Dr. Tanyss Munro
Education Specialist, Governance
Commonwealth of Learning
1055 West Hastings Street, Suite 1200
Vancouver, BC V6E 2E9
CANADA
Tel: +1 604 775 8270 Fax: +1 604 775 8210
E-mail: tmunro
Dr. Tanyss Munro joined COL on 1 April 2007 as Education Specialist, Governance. She is assisting Commonwealth member countries in developing and adapting open and distance learning materials and training to strengthen democracy and good governance through the public sector, the educational system and NGOs.
Dr. Munro has worked to increase access and improve quality of education in remote, troubled First Nations communities in northern and western Canada and with extremely poor communities in South Asia, most recently in Bangladesh.
As a school principal and regional superintendent for seven years, she helped improve underachieving primary and secondary schools and school systems into quality institutions, wherein high-risk youth and schools without academic tradition became high achievers. This was accomplished through innovative pedagogy, establishing student-operated social-business enterprises and developing bush radio and multi-media programmes. In-service teacher development and capacity building of local school boards was a key part of her approach.
Later, as senior advisor to federal Ministers of Indian and Northern Affairs in Canada for four years, she worked closely with Members of Parliament, other senior government officials and the public to reform education policy and strengthen institutions.
Her work as Chairperson of the Province-wide Treaty Advisory Group and with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations included creating opportunities for all stakeholders to explore ways to implement treaty rights for Indigenous peoples in Canada.
She is also the Executive Director of Amarok Society, a charitable organisation dedicated to empowering very poor mothers through education in Asia.
