1-118 - How can Developmental Science Contribute to Sustainable Child Protection in Low- and Middle- Income Countries?

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Integrative Statement

The issue of child protection was a notable absence from the Millennium Development Goals. A new priority infuses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) announced by the UN for the post 2015 agenda, wherein violence against children takes a prominent place among the world’s next set of goals for addressing extreme poverty. There is a new commitment to develop and implement the SDGs with a shift in paradigm in the conceptualization of development, from seeing it mainly as economic growth, to conceptualizing it as healthy, human centered sustainable development (UN, 2016). Developmental Science plays an important role for sustainable development from informing the formulation of evidence-based targets and indicators, to assessing progress, testing solutions, and identifying emerging risks and opportunities. The 2030 Agenda provides an opportunity for securing a voice for developmental scientists in the policy framework by providing the necessary evidence-based innovative inputs and thus engaging in global sustainability processes.
Moderated by Suman Verma, the panelists will debate related issues while addressing the following questions: (i) How can global research initiatives mobilize scientists to collaborate to tackle these issues in partnership with policy-makers?; (ii) What are the gaps and solutions needed in our understanding of sustainable child protection, its inter-linkages with social systems that can support integrated policy planning?; (iii) How can we provide avenues for children’s participation in local action and wider decision-making for sustainable societies?; and (iv) How can Developmental Science support the establishment of evidence-based procedures for evaluating the SDGs and tracking progress in their achievement?

Sub Unit

• Social Policy

Moderator

• Suman Verma, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Panelists

• Anne C Petersen, University of Michigan

• Kofi Marfo, Institute of Human Development, The Aga Khan University, Kenya

• Liane Peña Alampay, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines

• Prerna Banati, UNICEF Office of Research