OMEP Seminar Series 2021-2022 Early childhood care and education (ECCE) in debate

The Webinar will include keynote presentations from three specialists who have several expertise on children and political advocacy: Rajakumari Michaelsamy, Giovanna Modé and Mercedes Mayol Lassalle, and it will be coordinated by Soon Hwan Kim, President of OMEP Korea.

Concept Note

Rajakumari Michaelsamy is a human rights professional with over 15 years of experience in various aspects of human rights including human rights education, research, monitoring, training, intervention and advocacy. Being an ardent advocate of right to education, she has closely worked with children and educators in India from pre-primary to secondary level. She joined RTE in February 2021, and has previously worked with a range of national and international NGOs and organisations, including Pax Romana -IMCS Asia Pacific, People’s Watch-Tamil Nadu, Indian Social Institute, Child Rights and You, and Amnesty International India. She holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights from the University of Essex and a Postgraduate Diploma in International Human Rights Law from the National Law School of India University.

Giovanna Modé is the Head of Policy of the Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE, for its acronym in Spanish), a regional network based in São Paulo. As such, she actively participated in the civil society advocacy process towards the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the United Nations (2012-2015), and more recently in its follow-up and implementation in Latin America and the Caribbean. She holds a Master’s (2010) and PhD (2019) studies in Sociology of Education by the School of Education of the University of São Paulo, in the research programme “Education and Social Sciences: Inequalities and Diversity”. Her research topics include education, human rights, children’s rights, and international migration, with several articles and reports published.

Mercedes Mayol Lassalle is the World President of OMEP (World Organization for Preschool Education) since January 1, 2020. National Normal Teacher, Graduate in Education Sciences, University of Buenos Aires. Former Director of the Early Childhood Education area of the City of Buenos Aires. Currently, she is a Professor in the Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of Buenos Aires and in the Regional Program for Training in Planning and Management of Educational Policies, IIPE-UNESCO Buenos Aires, Office for Latin America. Elected member of the Coordination Group of the Collective Consultation of NGOs on EDUCATION 2030 – CCNGO / ED 2030.

Soon Hwan Kim is an associate professor of Early Childhood Education at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea. Currently, she is serving as president of the OMEP KOREA and also working as an editor of Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education.