About Bridge Solutions
Our Story
Bridge Solutions and Consultancy is an International Educational Consultancy Firm established in the UK with over 20 years of Experience in the field, working with large organizations such as the World Bank, UN and the British Council, to localised Ministries, Universities and schools.
Every project is important to us and we prioritise the clients needs, working closely together to enable the agreed outcome drawing upon local and international expertise in a variety of areas and introducing new clients to our extensive network.
Bridge Solutions was established in response to the many queries relating to education from different regions around the World. We aim to offer a premium tailored service for all your education needs.
Bridge Solutions has successfully worked with clients from around the World – we have offered training and consultancy in the UK, Iraqi Kurdistan, Uganda, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, UAE and China.
About The Founder
Rasheda Zaher
A highly experienced senior education consultant, project manager and team leader with over 20 years’ experience with a Master’s Degree in International Education from the University of Bath in the UK.Rasheda has worked in the both public and private sector on many major educational projects and was an education advisor to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Education and Higher Education. During this time, she initiated and took a leading role in the development of a National Educational Strategy for Iraq with support of the World Bank, with a focus on improving child literacy and teacher training. Rasheda has been an active member of many of the KRG Ministry of Education steering committees, most recent of which was EU funded “Strengthen the institutional capacities in education administration at central and local level and promote decentralization on education management’’ and ‘Capacity Building in Primary and Secondary Education’.
She also briefed the UK Government’s Iraq/UK working training group in London on the state of education and needs analysis of the Kurdistan Region prior to the second Gulf war, key stakeholders included, the British Council, UK Universities, the Association of Colleges, UKTI and the UK FCO.
Rasheda trained as the first IELTs examiner in Iraq working with the British Council and later became the first Centre Exams Manager and team leader for the Cambridge English Exams in Iraq.
Highlights of Bridge Solutions and Consultancy
- Running a successful online tutoring service
- Set up a new language school in Manchester – UK – includes policy writing, curriculum development, teacher training and academic support.
- Extensive expertise in curriculum development, training, education reform and rehabilitation, in post-conflict countries
- Experience in developing training courses on soft skills and purpose- built courses such as cross -cultural relations, business etiquette, health and safety, report writing and how to achieve and set goals and objectives.
- Devised and Delivered teacher training courses for the KRG Ministry of Education
- Teacher training for schools across the region and college staff
- Successful developed a chain of language schools across the Kurdistan Region.
- Collaborated with a local Education Company to establish the first Cambridge Assessment examination centre in Iraq, subsequently setting up and opening the first City and Guilds and Pearson Exam centres in Iraq
- Set up and ran the first ACCA online examination centre in Iraq – ongoing.
- Offered Consultancy services and trainers to Macmillan Publishers for the rolling out of a new English language curriculum (sunrise) for school children from grades 1- 12 in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
- Over the years Bridge has developed strategic partnerships with governments, World Bank, UN Agencies, NGO’s, International companies, local business and educational organisations, this has involved Human Capacity Development Projects in post- war Iraq, spanning multi- agency institutions and organizations.
- Organisation of a donor conference for the launch of the UNICEF report for ‘The Cost and Benefits of Education Study in Iraq – 2017’, which was attended by the KRG Prime Minister, Ministers, Consuls and International organizations and was the KRG Ministry of Education focal point for the KRG Council of Minister’s Evaluating and Responding to International Reports.
Links
Publications
- Mentioned in ‘A thousand sighs, A thousand revolts – journeys in Iraqi Kurdistan’ by Christian Bird (November 2004)
- Wrote an article (uncited) in ‘The Bradt Guide to Iraq – Then and Now – A guide to the country and its people’ by Geoff Hann and Karen Dabrowski (April 2008)
- Cited in ‘The Kurdish Quasi State – Development and Dependency in Post-Gulf war Iraq’ by Denise Natali- Syracus University Press – 2010