Keynote speakers

Prof Linda Richter

Prof Linda Richter is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Human Sciences Research Council where she is the Senior Specialist (Vulnerable Children) for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. She is also an Elected Fellow of the University of Natal and Honorary Professor at the School of Psychology, University of KwaZulu-Natal and an Honorary Professor at the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health Care, University of the Witwatersrand. Last but not least she is an Honorary Research Associate at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford. From 2001-2010, she was the Executive Director of the Child, Youth and Family Development at the Human Sciences Research Council.

Dr Mary Young
 
Mary E. Young, MD, DrPH, Senior Advisor to Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child.  She is pediatrician and specialist in global health and child development with broad experience in both developed and developing countries. For the past three decades, she worked at the World Bank, guiding efforts in international public health and child health and development. During her tenure at the World Bank, she led global efforts to inform world leaders and policymakers about Early Childhood Development (ECD). Dr. Young advised clients through policy dialogues, sector analyses and project design and management. Her experience spans the globe—from China, to Eastern Europe and Central Asia, to the Middle East and North Africa, and to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Dr. Young’s publications include four major works on ECD: Early Child Development: Investing in The Future—Directions in Development (1996), Early Child Development: Investing in Our Children’s Future (1997), From Early Child Development to Human Development (2002) (published also in Portuguese, Chinese, and Arabic), and Early Child Development—From Measurement to Action: A Priority for Growth and Equity (2007) (also available in Portuguese and on CD-Rom).  She was an author in the 2007 series on child development published by The Lancet.  And, she has published numerous articles on the Chinese health care system, focusing on child health and maternal health.  In addition, Dr. Young has served in the following capacities: U.S. Regional Editor of the Health Policy Journal, Board member of the Johnson and Johnson Pediatric Institute, Scientific Advisor for the Mediterranean Child Institute, and member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of the U.S. National Institute for Early Education Research and of the International Step by Step Association.  She speaks Chinese, Portuguese, and English. 

Dr Auma Okwany

Auma Okwany  (Ph.D.) is an Assistant Professor of Social Policy at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. She is the convener of the post-graduate Diploma in Children Youth and Development. Her teaching and research interests center on the relationship between policy, practice and theory in childhood and youth more broadly and in education reform efforts in particular with a focus on factors that define exclusion for disadvantaged groups. Her latest publication for which she is the lead author is a book based on a study that examines the role of indigenous knowledge in early childhood child care in the East African region. She is a team member of the Netherlands Government Funded ISS project, which aims at strengthening the capacity of Higher education institutions in Uganda in Social Development and Social Justice. She is also a member of the UNDP funded post-graduate diploma in poverty analysis, delivered in Tanzania in partnership with two research institutions based in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

Dr Rachel Adeodu:

Rachel Adeodu, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor linked to the Teacher Education Department of the Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. She plans and teaches courses in Early Childhood Education and assesses student majors in the field.  Courses taught by her include Philosophical and Historical Foundations of Early Childhood Education and also Child, Family and Teacher Interaction. She has conducted research, attended and presented papers at a variety of conferences in South-western Nigeria during her sabbatical semester. Collaborating with some Nigerian universities and Early Childhood Organizations, she promotes the field of Early Childhood Education in Nigeria and also the cause of the Nigerian child. Upon her return from this sabbatical, she has continued to serve on committees at the Departmental, College and University levels.  To stay in tune with the times, she attends professional development workshops such as YouTube and Non-Commercial Video for the Classroom and Beyond PowerPoint: Multimedia in/as the Classroom, to learn how to enhance her teaching with a variety of technology tools.