Sarah Klaus/ UK: Early Childhood Development Expert and Philanthropy Professional OneSky. 

UCL Institute of Education, UK.

9 October 2026

This is such sad and unexpected news, Ghassan.   

So many contributions and memories are already described. I will emphasize here what amazing work he did with you and colleagues to advance the ECD capacity, unity and network in the Arab region and to build a global ECD civil society that embraces expertise and experiences from all regions and networks. 

Youssef shared his wisdom during his many years on the Open Society Foundations Early Childhood Program Advisory Board, helping the team think through the scope and shape of work as programs were expanding beyond Eastern Europe/Eurasia.  He was such a wise, warm and kind person!

Sending condolences and thoughts to his family and to this community.