UNRWA deputy director to speak at SIT commencement

Publication Date: April 9, 2019
Publication Location: Brattleboro, VT
Contact: Kate Casa  |  [email protected]

BRATTLEBORO, Vermont – Meghan Audette, deputy director for the United Nations’ Palestine refugee organization in the West Bank, will be the keynote speaker at the 2019 SIT Graduate Institute commencement ceremony on May 11.

Audette, an alumna of SIT Graduate Institute, is deputy director for programs at the West Bank Field Office of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Her speech will address the importance of developing cross-cultural skills to work across traditional national, ethnic, and other barriers to address serious global challenges.

Audette completed her MA in sustainable development at SIT in 2004. She holds a BA in world history and English literature from Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. In her current role, she is responsible for operational oversight of basic education, primary health, technical and vocational education, relief and social services, and infrastructure programming for more than 800,000 Palestine refugees.

“Meg Audette has taken the skills she learned at SIT Graduate Institute and used them to promote true sustainable and compassionate development,” said Dr. Ken Williams, dean of SIT Graduate Institute. “Meg embodies SIT’s values, working for social inclusion and justice, whether in the West Bank, the Balkans, West Africa or in Latin America.”

Audette has more than 15 years of experience in development. In addition to nine years in the West Bank and Gaza, she also worked in Nicaragua and West Africa, as well as short-term assignments in the Balkans, Latin America, and southeast Asia. Prior to joining UNRWA, she worked in humanitarian and development programming for several non-governmental organizations including World Vision and Global Communities.

Since assuming her current post in May 2016, Audette has been actively involved in UNRWA’s transition from a food- to cash-based model for its social safety net program and has overseen elements of educational reform, including piloting of the agency’s quality assurance framework, a teacher-led approach to the curriculum framework, and bringing online UNRWA’s new Education Management Information System.

SIT Graduate Institute commencement is Saturday, May 11, on the School for International Training campus in Brattleboro, Vermont.