Mark Canavera is the co-director of the Care and Protection of Children (CPC) Learning Network, an entity housed at the Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health that convenes academics, policymakers, and practitioners to promote innovative research, nurture communities of learning, and build the next generation of researchers and advocates for children and families worldwide. In this role, he coordinates research and advocacy efforts on children’s protection, care, health, and development in complex settings around the world. He serves as the co-chair, with the World Health Organization, of the INSPIRE Working Group to promote evidence-based strategies to prevent and reduce violence against children and as the co-lead of the Assessment, Measurement, and Evidence Working Group of the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Settings. He also serves on the Expert Advisory Group of the Special Representative to the UN Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict’s initiative to improve the reintegration of children formerly associated with armed forces and groups. His current research focuses on effective means to strengthen the global social service workforce in low- and middle-income countries and to boost local and national child protection systems through humanitarian response efforts, and child labor. Mark came to the CPC Learning Network after many years working as a humanitarian aid and development worker in West Africa. He has worked in over 20 countries with a variety of agencies, including Save the Children, UNHCR, Oxfam, Terre des hommes, AVSI, and Child Frontiers. His work has spanned efforts to support children formerly associated with armed groups in northern Uganda, small arms control in Senegal, girls’ education promotion in Burkina Faso, and child welfare system reform in Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Benin, Senegal, and Cameroon. He holds Master’s degrees in Peace Studies from Notre Dame and Public Policy from Harvard.

Biography current as of January 2023