Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development Completes Child Protection Specialist Training for Abu Dhabi, Early Childhood Authority

January 11, 2020

Faculty from the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development (GUCCHD) trained over 100 Child Protection Specialists for the Abu Dhabi, Early Childhood Authority (ECA) over Zoom. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic plans to provide on-site training to child protection specialists in Abu Dhabi were quickly adapted to be conducted remotely. The program, Child Protection Specialist Training, is a component of an ambitious certification training program for all child protection specialists in Abu Dhabi. The United Arab Emirates enacted the Child Rights Law, in 2016 following the tragic death of a young child. Under the law, all children under the age of 18 years have the right to life and safety and are entitled to an education. The law further stresses that all children must be provided with an appropriate living standard, access to health care, education, and equal opportunities. To fully implement the law, each Emirate is creating comprehensive training programs for child serving professionals. The Child Protection Specialist training is the first of several programs that will be take place over the next few years.

Toby Long, PhD and Neal Horen, PhD from the GUCCHD were the lead faculty on this training. Together with colleagues from Zayed University, Concordia University, and the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority they conducted four 10-day training events. According to Dr. Long, "other than needing to start teaching unbelievably early the experience was amazing. Our colleagues from the UAE were wonderful to work with, the participants were committed to enhancing their skills, and the online environment required us to learn a variety of new, technologically enhanced strategies. We are looking forward to expanding our relationship with the ECA to include more training, research, and technical assistance. Hopefully, on-site!"