Benjamin M. Freeman Jr

Benjamin is a passionate, goal-oriented, and results-driven professional with proven experience working at the  intersection of education and community development. Benjamin’s career experience includes designing and  implementing data-driven educational programs, policy advocacy, project management, and grants  management for institutions across Liberia, Kenya, Malaysia, and the United States of America. Benjamin’s  childhood experience of starting primary school as a refugee due to Liberia’s civil war enabled him to see  firsthand how education eluded so many and plunged many into a circle of entrenched poverty. This desire,  coupled with experience garnered from the classroom as a teacher, led to the establishment of the Liberia  Institute for the Promotion of Academic Excellence (LIPACE) as an opportunity to enhance learning outcomes  and improve community livelihood for marginalized and vulnerable communities. The impacts of LIPACE work  have earned Benjamin global recognition as a 2014 Mandela Washington Fellow, a 2015 World at School  Ambassador, and the first Liberian named on the International Literacy Association Inaugural Global 30 under  30 Literacy Leader List in 2015.