CLOSE MENU
Several CUNY SPH staff and students were in attendance at the inaugural Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children on November 7-8, 2024 in Bogotá, Colombia. The event was jointly hosted by the Governments of Colombia and Sweden, in partnership with WHO, UNICEF, and the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on ending violence against children.
The conference brought together world leaders, ministry delegations, civil society representatives, advocates, youth, and organizations from around the globe to accelerate progress in combating violence against children through concrete measures. It secured new political and financial commitments to prevent and end violence against children from over 120 national governments and organizations.
CUNY SPH representatives included Nicolas Makharashvili, director of the Safe Futures Hub and CUNY SPH PhD student; Francesca McLaren, program manager at CUNY SPH’s Center for Innovation in Mental Health (CIMH); Amanda Pierz, research implementation team member for the To Zero Initiative and CUNY SPH PhD candidate, and Samantha Ski, senior implementation research scientist at University Research, Co. (URC), a longtime collaborator with CUNY SPH’s Center for Immigrant, Refugee and Global Health (CIRGH).
Francesca and Samantha attended the conference on behalf of the USAID HEARD project to support the INSPIRE Working Group satellite session, “Inspired by INSPIRE: 10 Years of Building Evidence and Best Practices” and other ISC initiatives. During their time in Bogotá, the entire CUNY SPH team attended a satellite session co-hosted by Universidad de los Andes, a local partner of the Implementation Science Collaborative’s (ISC) MHPSS Learning Collaborative and Ending Violence Against Children (EVAC) subgroup.
Amanda attended the conference on behalf of the To Zero Initiative, which she and Distinguished Professor Kathleen Cravero have served as members of the organization’s implementation team and co-authors of the report “Getting to Zero: A Review of The Evidence to End Childhood Sexual Violence.” To Zero hosted a lunchtime session during the VAC Ministerial Conference and an evening satellite event to promote the launch of To Zero’s upcoming report “A Vision to Zero: A Roadmap to Ending Childhood Sexual Violence,” a visionary framework co-created with over 330 global leaders, mapping pathways to end CSV through shared action, survivor-centered approaches, and systemic change
Nicolas represented the Safe Futures Hub, a joint initiative of Together for Girls, WeProtect Global Alliance and the Sexual Violence Research Institute, as its director. Safe Futures Hub is designed to meaningfully include underrepresented perspectives often excluded in the past, and unite people working across specialties to protect children, including advocates, strategists, policymakers, and those on the frontline. There remains a significant gap in evidence on effective interventions to end childhood sexual violence in the context of lower- and middle-income countries. To provide this critical guidance, the Safe Futures Hub has developed “Building Safe Futures: Solutions to End Childhood Sexual Violence,” a comprehensive evidence review highlighting what works to prevent and respond to childhood sexual violence in low- and middle-income countries.
To Zero and Safe Futures Hub will be co-hosting a seminar next month to launch both of their recent reports to learn about the first-ever global vision to end CSV, as well as practice- and evidence-based solutions to this global crisis. To accommodate global audiences, the webinar will be held at two different times:
Session 1 – Wednesday, February 5, 9:30pm IST / 4pm GMT / 11am EST – Register here
Session 2 – Thursday, February 6, 2:30pm IST / 9am GMT / 4am EST – Register here
To learn more about the work of CUNY SPH colleagues in ending childhood sexual violence, please feel free to register to the event using the links below and share with interested colleagues.
