On June 2, 2015, the USAID Center on Children in Adversity/Displaced Children and Orphans Fund hosted a panel discussion event with the CPC Learning Network to mark the tenth anniversary of the Network. The last ten years have been a period of intense learning about how to rigorously measure and assess international child protection and family welfare programs and policies. The issues requiring a stronger evidence base—including violence against children, psychosocial wellbeing, formal and informal child protection mechanisms, and family strengthening programs—span emergency and development contexts, and much progress has been made. The CPC Learning Network reviewed the progress made in international child protection and family welfare—not only advances in measurement but also in the development of knowledge transfer platforms to ensure research uptake. The symposium concluded with a look to the future to determine the most effective ways of measuring and assessing child protection, care, and development in the years to come.

Opening Remarks
Robert Horvath

CPC Learning Network Past to Present
Dr. Lindsay Stark

Panel Discussion: Child Protection Learning, Recommendations, and Aspirations
Panelists: Dr. Alastair Ager, Josh Chaffin, Santi Kusumaningrum, Dr. Craig Spencer
Moderator: Mark Canavera

Future Directions of Research for Children and Families
Dr. Neil Boothby

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About the speakers:

Alastair Ager is a Professor of Population and Family Health at Columbia University and, from July 2015, Professor of Global Health & Development at QMU, Edinburgh.

Neil Boothby is a Professor of Population and Family Health and Director of the Program on Forced Migration and Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and the Founder of the CPC Learning Network.

Mark Canavera is the Associate Director of the CPC Learning Network and co-lead of the Systems Strengthening and Disaster Risk Reduction Task Force of the Child Protection Working Group.

Josh Chaffin is the Coordinator of the Task Force on Livelihoods, Economic Strengthening, and Child Protection and is a Senior Program Officer at the Women’s Refugee Commission.

Robert Horvath is the Interim US Government Special Adviser for Children in Adversity and the Chief of the USAID/DRG Empowerment and Inclusion Division.

Santi Kusumaningrum is the Co-Director of the Center for Child Protection at the University of Indonesia, a CPC Learning Network affiliate institution.

Craig Spencer is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center and an Attending Physician in Emergency Medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York.

Lindsay Stark is the Director of the CPC Learning Network and an Associate Professor of Population and Family Health in Columbia University’s Program on Forced Migration and Health.