Session Chair. Angelica Ponguta, PhD, MPH  is an Associate Research Scientist in the Yale Child Study Center, and ECPC Expert Consultant. Angelica Ponguta is Associate Research Scientist at the Yale Child Study Center. Her research focuses on the development and analysis of Early Childhood Development policies and has worked alongside UNICEF and governments in East and West Africa, South East Asia, Eastern and Central Europe and Latin America. Her work also focuses on impact and process evaluations of early childhood and parenting programs, as well as the development of measures to assess the quality of services for young children at scale. 

Session panelists:

Chelsea Donaldson, MS is Data and Research Manager at Empatico, and ECPC Expert Consultant. Chelsea Donaldson, MSc is the Data and Research Manager at Empatico, a free education tool aiming to build meaningful relationships among children around the world through virtual connections. Donaldson also works with UNICEF and the Early Childhood Peace Consortium (ECPC) to produce research and advocacy materials that link early childhood development programs, conflict prevention, and peacebuilding. Before this, she was a Fulbright scholar in the Netherlands conducting research on autism spectrum disorders.

Suna Hanoz-Penny, MA is Director of International Programs at ACEV - Mother Child Education Foundation, Turkey, and Member, ECPC Executive Committee. Suna Hanöz-Penney works as the Director of International Programs at ACEV— Mother Child Education Foundation in Istanbul. Turkey. Her work involves building collaborative partnerships, while she manages the transfer and implementation of ACEV’s educational programs to local organizations in numerous countries including Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Lao PDR, and Brazil. She designs and supervises the early intervention programs for children and families implemented at both the national and international fields. Suna is a Fulbright Scholar, received her dual M.A. in Early Childhood Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and holds a B.A. in Early Childhood Education and Psychological Guidance & Counseling from Boğazici University, Istanbul. She is presently pursuing a Mid-Career Master in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School.  

Friedrich Affolter, EdD, is an Education Expert for Risk-Informed Programming at UNICEF NY Programme Division. He also serves as Secretary of the Early Childhood Peace Consortium [ECPC]. Until June 2016, Friedrich Affolter served as the manager of UNICEF’s Peacebuilding, Education and Advocacy Programme (PBEA), which designed education programmes that contribute to the mitigation of drivers of conflict in 14 fragile and post-conflict countries. Earlier UN assignments include Sudan, South Africa, Angola and Afghanistan. 

ECPC publications:

1. Donaldson, C., F. Affolter, L. A. Ponguta, R. Salah, P. R. Britto, J. F. Leckman, P. Connolly, S. Fitzpatrick, and P. Walmsley. (2018). Contributions of Early Childhood Development Programming to Sustainable Peace and Development. New York City: Early Childhood Peace Consortium (ECPC).
2. Donaldson, Chelsea. (2017). Contributions of Early Childhood Development Services to Preventing Violent Conflict and Sustaining Peace [Eng, Ara, Fre, Spa, Tur], Edited by Liliana Angelica Ponguta, Friedrich Affolter and Pia Rebello Britto. Early Childhood Peace Consortium (ECPC).
3. L.Angelica Ponguta; C. Donaldson; F. Affolter; P. Connolly; L. Dunne; S. Miller; P. Britto; R. Salah; J. Leckman. (2018). Early childhood development programs, peacebuilding, and the Sustainable Development Goals: Opportunities for interdisciplinary research and multisectoral partnerships. In: Verma S., Petersen A. (eds) Developmental Science and Sustainable Development Goals for Children and Youth. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 74. Springer, Cham.
4. Leckman, J. F., C. Panter-Brick, and R. Salah. Pathways to Peace: The Transformative Power of Children and Families. Vol. 15. Cambridge MA US / London UK: MIT Press, 2014.
5. Yale University and ACEV Partnership. (2012). Ecology of peace: Formative childhoods and peace building. A brief note. New Haven, CT and Istanbul, Turkey: Yale-ACEV Partnership.