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Collaborative on Global Children's Issues

April 29, 2026

From Recommendations to Collective Action for Children’s Development, Care, and Protection

A family of five stands together in front of a tree in Ethiopia.

In the wake of major disruptions to U.S. and global foreign assistance, the global community faces an urgent question: How do we sustain and strengthen support for children in adversity in a rapidly changing landscape? 

The Collaborative on Global Children's Issues is pleased to announce the release of two new reports that respond to this moment:

The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, Better Care Network, Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN), INSPIRE Implementation Working Group, Moving Minds Alliance, and Georgetown University’s Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues are co-convening a webinar to discuss recommendations to address the impact of U.S. foreign aid cuts on children and their families and to sustain progress on children’s development, care, and protection in the changing landscape. We will share key findings from these new reports, highlight concrete examples of how stakeholders are already putting these recommendations into practice, and identify priority actions to support collective learning and collaboration. 

This webinar will be held in English, with Spanish and French simultaneous interpretation.

Participants

Carlos del Castillo Cabrales

Carlos del Castillo Cabrales

Carlos del Castillo Cabrales is the director of Bases Sólidas and a senior fellow at the RISE Institute, with over 20 years of experience in the design, implementation, and evaluation of early childhood development policies and programs, as well as comprehensive child and adolescent protection systems. As an early childhood in emergencies advisor for Sesame Workshop, he coordinated Colombia’s Early Childhood in Emergencies Working Group. He has served as a consultant for the World Bank and UNICEF across Africa, the Middle East, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Jody van der Heyde

Jody van der Heyde (moderator)

Jody van der Heyde is a researcher and the global coordinator of the INSPIRE Working Group at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa. In her role, she is responsible for ensuring the effective operation of the INSPIRE Working Group and for promoting multisectoral collaboration to advance global efforts to prevent violence against children. She has published works on several topics related to the prevention of violence against women and girls, as well as on multisectoral collaboration in South Africa. She holds a background in social sciences and a master’s degree in criminology.

Rebecca Levy

Rebecca Levy

Rebecca Levy is the associate director of the Georgetown University Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues. Prior to this, she served as the U.S. government special advisor for children in adversity at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she led the implementation of Advancing Protection and Care for Children in Adversity: A U.S. Government Strategy for Children to Thrive—an interagency strategy to promote early childhood development, ensure nurturing and protective family care for all children, and prevent violence against children.

Florence Martin

Florence Martin (moderator)

Florence Martin is the executive director of Better Care Network, a human rights lawyer, and a clinical social worker with over 30 years of experience in human rights, child protection, and children’s rights in both emergency and development contexts. Martin previously worked as a child protection adviser to the Ministry of Social Affairs in Indonesia, a global adviser on child protection for Save the Children UK, an adviser in child protection to the East Timorese Ministry of Social Welfare, and a legal adviser to the Human Rights Unit of the UN Transitional Administration for East Timor.

Katie Murphy

Katie Murphy (moderator)

Katie Murphy is the interim director of the Moving Minds Alliance and global practice lead and director of research for early childhood development at the International Rescue Committee, where she leads strategy, evidence generation, and innovation across the organization’s early childhood portfolio in humanitarian and fragile contexts. She holds a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary human development and a Master of Public Health from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Education from Harvard University, and a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Anju Pun

Anju Pun

Anju Pun is the Nepal country director at Forget Me Not, with over 20 years of experience in Nepal’s development sector. She has held key roles with ActionAid International, the United Nations Development Programme, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, working to advance the rights of marginalized and disadvantaged communities, especially children and women. Currently, Pun is dedicated to strengthening child protection systems that respond to the needs of institutionalized children and young people with lived experience of the care system.

Deogratias Yiga

Deogratias Yiga

Deogratias Yiga is a social worker, human rights advocate, and development management specialist with over 30 years of practice. He is the executive director of Impact and Innovations Development Centre (IIDC), an East Africa-based development management technical assistance organization, which he represents in the INSPIRE Working Group. His areas of thematic focus include child rights promotion, social protection for vulnerable groups, and violence prevention programming. He has previously worked as the executive director of the African Network for Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN Uganda Chapter) and as team leader at Development Links Consult.

Hani Mansourian

Hani Mansourian

Hani Mansourian is the director for the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, on behalf of UNICEF. Mansourian has worked with children and refugee populations in development and humanitarian contexts since 2000. He has worked with local and international NGOs, as well as several UN agencies. Mansourian has participated in child protection responses in over a dozen humanitarian contexts. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering, a master’s degree in international affairs, and a doctoral degree in leadership in global health and humanitarian systems. He currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.

Brett Weisel

Brett Weisel

As the global policy and advocacy lead, Weisel develops, oversees, and coordinates ECDAN’s overall policy and advocacy strategy. He is an experienced government relations professional, trainer, and advocate who has successfully developed and executed innovative U.S. and global issue campaigns and advocacy programs. Prior to ECDAN, Weisel served as director of advocacy for Feeding America and as the associate director of capacity building and training at the Global Health Advocacy Incubator. Brett has a master's degree in applied politics from American University and a bachelor's degree in political science from Villanova University.

Hopolang Selebalo

Hopolang Selebalo

Hopolang Selebalo is head of policy and advocacy at SmartStart, with over 15 years of experience working as a researcher and organizer across various civil society organisations and social movements. Her work has focused on advancing rights and access to services, including education, social security, and early childhood care and development. She has experience in conducting research, leading advocacy efforts, solidarity building, and developing and implementing a range of campaigns.

Peter McDermott

Peter McDermott

Peter McDermott is the board chair of both citiesRISE and the Better Care Network, and an advisor for the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation Programme Investment Committee. He is an internationally recognized expert in global health and child protection, care, and development. With over 30 years of experience spanning the UN, government, philanthropy, and the private sector, he has led major global initiatives supporting children and women affected by poverty, conflict, and disease. He also serves as director of Fajara Associates, advising philanthropists, governments, and global institutions on child protection, care, and development.

Severine Chevrel

Severine Chevrel

Severine Chevrel is a senior fellow at the Georgetown University Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues. Her policy and programming work includes family strengthening and alternative care, child protection systems and social service workforce strengthening, case management, and prevention of and response to violence against children. She previously served as the former global senior technical advisor with the Children in Adversity team at USAID.

Mattito Watson

Mattito Watson

Mattito Watson is a senior fellow at the Georgetown University Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues, where he is working on understanding the impacts of funding cuts to international development and humanitarian response, and in particular, on child protection and violence against children. He acted as the former global senior technical advisor with the Children in Adversity team at USAID, supporting child protection.

Gillian Huebner

Gillian Huebner

Gillian Huebner is the executive director of the Collaborative on Global Children's Issues at Georgetown University. A global child rights and protection specialist, Huebner's work focuses on supporting the development, strengthening, and coordination of programs and systems to enhance community-based and nationally owned approaches to building young people’s well-being, particularly in times of crisis. She co-founded the Collaborative on Global Children's Issues with Dr. Joan Lombardi in 2021.