Keynote Speakers
Dr. Daniela Ligiero
CEO & President of Together for Girls (USA)
Dr. Daniela Ligiero
CEO & President of Together for Girls (USA)
Country: USA
Job Title: Chief Executive Officer and President of Together for Girls. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and is a co-founder of the Brave Movement, a global survivor-led advocacy movement working to end childhood sexual violence
Sub-Theme: Prevalence, Nature, Effects and Drivers of Violence Against Children
Speaking Point: Prevalence, Nature, Effects and Drivers of Violence Against Children
Ms. Andréa Santos Souza
District Attorney of São Paulo State, (Brazil)
Ms. Andréa Santos Souza
District Attorney of São Paulo State, (Brazil)
Country: Brazil
Job Title: District Attorney of São Paulo State, Brazil and Secretary General of the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates (IAYFJM) since 2014.
Sub-Theme: Legal, Policy, and practices for Responding to and Preventing VAC
Speaking Point: Experiences in preventing recidivism in cases involving children deprived of parental care and in difficult family situations in Brazil.
Dr. Lina Digolo
Paediatrician & Clinical Epidemiologist (Kenya)
Dr. Lina Digolo
Paediatrician & Clinical Epidemiologist (Kenya)
Country: Kenya
Job Title: Paediatrician and clinical epidemiologist with vast experience in VAC research.
Sub-Theme: Evidence on Programs and Services that Effectively Prevent and Respond to VAC
Ms. Ruth Juliet Nyambura Gachanja
Child Justice Advisor to the Chief Justice & Lecturer, Kabarak University (Kenya)
Ms. Ruth Juliet Nyambura Gachanja
Child Justice Advisor to the Chief Justice & Lecturer, Kabarak University (Kenya)
Country: Kenya
Job Title: Special Advisor to the Chief Justice (Kenya) on Children and Lecturer Kabarak University, Law School
Sub-Theme: Strengthening Collaboration coordination, and oversight of VAC interventions
Speaking Point: TBA
Mr. Deepak Raj Sapkota
Founder and Current Executive Director of Karuna Foundation (Nepal)
Mr. Deepak Raj Sapkota
Founder and Current Executive Director of Karuna Foundation (Nepal)
Country: Nepal
Job Title: Founder and Current Executive Director of Karuna Foundation. He is a child rights researcher and has a background in law, working in the field of Prevention of Childhood Disability.
Sub-Theme: Technology as an Enabler and Intervention for Addressing VAC
Speaking Point:
Dr. Chi-Chi Undie
Senior Associate and Technical Director (International Programs Division of the Population Council)
Dr. Chi-Chi Undie
Senior Associate and Technical Director (International Programs Division of the Population Council)
Profile: Dr. Chi-Chi Undie is a Senior Associate and Technical Director within the International Programs Division of the Population Council. Her research focuses primarily on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and girls' education. For over a decade, she directed the Population Council-led 'Africa Regional SGBV Network'—a multi-country, multi-partner research and intervention initiative in the East, Horn, Great Lakes, and Southern regions of Africa. Several effective child protection interventions were developed, tested, and scaled up until this Network. Her work on SGBV has had broad influence on policy and practice, leading to the passage of regional resolutions and to the regional uptake of evidence-based interventions developed under the Network. She served as Co-Principal Investigator for the data collection component of Kenya's second Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS), and currently leads a program that has conducted the first-ever VACS in a humanitarian setting.
She is the inaugural Board Chair of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (the world's largest network on research around violence against women and violence against children); a Board Member of Together for Girls (a global partnership working to end violence against children and adolescents); and sits on the International Advisory Board of the What Works to Prevent Violence – Impact at Scale Program. She currently directs two five-year, regional, FCDO-funded research consortia - one on sexual and reproductive health and rights in refugee settings, and the other on female genital mutilation/cutting.
Sub-Theme: Prevention and Response to VAC in Humanitarian and Emergency Context.
Andy Brooks
UNICEF Regional Advisor for Child Protection for East & Southern Africa
Andy Brooks
UNICEF Regional Advisor for Child Protection for East & Southern Africa
Country: United Kingdom
Andy Brooks has served as UNICEF Regional Advisor for Child Protection for East and Southern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya, since 1st September 2021.
Before this, he was:
- Regional Child Protection Advisor, UNICEF, West and Central Africa, Dakar, Senegal (2013 – 2021)
- Child Protection Chief, UNICEF Tanzania (August 2009 – August 2013)
- Child Protection Chief, UNICEF Sri Lanka (August 2006 – August 2009)
- Regional Emergency Officer, UNICEF Office for West and Central Africa (April 2003 – August 2006)
- Regional Adviser for Children and Armed Conflict, Save the Children, Regional Office, Cote d’Ivoire (April 2001 – April 2003)
- Child Protection Reintegration Officer, UNICEF Sierra Leone (November 1999 – December 2000)
Prior to joining UNICEF, he worked in the U.K. as a Social Worker and Team Manager in Nottingham.
He holds a Masters in Social Work (Nottingham University) and an M.A./ Cantab in English Literature (Cambridge University).