Georgetown Launches Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues to Advance Research, Solutions
A new university-wide Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues designed to foster cross-disciplinary research and dialogue on critical and emerging global children's issues launched this week.
Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia will highlight the creation of the collaborative as part of his opening remarks at a September 21 virtual convening hosted by the Vatican COVID-19 Commission on "Prepare The Future: Converting Covid-19 Liabilities Into Investments That Protect Children." The webinar will consider an integrated approach to building back better in a post-COVID-19 era, including government policies and budgets that are more responsive to children’s needs.
Faculty Collaboration
The new initiative at Georgetown University aims to generate a network among scholars, students, policymakers, practitioners, and other stakeholders to maximize critical thinking and advance solutions-oriented problem-solving on the most pressing issues facing children worldwide.
Gillian Huebner, the collaborative’s executive director, emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to increase public understanding and effective action in the best interests of children.
So often, work on children’s issues is siloed by sector or discipline. But children are integrated beings and to support them fully, we need multidimensional thinking and collaborative solutions. Georgetown has committed to think about children first—in research, policy, and practice—as well as in our life as a community.
Joan Lombardi, a senior scholar with Georgetown’s Center for Child and Human Development and a senior advisor to the collaborative, noted that “all over the world children and families are facing new and growing challenges from COVID-19 to climate change. The time is now to shine a spotlight on these conditions, increase investments, build new champions, and highlight community innovations.”
During the 2021-2022 academic year, the collaborative’s work will include a focus on the urgent situation facing children and families on the move between northern Central America and the United States. In collaboration with the Institute for the Study of International Migration and other university partners and stakeholders, the collaborative will convene a series of virtual workshops to share innovative initiatives and insights from experiences implementing child protection solutions in the dynamic context of international migration along the migratory route between northern Central America and communities across the United States.
Looking Forward
In the coming months the collaborative will support a faculty research grants program, events that bring together faculty and students with scholars and practitioners from the DC area and beyond, and a student fellows program that will provide talented undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to work with faculty on research projects.
“The Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues provides a unique opportunity for our university community to come together, across disciplines, to positively impact some of the most pressing challenges affecting children and families throughout our world,” said Vice President for Global Engagement Thomas Banchoff.