
Writer
Dr Joanna Härmä



I am a writer and researcher who has worked primarily on the issue I focus on in my first book, Low-fee Private Schooling and Poverty in Developing Countries, which was released by Bloomsbury Academic in January 2021. I talked about the book at an Edinburgh University event which you can find here.
My second book is released on 20th February 2025. It takes a broader look at the failings of education, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and it considers some of the history (and historical mistakes) that we seem bound to repeat. The book aims to make this all interesting to a general readership and I am currently planning a series of talks to promote the book from late April 2025.
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I am an infrequent blogger mostly on issues of non-state schooling in India.
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I am a signatory of the Abidjan Principles. You can see me talk about this here.
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My last piece of work in the world of education and development was an online forum for the RISE programme, responding to Jishnu Das and Lant Pritchett with a framing piece by Jason Silberstein. All of the essays can be found here.
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I am fully and happily independent of any organisation and no longer participate in the strange world of 'education and development' efforts that I write about in my books. Currently I am getting back to my original love: animals and advocating for their protection, mostly with Sea Shepherd but I am also studying International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law at Edinburgh University.
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