Our secretariat is housed at Columbia University in New York City, USA. The Secretariat partners on the implementation of research projects and technical support. They also coordinate and disseminate the Network’s research and learning opportunities.
Cassie joined the faculty of the Department of Population and Family Health in 2010 after a long career with UNICEF. She became the Co-director of the CPC in 2018 with an interest in the integration of child protection issues with early child development. Cassie’s career has focused on the design implementation and evaluation of large scale early child development initiatives in collaboration with partners from low and middle income countries. Joining the CPC Network was an exciting opportunity to bring her skills to the international child protection community. She has raised the attention to the needs of young children suffering the consequences of armed conflict and natural disasters. Cassie is a committed faculty advisor to MPH students pursuing careers in international health, and is the director of the DrPH program Leadership in Global Health and Humanitarian Action. One of her most important roles is providing opportunities for students to apply their classroom based skills to child protection domestic and international programs and activities. Cassie has a EdD and MPH from Harvard University. She has worked in over 60 countries implementing early child development policies and programs. She is a proud New Yorker and loves the energy and opportunities to explore cuisine, art, dance and music from all over the world. She loves quiet weekends and summer holidays at a little beach town in New Jersey with her large extended family.
Senior Program Officer Cécile Fanton d’Andon began her work with the CPC Learning Network in 2015 as a part of the COMPASS (Creating Opportunities through Mentoring, Parental Involvement, and Safe Spaces) project in DRC and Ethiopia, seeking to improve the prevention and response to violence against adolescent girls in humanitarian settings. With her expertise in research in complex settings, Cécile has since moved on to lead CPC’s involvement with the Partnership Against Child Exploitation (PACE) program and support various other CPC projects including the initiative to improve the World Bank’s ability to prevent and respond to child sexual exploitation and abuse. With 10+ years of experience in impact evaluations of development and humanitarian programs in 11 countries, Cécile is passionate about asking questions and sees science as the art of getting as close as possible to reality in a constant attempt to better capture the complex nature of human lives/situations/contexts. She is always questioning the relevance of any given research approach and the appropriateness of the information we collect to better understand the world around us. Cécile focuses on using quantitative research for evaluation particularly in the fields of adolescent wellbeing, girl’s empowerment, and child exploitation. Cécile has a diploma in Statistics from the French Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique (ENSAE), a Master of Economics from the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics of the Pompeu Fabra, and a Master of Economics and Public Policy from Sciences Po in Paris. When she’s not asking the tough questions and pursuing rigorous research, Cécile enjoys several diverse activities including drawing, dancing, speaking foreign languages, and practicing fun- yet sometimes dangerous- outdoor sports. Even outside of work, Cécile loves to hear people’s stories and is fascinated by how unique we all are, while sharing so much of our humanity.
San joined the CPC Learning Network in September 2019. She is a pediatric doctor by training and her professional experience bridges clinical medicine, public health and research. She is committed to promoting the health and wellbeing of children and families, including those affected by violence and forced displacement. She has fieldwork experience in remote Indigenous Australian communities, Nepal, Zimbabwe, and Jordan. San is currently coordinating a joint project of CPC and the Bank Information Center that aims to improve the World Bank’s ability to prevent and respond to child sexual exploitation and abuse. She also advocates for the needs and rights of migrants and asylum seekers and supported the development of public health guidance to preserve access to asylum during the COVID-19 pandemic. San was born in Sydney, Australia and grew up in Tasmania, home of the Tasmanian Devil. She loves travel, yoga, and reading. Her nana was a circus trapeze artist, and like Yana, San dreamed of running away with the circus!
Joining the CPC Learning Network as Part-Time Senior Advisor in April 2023, Ghazal is committed to critically reexamining the international children’s rights field to ensure that the system is accountable to and centered on children, young people, and families. Born in Iran and raised in the UK and US, Ghazal has extensive experience working in the field of child rights and protection, maternal and infant health, conflict resolution and human rights in US, Africa, Asia, Middle East and the CEE/CIS region. She has worked as a director, research, practitioner, strategic consultant with philanthropic organizations, UN agencies, international NGOs and academia. Most recently, Ghazal was the Director of the Elevate Children Funders Group. Under Ghazal’s strategic direction and leadership, ECFG has become the primary thought leader for donor coordination around global child rights and protection. Prior to ECFG, Ghazal worked with consultancy firms, inter-agency child protection network and international NGO. Ghazal holds a B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology from Carleton College (US) and Masters in Law and Diplomacy, Tufts. She speaks English and Farsi. In her free time, she likes to spend time with family and friends (hopefully in warm and sunny places) and read.
Joining the CPC Learning Network as a Senior Program Officer in July 2020, Yana is committed to work that respects the agency and meaningful participation of children, young people, and communities. She is an experienced coordinator and researcher born in Belarus and raised in San Francisco. For over 10 years, Yana has worked with national, international, and academic institutions doing program management, mixed-methods research, and strategic analyses to improve social services for children and families. She has worked in Liberia, Ethiopia, and Zambia contributing to evaluations of life skills programs for women and girls. Yana is enthusiastic about engaging with research that directly impacts programs and policies. Yana has a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies/Biology from UC Santa Cruz and a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. She speaks English, Russian, and Spanish. In her free time, you can find her dancing Casino (Cuban-style salsa), planning her next trip, and flying trapeze (she has dreamt of running away with the circus).
Sanika joined the CPC Learning Network in the Fall of 2023 as a Graduate Research Assistant. She is a second-year MPH student in Columbia Mailman School of Public Health's Sociomedical Sciences Department and is earning a certificate in Applied Biostatistics. Sanika's prior experience includes promoting community wellness and health equity at the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, where she developed and taught a culturally appropriate health equity and education health education curriculum to Brooklyn high school students. Sanika is passionate about empowering children with public health education and is eager to apply these skills on a global level with CPC. In her free time, Sanika enjoys yoga, taking long walks, and trying new food!
Matthew Ware joined the CPC learning network as a Graduate Research Assistant in January 2024. He is a first-year student at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in the Population and Family Health Department with a certificate in Public Health and Humanitarian Action. Matthew is passionate about CPC’s goal of re-examining the children’s’ rights field to center children and youth and has been interested in this topic ever since he campaigned for the U.S. to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a high school student. Prior to beginning his Master’s in Public Health, Matthew spent three years at a community health clinic working on program metrics and evaluation and supporting Street Medicine/homeless health initiatives. Matthew completed his bachelor’s degree in Global Affairs from Yale-NUS College in Singapore. In his free time he can be found baking in the very small 50 Haven Avenue kitchen.
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