MENAT Measurement Library: Building Evidence to Support Children's Learning and Well-Being in Conflict
We are pleased to invite you to join us for a webin
ar on the recently launched MENAT Measurement Library hosted by INEE! The Library is the result of two years of hard work by a consortium of research-practice-policy partnerships led by NYU Global TIES for Children, working with the International Rescue Committee as part of their Education in Emergencies: Evidence for Action (3EA) initiative, and in close collaboration with INEE.
Webinar Recording and Presentation Slides
This webinar highlighted the first measures available in the MENAT Measurement Library. Each of these measures were tested in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey (MENAT) region, and are accompanied by technical working papers presenting evidence on their validity and reliability, as well as training materials to facilitate their use.
Presenters provided a brief overview of the tools they developed and tested in MENAT while working with educators, service providers, and children in conflict-affected contexts. They shared some thoughts about how to develop and use such assessments within educational and psychosocial programs in fragile contexts and offer recommendations for those interested in using these tools in their own work.
Presenter Bios
Carly Tubbs Dolan, Ph.D., is the NYU Director of Measurement and Metrics for the Education in Emergencies: Evidence for Action (3EA) initiative led by NYU’s Global TIES for Children (TIES/NYU) and the International Rescue Committee. She is also a senior advisor to TIES/NYU, a global research center at New York University that she helped found and launch. Her research focuses on working with diverse NGO and government partners to promote high quality measurement and evaluation research to improve children's holistic development in crisis contexts.
Dr. Silvia Diazgranados Ferráns, Ed.D is the Senior Researcher for Education at the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Silvia leads IRC’s global education research agenda in conflicted-affect countries, with a focus on identifying what works, for whom, at what cost and under what conditions, and on developing valid and reliable measures to capture students’ learning outcomes and the processes that promote them. Prior to joining the IRC, Silvia was the instructor of the course “Peace Education in a Comparative Perspective” at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a Visiting Fellow at the Safra Center for Ethics in Tel Aviv University, a New Civics Early Career Scholar at the Spencer Foundation, and the external evaluator of education projects implemented by Save the Children. As a clinical psychologist, Silvia conducted clinical and research work with victims of war and prolonged captivity from the Colombian armed conflict, and supported former child soldiers from guerrilla and paramilitary groups in their process of reintegration to civil society. As an educator, Silvia founded Juegos de Paz in Colombia, a peace education program that works in partnership with the U.S.-based organization Peace First, implementing education strategies to promote the development of citizenship and socio emotional competencies of war-affected children in rural, isolated and conflict ridden areas of Colombia. Silvia holds an Ed.D in Human Development and Education and a MA in Prevention Science and Practice from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA; and BA degrees in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Los Andes, Colombia. Silvia is the author of several peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and technical reports that explore the effect of education interventions on children’s academic and socio-emotional outcomes and the processes that support their development.
Dr. Nikhit D’Sa, Senior Associate Director for Research, Evaluation, and Learning, University of Notre Dame, is a developmental psychologist with a decade of experience as an education technical advisor and applied researcher in low-resource, crisis, and conflict settings. He has expertise developing and managing cross-sectoral learning frameworks, leading impact evaluations, conducting qualitative and mixed-methods studies, designing and validating assessment tools, and working with practitioners to make evidence-based changes to interventions. Before joining the University of Notre Dame, Dr. D’Sa served as the Director of Research, Evaluation, and Learning at Save the Children. In this role, he helped establish and grow the Education in Emergencies research team, while also designing and validating the International Social and Emotional Learning Assessment (ISELA) and the Holistic Assessment of Learning and Development Outcomes (HALDO). Dr. D’Sa holds a Master of Arts in Developmental Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University as well as a Master of Education in International Education Policy and a Doctor of Education in Human Development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Dr. Akoury-Dirani is a child and adolescent psychologist, associate professor of Psychiatry at AUBMC. She has been clinically active since 1986 with patients and their families, promoting their rights to a better living. She is involved in many initiatives pertaining to child and adolescent mental health at a strategic level, collaborating with the Lebanese government and the United Nations agencies to develop more equitable policies towards the most vulnerable children and adolescents mainly children with disabilities and maltreated children. Her research and her teaching encompass child development, child psychopathology, and parenting. She has recently developed with a team of professional a preventive parenting program for parents of infants and toddlers. Finally, Dr. Akoury-Dirani is a leading psychologist working for the legalization of the profession, designing its rules, regulations, and ethics. Dr. Akoury-Dirani is representing the American University of Beirut & the Ministry of Public Health in Lebanon partnership
Selcuk R. Sirin, Ph.D is an applied psychologist who uses empirical research methods to better understand the needs of children and families, and to arm professionals and policy makers with this knowledge so as to better address the needs of the most vulnerable. His goal is to enhance the lives of marginalized children using development in context as a general framework. Dr. Sirin focuses on immigrant children in New York, Muslim youth in the US, refugees in Turkey and Norway, and students at risk in US schools. Dr Sirin represents the New York University, Bahçeşehir University, & Hacettepe University partnership
Camilla Lodi is the Norwegian Refugee Council Psycho Social Support (PSS) and Social- Emotional Learning (SEL) Adviser in the Middle East region. She is an education specialist with a seventeen-year track record in managing large and complex social protection/education programs, engaging in international fora and stakeholders for the provision of high quality education, PSS, SEL and vocational training to vulnerable population including children and youths and the broader realization of their rights in challenging environments. Ms. Lodi is representing Norwegian Refugee Council & the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø.