Position: Dean of Faculty of Law at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa

Member of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Background:

Julia Sloth-Nielsen is senior professor and currently Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa.

During the 1990s, she managed the Children’s Rights Project of the Community Law Centre at the University of the Western Cape. She served on the South African Law Reform Commission’s Project Committee on Juvenile Justice, which developed the initial versions of what was eventually the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008. She also served on the SALRC Project Committee, which developed the Children’s Act 38 of 2005. Since then she has worked widely on child law reform in the region, including in Southern Sudan, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho and Zanzibar.

Author of more than 50 accredited journal articles, she has also presented numerous conference papers on themes such as children’s socio-economic rights, juvenile justice, child abuse and registers, and intercountry adoption. She has an extensive record of supervision of post graduate students at both LLM and LLD level, particularly in fields related to children’s rights in an African context. Her students are drawn from countries throughout  Africa, and much effort is made to raise funds from various donor sources for their studies at the University, without which their academic progress cannot be secured.

Her book, Children’s Rights in African context: a legal perspective, was published by Ashgate in 2008.

She is an acknowledged expert on the work of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, having published regularly on meetings of that committee and on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, now ratified by 45 African member states. On two occasions she has been invited to give an expert presentation to the Comittee: on the duties of the child under the Charter, and on the meaning of the best interests of the child standard in the Charter. She developed and presented an induction workshop for incoming and existing members of the Committee in November 2010.

She teaches nationally and internationally on child rights topics, including on the African child rights system.

She is currently working on a book on the Child Justice Act, on several academic articles, and on a book relating to the African Children’s Charter.

Contact Information:

021-959-3757

jsloth-nielsen@uwc.ac.za

Position: Associate Professor of Social Work and International Affairs at Columbia University School of Social Work; a Global Thought Fellow with Columbia University; and a Senior Research Fellow with New America Foundation

Background: Dr. Ssewamala has several years of practice in the International Social Development field. His practice experience includes serving at the Red Cross (Uganda), where he acted in several programmatic positions related to designing projects and programs for poverty alleviation and community development, and at Justine Petersen Housing and Reinvestment Corporation a 501(c) (3) Missouri (USA) not-for-profit corporation that assists low-to-moderate income individuals and families become homeowners, access financial institutions, start their own micro-businesses, and accumulate assets.

His current research on Africa is funded by a consortium of organizations, including the National Institute of Health, the MasterCard Foundation, and New America Foundation. This research focuses on asset-ownership development, financial management, and creating life options through economic empowerment and innovative financial inclusion models for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in sub-Saharan Africa. Professor Ssewamala is also currently researching the acceptability and feasibility of economic empowerment interventions in poor African immigrant communities in the urban U.S.

Contact Information:

fs2114@columbia.edu
(212) 851-2250

OVC Wellbeing Content:

A family-based economic empowerment model for orphaned children in Uganda

Position: Associate Professor at the University of British Colombia School of Social Work

Background: Dr. Sullivan is a family and children’s services social worker who has worked in family counseling, child protective services, residential treatment settings, juvenile correctional services, and employee assistance services.

His research focuses on interagency coordination and the development of service strategies with respect to high risk and marginalized groups, the development of operational measures for social service evaluation, the relationship between social policy and the developmental experience of families and children. He is currently working on several articles and projects related to adoption. The first article will examine the history of adoption from Korea to Canada and the second article will explore the relationship between openness in adoption and birth mother resolution of grief and loss.

Contact Information:
School of Social Work
University of British Columbia
RM 343 – 2080 West Mall
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2
Phone: 604-822-4278
Fax: 604-822-8656
Richard.Sullivan@ubc.ca

Position: Professor at the McGill School of Social Work

Background: Nico Trocmé is a professor of social work at McGill University where he holds the Philip Fisher Chair in Social Work and directs the Centre for Research on Children and Families. Dr. Trocmé is the principle investigator for the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (1998, 2003 & 2008), the Scientific Director of the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare, and the lead researcher for a Federal-Provincial-Territorial initiative to develop a common set of National Outcomes Measures in child welfare. He is currently leading the evaluation of a family support program for African Canadian families, the evaluation of a family-group conferencing model, analyses of the over-representation of First Nations children in foster care, and the evaluation of a social paediatric community program.

Dr. Trocmé is actively involved in supporting research based child welfare policy and practice. He is the Senior Advisor for Knowledge Integration at Bathshaw Youth and Family Services, the co-Chair of the Alberta Child Intervention Review, provides research and policy advice to the governments of Québec and Ontario, has presented expert evidence at several inquests and is a member of the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s Child and Youth Advisory Committee and Statistics Canada’s National Statistics Council. Prior to completing his Ph.D., Dr. Trocmé worked for five years as a child welfare and children’s mental health social worker.

Contact Information:

3506 University Street
Room 106
Montreal, Québec
Canada
H3A 2A7

(514) 398-5399 or (514) 398-4864
nico.trocme@mcgill.ca

OVC Wellbeing Content:

Factors impacting on antiretroviral therapy compliance in HIV positive adolescents

Position: Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University

Background: Dr. Thielman’s research focuses on a range of clinical and social issues that affect persons living with or at risk for HIV infection in resource-poor regions in the rural southeastern U.S. and in sub-Saharan Africa. Internationally, he is working with colleagues in the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Duke Global Health Institute to understand the acceptability and impact of HIV voluntary counseling and testing services in rural parts of the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania and how psychosocial, demographic, and economic characteristics affect the health outcomes of those found to be HIV-infected. Domestically, he is the Clinical Site Leader for Duke’s Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Unit, and non-clinical trials research focuses on health disparities in HIV care in the rural southeastern U.S.

Contact Information: n.thielman@duke.edu (919)668.5158

OVC Wellbeing Content:

Correlates of Poor Health among Orphans and Abandoned Children in Less Wealthy Countries: The Importance of Caregiver Health

More than the loss of a parent: Potentially traumatic events among orphaned and abandoned children

Child work and labour among orphaned and abandoned children in five low and middle income countries

Prevalence and predictors of HIV-related stigma among institutional- and community-based caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children living in five less-wealthy countries

A Comparison of the Wellbeing of Orphans and Abandoned Children Ages 6–12 in Institutional and Community-Based Care Settings in 5 Less Wealthy Nations

A Brief Assessment of Learning for Orphaned and Abandoned Children in Low and Middle Income Countries

Positive Outcomes for Orphans (POFO): Longitudinal study of orphaned and abandoned children (OAC) from ages 6-12 to ages 15-21 living in 6 diverse settings

News articles:

Duke study recently released finds orphans in need of protection

Study finds orphanages are viable option for some children

Protective mental health services critical for orphans worldwide

DGHI study finds child labour is prevalent among orphans

Study finds less reported HIV-related stigma against orphans in institutional care

New study finds caregiver’s health is a strong predictor of orphan health

Position: Lecturer, Faculty of Social Sciences at Makere University (Uganda)

Background:

Dr. Walakira is a lecturer at Makerere University, Faculty of Social Sciences. He holds a PhD from the the University of Vienna in Social and Cultural Anthropology. He is a researcher on issues of children and youth. He has offered advisory services to several international organisations and local NGOs in East Africa (Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda) working with children. He holds a Masters in Development Studies (Human resources and Employment) from Erasmus Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands, A post graduate Diploma in Children and Youth (ISS) and A Bachelors Degree in Social Work and Social Administration, Makerere University. His research interests include: children and youth, children’s rights, child labour, HIV/AIDS, OVC, policy analysis, and micro projects analysis.

Contact Information:

ewalakira@ss.mak.ac.ug