The first NAECR Networking event of the fall semester was Sept. 26 at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. More than 40 attended in person and via Zoom video conferencing to hear a presentation about global child development by Dr. Hiro Yoshikawa.
Yoshikawa, a world-renowned community and developmental psychologist and professor at New York University Steinhardt, led a discussion titled “Evaluating Early Childhood Development Programming at Scale for Refugee and Conflict-Affected Populations.”
He noted that 29 million children worldwide were born into conflict-affected contexts in 2018, according to UNICEF and UNHCR. He also said 71 million people are displaced worldwide — half of which are children and youth.
During his presentation, Yoshikawa outlined some of the various projects with which he is involved, and how each aims to explore solutions to the problems encountered by conflict-affected populations.
Yoshikawa, who also serves as co-director of the Global TIES for Children Center at NYU, is implementing an evidence-based research and evaluation program to measure the success of the Sesame Workshop and International Rescue Committee’s educational work supporting children and families in the Middle East. The program educates young children displaced by conflict and persecution in places such as Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon.
“A huge challenge for our field is how to figure out the right sequence of early to middle childhood programs and issues of quality, and sustaining the impacts of investments in early childhood,” he said, adding that coordinating global efforts is crucial.
The event was hosted by the Department of Health Promotion at UNMC’s College of Public Health.
NAECR Networking and NAECR Knowledge are an ongoing series of networking and training events designed to enhance early childhood research across the NU system.
The next event will be Oct. 29, when the NAECR Knowledge series resumes. Leslie Delserone and Erica DeFrain of University Libraries will join Jeffrey Stevens, associate professor of psychology, to discuss best practices for making data publicly available, including registering studies, related IRB issues and implications for publication, such as journal requirements.
For more information on NAECR activities, contact Sommer Fousek, project coordinator, at 402-472-3743, or sfousek2@unl.edu.