Debra A. Jones, MPH, MIA, brings more than three decades of experience leading high-impact advocacy, advancing global development policy, and building partnerships that create lasting social change. She has forged partnerships across international NGOs, the United Nations, the US Government, philanthropy, academia, and civil society, connecting programs, research, and fundraising to advance human rights, global health, education, and the protection and empowerment of children and youth. Her expertise includes strategic advocacy, organizational development, resource mobilization, and translating local priorities into global action.
Debra is Co-Founder of the International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA), established in 1999 to combat child and adolescent trafficking and advance girls’ leadership and empowerment. Previously, as Director and UN Representative for Save the Children in New York, she led global influencing strategies and mobilized advocates across more than 100 countries to shape the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. She also helped advance global initiatives, working with the UN Secretary General and UN leadership, heads of state, ambassadors, donors, and civil society to mobilize commitments to improve the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents. At J.K. Rowling's Lumos Foundation, Debra led global advocacy to end the institutionalization of children, including efforts to ensure that children and young people with lived experience could influence care reform at national and international levels.
An entrepreneurial leader, Debra understands how to turn an identified need into a locally driven, sustainable response. She co-founded the Paraíso Assistance Program in the Dominican Republic (DR), mobilizing President Joanquin Balaguer and multiple stakeholders to raise funding to build a hospital serving more than 15 rural communities in the Providence of Barahona, DR. Throughout her career, she has championed collaboration between grassroots organizations and global institutions, ensuring that community knowledge and lived experience inform policy, programming, and investment.
Debra also brings extensive experience in education and participatory development. She teaches methods in sustainable development practice at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she has spent more than two decades helping graduate students apply strategic planning and management approaches to real-world development challenges. She also teaches international justice at Montclair State University and serves as a Fellow at its Global Center on Human Trafficking. Her current doctoral studies in education at Pennsylvania State University World Campus focus on participatory co-design and integrating lived-experience expertise, particularly that of survivors of human trafficking, into global education.
Debra holds dual master’s degrees from Columbia University in Public Health (Population and Family Health) and International Affairs (Economic and Political Development) and a bachelor’s degree from New York University. Debra is passionate about helping organizations align advocacy, strategy, partnerships, and resources to achieve meaningful and sustainable impact. Grounded in the belief that children and communities must be recognized as agents of change, she brings an entrepreneurial spirit, a collaborative approach, and a commitment to ensuring that those most affected by social challenges have a meaningful voice in shaping solutions.