Dr. Ziba Vaghri is a frequent presenter at the International Summer Course on the Rights of the Child. She will provide an update on the GlobalChild Research Program, which is nearing completion of its first five-year cycle. This new child rights data-monitoring platform is now being prepared to be launched for international piloting. The GlobalChild Research Program has been developed using the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Structure-Process-Outcome (SPO) methodology for human rights indicator development. This has been made possible by close collaboration with the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) through its steering committee chaired by Jean Zermatten, former two-term chair of the CRC, while Justice Renate Winter, the former chair of the Committee (2017-2019), is an active member of the SC as well. The GlobalChild Research Program has been validated as a tool by over 140 children rights experts and through focus groups with over 2000 children on five continents.

Schedule: Wednesday, November 18 from 1:20 to 2 PM (Atlantic Standard Time)

Delivery Method: Remotely, by virtual room

Cost: Free

Speaker: Dr. Ziba Vaghri

Dr. Ziba Vaghri is a faculty member of the department of psychology of UNBSJ and the Director of the GlobalChild a large international undertaking under the auspices of the United Nations. She has over 20 years of extensive research and international experience in the areas of child development, and a strong track record of working with UN agencies such as UNICEF, UNESCO, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and WHO. In 2014, Dr. Vaghri was recruited by WHO and served as the ECD Technical Officer of WHO in Geneva. In 2015, Dr. Vaghri returned to Canada and took up the five-year prestigious Scholar Award at the University of Victoria (UVic). During her tenure at UVic, she secured several large grants including two from the Canadian Institute for Health Research and built her program of research GlobalChild. The GlobalChild is a reputable program with the participation of numerous Canadian as well as international universities and child advocacy agencies, including the NB office of Child and Youth Advocates. The program has the mandate of promoting child and youth development through the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the accountability and global monitoring system under CRC. One of the major outcomes of this Program of Research is a comprehensive child right monitoring platform, also, called GlobalChild. This presentation will provide an overview of this platform, a few of its characteristics, and its upcoming pilots including the first Canadian pilot in New Brunswick.