Kelly Shiohira holds a Master’s of Science Degree in International Educational Development from the University of Pennsylvania. She has experience in international education and has worked in America, Japan, Cambodia, Indonesia and South Africa in the fields of literacy, literacy acquisition and second language acquisition. She has experience teaching as well as with curriculum and policy design, research design and implementation, strategic planning and monitoring and evaluation in the education sector. From 2012 she oversaw the development of the Bridges to the Future Initiative (BFI) early literacy programme in four languages (English, Sepedi, Tshivenda and Xitsonga), its implementation and evaluation in the foundation phase of 53 schools in the Limpopo province, its adaptation from PC to tablet and, finally, a close evaluation of its use and impact in tablet form in two schools including both a longitudinal quantitative impact component and a qualitative evaluation of teacher-learner-technology interactions in the classroom. The BFI programme was awarded the UNESCO Confucius Literacy Prize in 2015.

Kelly is a published author in both English and Japanese, and has presented at conferences internationally on curriculum design, integrating ICT into the classroom, differential education in second-language learning, cultural adaptation, and materials development in indigenous languages and evaluating the impact of ICT in the classroom. Kelly is an experienced educational development professional who works across the value chain of research, strategy and planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation to ensure high-quality programmes, policies and supports to education. Her areas of specialisation are technology for education and development, literacy acquisition and skills development. She has led and contributed to a number of large-scale research and implementation projects in the South African education sector and internationally.