David Atchoarena is the Director of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning since April 2018. He was previously the Director of the Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems at UNESCO, with oversight of education policies, higher education, adult and vocational education and training, and ICT in education.

Prior to working at UNESCO Headquarters, he spent many years at the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) where he conducted research and technical cooperation programmes in the fields of educational planning, lifelong learning, technical and vocational education, and higher education. He also contributed to the development of the capacities of officials from ministries of education as the head of the Training and Education Programmes Unit of IIEP.

Before joining UNESCO, Mr Atchoarena served as Chargé de Mission at the National Agency for Lifelong Education of the French Ministry of Education and as a project coordinator in the Ministry of Finance and Planning in Saint Lucia.

Mr Atchoarena holds a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne.