Online Advocacy Workshop (9-11 September 2020)

 Javier Vidal-Quadras
Vidal-Quadras holds a degree in Law from Universidad de Barcelona and is one of the founders of a well-known Spanish Law Firm, Amat i Vidal-Quadras Advocats. Currently, he is also Associate Professor of Law at Universidad Abat Oliba in Barcelona and Assistant Director of the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Familia at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya. As president of FERT, the IFFD branch in Catalonia, he became part of the International Board and later Secretary General of the World Federation. He has published seven books on family enrichment and other human values.

Daryl Higgins
Professor Higgins is the Director of the Institute of Child Protection Studies at the Australian Catholic University (ACU). His research focuses on public health approaches to protecting children, and child-safe organisational strategies. A registered psychologist, Prof Higgins has been researching child abuse impacts and prevention, family violence and family functioning for 25 years. Prior to joining ACU, Prof Higgins was the Deputy Director (Research) at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, where he had responsibility for the research program, knowledge translation and exchange functions focusing on issues affecting families in Australia. He has also been part of the SDGS and Families Project together with researchers from all over the world.

Chemba Raghavan
Dr. Raghavan is currently the acting Chief of Early Childhood Development at UNICEF. She has more than 20 years of experience and leadership in evidence-based policies, results based management, quality assurance and monitoring, advocacy and communications, especially in the East Asia Pacific region. Her work has covered 14 country offices serving 580 million children, with a strong understanding of issues relating to poverty, equity and development, education and gender issues, peacebuilding and ECD. She holds a Ph. D. in Human Development and Family Studies and has directed multicultural projects on child development, parenting, and gender, and several years of teaching, research and project management experience in universities across the US.

Karina Tollara d’Alkimin
Dr. Tollara d’Alkimin is a Sociologist with a Master Degree from the Free University of Berlin, Germany, with 15 years work experience in the fields of social development and public administration. Since 2018 she is a special advisor at the Government Secretariat of the City of Sao Paulo, responsible for the coordination of the municipal early childhood policy. Before joining the Municipality, she worked as a consultant for Getulio Vargas Foundation and UNICEF Brazil, as well as for the German cooperation agency in Mozambique.

Sofía García García
Dr. García is SOS Children’s Villages’ Representative to the United Nations in New York. In her role, Sofia represents the rights and voices of children without parental care in front of UN member states and other actors. Previously, she led SOS Children’s Villages engagement at the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs negotiations, with a key focus on ensuring a comprehensive approach to the “leave no one behind” concept and operationalization. She graduated in Journalism and Political Sciences and holds a Masters in International Affairs by The New School University of New York and a Masters in European Union Studies by the Universidad de Salamanca.

 Heidi Ullmann
Dr. Ullmann is a social policy officer at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). She holds a Ph. D. in public affairs from Princeton University. She has considerable experience in public policies, especially those relating to health issues. She acts as the Focal Point for Youth in ECLAC and her work focuses on two portfolios: children, adolescents, and youth in Latin America and the Caribbean; and persons with disabilities in the same region. Her experience provided her with thoughtful insights into Latin American youth issues.

Veerle Miranda
Dr. Miranda holds a Ph. D. in Economics from the Catholic University of Leuven. She has written on a wide range of labour market and social policy issues, and specialised in the past couple of years in mental health and work issues. She is a Policy Analyst in the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs. She has analysed and published studies on a wide range of topics and countries: employment policies in Colombia, Russia, Chile, Estonia and Slovenia; gender equality, unpaid work and well-being; mental health at work and the role of benefit systems.

 Heba Al Fara
Al Fara holds a Master’s degree in Political Science, specializing in International Relations, from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She is currently working as a Family Policy Officer in the Policy Division at the Doha International Family Institute (DIFI), a member of Qatar Foundation, in Doha, Qatar. She has worked on topics such as adolescent wellbeing, child wellbeing, social protection, youth transitions to adulthood, as well as family policy as a whole. Her research interests include international relations, refugee politics, social policy, including family policy.

 Enrico Misasi
Misasi graduated from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul and holds a Ph. D. in Constitutional Law. He has worked as a lawyer in Sao Paulo and was elected there in 2018 as a member of the Brasilian Parliament, when he was only 24 years old. He is a member of the Green Party (Partido Verde). Previously, he was Parliamentary Advisor and participated in different political fora and social activities. In 2020 he has been appointed leader of his Party in the Chamber. He has been active in many aspects of the Parliament work such as agriculture, justice, citizenship, social security and families.

 Anis Ben Brik
Anis B. Brik is Associate Professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University College of Public Policy, a member of Qatar Foundation. He served as the Director of Family Policy Department at the Doha International Family Institute. His fields of expertise include evidence for policy and knowledge valorization; gender equality, inclusive social development, inclusive societies and social inclusion; policy design and delivery; social change and social transformations; social policy and social protection; sustainable development goals; youth.

 Bahira Trask
Prof. Trask is Professor and Chair of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Delaware. She holds a B. A. in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations from Yale University and a Ph. D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on globalization, women’s employment and family change. Dr. Trask has authored and edited a number of books. In 2019, in recognition of her intellectual contributions, she was awarded the NCFR Jan Trost award, in 2018 she received an Erasmus fellowship to Greece, and in 2015 she was elected a fellow in NCFR, an honor accorded to 3 percent of the membership.

 Donna Butts
Donna has been the Executive Director of Generations United since 1997. Generations United’s mission is to improve the lives of children, youth and older adults through intergenerational collaboration, public policies and programs for the enduring benefit of all. Previously she held leadership positions at the YWCA, National 4-H Council, and Covenant House. She is a graduate of Stanford University’s Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders and her awards include: recognition three years in a row by The Nonprofit Times as one of the Top 50 nonprofit executives in the US; one of the 2015 Top 50 Influencers in Aging by Next Avenue; and the 2017 Family Award from the International Federation for Family Development.

 Kinga Joó
Dr. Joó is a member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Vice President of the Hungarian Association of Large Families (NOE) and member of the board of the National Cooperation Fund (NEA). She is an international expert on education, training, youth, employment, social affairs and human rights. She was head of office at the World Science Forum secretariat and Advisor to the President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In her work as responsible for the international area of the Hungarian Association of Large Families – the biggest in Europe –, she has worked for different entities of the European Union and is a member of the Administrative Council of COFACE (Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union).