Jana Zindell

Jana Zindell is the Chief Programme Officer at Ubuntu Education Fund, a nonprofit organization working in Port Elizabeth, South Africa to raise children from cradle to career, where she has worked since 2001 as a leading voice in South Africa’s education and health landscape. Over the past decade Jana has emerged as one of Africa’s pioneers in context-driven development and her design and implementation of the Ubuntu Model proves that it is indeed possible to take an orphaned or abused child from cradle to career.
She has spent her career professionalizing a grassroots social service delivery model and in 2011 Jana launched Positive Start, Ubuntu first 1000 day program, an initiative that has become known as the gold standard nurturing babies, toddlers and their mothers. She designed and built Ubuntu’s pediatric health clinic ensuring babies are born healthy and then created a world-class Early childhood centre utilizing a play-based curriculum. Jana holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a Master of Arts in International Development and Public Policy from Georgetown University.