Cassie Landers

Cassie Landers has a Doctorate in Education, as well as a Master’s in Public Health, both from Harvard University. Since 1985, Dr. Landers has worked with UNICEF and other international agencies to promote policies and programs in support of young children and their families. She has provided technical assistance and support to child development programs in over 60 countries throughout Southern Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. A primary focus of her work has been the design and evaluation of integrated community-based programs to support parents and families. She has been a primary investigator of several multicounty school readiness initiatives for high-risk children. In collaboration with the Open Society Foundations, Dr. Landers has designed a MA in Early Childhood Development, BU-IED University, Bangladesh. She has been instrumental in the development of curriculum materials for BRAC’s Play Labs in collaboration with the Lego Foundation. Additional international activities include the development of child protection strategies for children in emergencies, and a program for mapping and assessing child protection systems. She is currently on the faculty in the Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University and teaches courses in child development and global health.