Child Protection Certificate Program

The Harvard François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights offers Harvard graduate students the opportunity to obtain a certificate in child protection. This interdisciplinary qualification is open to students from any Harvard graduate school. We are currently accepting applications for the 2024-2025 Child Protection Certificate cohort. The application form can be accessed here.

Child protection work aims to prevent, respond to, and resolve abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence experienced by children in domestic and international settings. It requires an interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral approach that encompasses work in health, education, social service, public policy, and law enforcement to advance the protection of children and involves collaborating with a wide range of partners across government and within civil society, communities, and families.

The certificate program incorporates ongoing child protection research and practice grounded in field-based realities and takes into account the expertise of UNICEF, a university-wide faculty steering committee, and external child protection experts.

With this comprehensive graduate-level training, certificate recipients will be better equipped to:

Identify relevant social, economic, legal, and cultural issues affecting the protection of children,
Build a stronger child protection evidence base by engaging in more rigorous research, monitoring, evaluation, and use of data,
Understand the multiple interactions at policy, community, family, and individual levels needed to create a protective environment for children,
Gain the competencies to develop the cross-sectoral partnerships necessary to a holistic child protection system.

CPC 2024-2025

Take a look at the 2024-2025 brochure for the Child Protection Certificate Program for Harvard graduate students. The application form for the 2024-2025 CPC cohort can be accessed here.

The CPC Curriculum

The curriculum is composed of courses selected from across Harvard’s graduate programs and covers five domains of child protection:

A. CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEMS

Law and Policy
Systems Capacity and Integration
Data/Statistics
Birth Registration

B. VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN

Protection from Violence, Exploitation, Abuse, Neglect
Protection in Emergencies
Impact of Violence on Children

C. JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN

Children in Conflict with the Law: Detention/Diversion
Children in Contact with the Law: Family Court; Foster Care; Criminal Witness

D. SOCIAL CHANGE/ FAMILY STRENGTHENING

Social Protection
Social Inclusion/Non-Discrimination
Cultural and Social Norms/Social Change

E. CHILD PROTECTION LEADERSHIP TOOLS

Leadership
Negotiation
Advocacy

Child Protection Certificate Requirements

Participation in a one-semester, non-credit child protection seminar.

The mandatory seminar, consisting of panels of child protection experts brought in specifically to talk to and meet with certificate candidates, will be offered in the spring 2025 semester. The seminar will take place on Fridays in February from 10:00am-12:00pm and is required. Seminars will enable candidates to consolidate their understanding of the child protection field in both the domestic and international arenas through exchange with the invited speakers and mentorship by senior child protection practitioners. Students will be encouraged to share their own child protection research and experience and engage with their peers. Please note there will be other non-mandatory events throughout the academic year to provide networking opportunities.

Completion of 12 credits selected from CPC course offerings in at least three of the curriculum’s five domains.

The child protection foundational courses are not required courses, but offer candidates flexibility in terms of which domain they are counted towards.

CPC Application and Approval Process

Application: Program candidates are required to complete a short application, consisting of an essay and a proposed list of qualifying CPC courses. The application form for the 2024-2025 CPC cohort can be accessed here.

Applications will be reviewed by the FXB Child Protection Program Director, in consultation with the faculty steering committee. The program has an annual limit of 30 students. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis by school.

Approval: Prior to graduation, candidates will submit an approval request, detailing their completion of the requirements and providing a statement assessing their program of study. The program director and committee will review these requests against the student’s transcripts. Approved candidates will be invited to attend the program’s annual spring awards ceremony, where they will receive their certificates, successfully marking completion of the program.