Dr. Dwaine Lee is an international education leader with over 25 years of experience designing and delivering large-scale, high-impact programs across Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe. As Education Practice Lead and Senior Advisor at Lapis Group, he drives innovation in crisis-affected education through multimedia and locally led solutions. His work has advanced access and learning outcomes for millions of learners—most notably through the Senf initiative in Afghanistan, delivering 200% learning gains for girls, and the Youm Jadeed program in Palestine, which provided trauma-informed education to more than 160,000 children affected by conflict.
Before joining Lapis, Dwaine served nearly two decades with USAID, leading education, youth, and governance portfolios in Afghanistan, Jordan, Kenya, Ethiopia, North Macedonia, and across West Africa. He has managed multi-billion-dollar regional programs, spearheaded national literacy reforms, and guided post-conflict education strategies that became global models for scale and sustainability. Based in Tirana, Albania, Dwaine holds a Doctor of Education (EdD) and Master of Education (MEd) in International and Comparative Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Wake Forest University.