice at Dalberg globally, Shama advised on several relevant projects, managed knowledge sharing across the firm, presented research at several global education platforms, and supported business development within the sector.