On June 29, 2015, the CPC Learning Network hosted a webinar featuring Dr. Sarah Meyer, Associate Director of Research at the Centre of Excellence for the Study of the African Child (the Africhild Centre), and Gita Swamy Meier-Ewert, Senior Planning and Monitoring Specialist at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This webinar focused on the experience of the CPC Learning Network and UNHCR in developing, piloting and refining a Child Protection Index (CPI), designed to assess the strength of the child protection system in humanitarian settings. Dr. Meyer presented findings from studies conducted in 2013 and 2014 in refugee settings in Uganda and Rwanda, identified strengths of the CPI, and shared challenges in conceptualizing and measuring system strength in refugee settings. She additionally explored areas for future improvement to frameworks and tools for measurement of child protection system strength.

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About the presenters:

Sarah Meyer is an Assistant Professor in clinical population and family health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and the Associate Director of Research and Knowledge Development at the Africhild Centre in Kampala, Uganda. She has extensive experience managing and leading research projects focused on migration, child protection and mental health in humanitarian and low-income settings. Her PhD research focused on migration and mental health on the Thailand-Burma border, and she has led qualitative and quantitative training and data collection in Cambodia, Rwanda, Uganda and Thailand. She is currently the co-investigator on a joint study between the CPC Learning Network and UNHCR, on measuring child protection in refugee settings. She has led evaluations of mental health and psychosocial support for UNHCR and the Interagency Standing Committee Reference Group on mental health and psychosocial support.

Gita Swamy Meier-Ewert is a Senior Planning and Monitoring Specialist at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She currently works on monitoring and evaluation in the area of protection in UNHCRs Division of International Protection, focusing specifically on sexual and gender based violence, child protection and education. She has spent most of her career working for the German development cooperation, UNDP and UNHCR; in a number of countries including Kenya and Sri Lanka; on issues related to linking humanitarian assistance to development, crisis prevention as well strategic planning, and monitoring and evaluation.

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