World Vision at the Comparative International Education Society Conference

Child Protection Education

Start Date

03/28/2026

End Date

04/01/2026

Location

San Francisco, CA

World Vision education experts are joining other industry leaders and global education stakeholders at the 2026 Comparative International Education Society conference (CIES2026), one of the largest international gatherings focused on education. CIES brings together practitioners, researchers, and donors to discuss the latest evidence, challenges, and potential solutions in international education. This year’s theme, “Re-examining Education and Peace in a Divided World,” aligns closely with World Vision’s Education Sector Roadmap which aims to reach the most vulnerable children and help ensure that all children have access to quality learning opportunities and improved education outcomes.

Attending CIES this year? Find us at table 31 — we’d love to connect — and join our sessions to learn more about how education is transforming lives and building peace in vulnerable communities around the world.

Sessions & panels

Speaking back: Voice, agency, and participation amidst conflict

Date & time: Saturday, March 28, 11:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Floor: Sixth floor, Nob Hill 6&7
Group submission type: Paper session
Chair: Nancy Del Col, World Vision Canada
Presenting authors: Nancy Del Col, World Vision Canada; Leigh-Anne Ingram, University of Toronto–Mississauga; Jeanne Benoit, Université du Québec à Montréal, UQAM; Giovanni E Whyte, University of North Dakota; Pempho Chinkondenji, University of North Dakota

Description: Focusing on participatory and youth-centered methodologies, this panel explores how learners “speak back” to systems of exclusion in conflict-affected contexts. The papers examine children’s voices in post-conflict education in Tigray, refugee students’ experiences in the United States through photovoice, and gender-equitable access to education in Mali. Collectively, the session demonstrates how voice, visual methods, and spatial analysis reveal everyday forms of agency amidst structural violence.

From protection to peacebuilding: Education as a stabilizing force

Date & time: Saturday, March 28, 2:45–4:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Floor: Sixth floor, Nob Hill 2&3
Group submission type: Paper session
Chair: Ellenah Wangui Maina, World Vision
Presenters: Yuta Kumazaki, Teachers College; Nasar Fadhel Abdullah Abdo, Columbia University; Ranjitsinh Disale; Ellenah Wangui Maina, World Vision; Kathryn Anne Coleman; Nina Balandina, George Washington University; Bernhard T. Streitwieser, George Washington University; Lisa Brunner, University of British Columbia

Description: This panel analyzes education as both a protective mechanism and a peacebuilding strategy, covering interventions in Yemen, Lebanon, the Indo–Pak border region, and Kakuma Refugee Camp. The papers examine how educational programs reduce vulnerability to radicalization, foster dialogue across divided communities, and influence conflict dynamics. Collectively, the session demonstrates education’s potential to bridge protection and long-term peacebuilding objectives.

Inclusive education as a powerful approach for building social cohesion and peace

Date & time: Sunday, March 29, 4:30–5:45 p.m.
Location: Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Floor: Lobby level, Golden Gate 6
Group submission type: Paper session
Chair: Lisa Easterbrooks, CARE
Presenters: Alisa Phillips, World Vision; Lotte Renault, CARE; Brenda Sinclair, CRS; Tamara Jacod, Humanity and Inclusion
Discussant: Dr. Mary Joy Pigozzi, Education Above All

Description: This applied research session explores how innovative and context-driven solutions in Ecuador, Laos, Somalia, and Zambia are addressing challenges by providing holistic, inclusive opportunities that focus on shifting norms and strengthening community-level monitoring and accountability to transform the education ecosystem for improved education outcomes, protection, and peacebuilding.

Drawing on existing evidence and data from the projects, the session highlights strategies to reduce supply-side and demand-side barriers, with a specific focus on transforming norms around attitudes and behaviors regarding education access and retention for children entering Early Childhood Education and primary school students at risk of dropout. Participants will also learn about countries using early warning systems to improve monitoring and support systems for at-risk children.

The panelists will stimulate a conversation on pragmatic solutions implemented across diverse fragile contexts and reflect on scaling contextualized education interventions in partnership with local-level stakeholders and governments for children and families facing generational cycles of poverty, discrimination, and instability. Presenters will offer recommendations for sustaining key education efforts that have the potential to build peace and social cohesion.

From fragility to hope: Youth and communities leading change

Date & time: Tuesday, March 31, 8:00–9:15 a.m.
Location: Online meeting hub – VR 103
Group submission type: Formal panel session (virtual)
Chair: Carlos Castro, World Vision Honduras
Presenters: Carlos Castro, Oscar Paz, Juan Lopez, World Vision Honduras
Discussant: Sandra Carolina Hernandez, World Vision El Salvador
Language: Spanish

Description: The Northern Triangle — Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador — is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a young person. Poverty, limited educational and employment opportunities, and gang violence converge to create an environment where despair too often overshadows hope. In Honduras, 63% of the population lives in poverty, with similar rates in Guatemala and El Salvador. A third of youth in the region are neither in school nor working, leaving them especially vulnerable to exploitation.

These challenges are even more acute for youth facing overlapping forms of exclusion. Girls in rural areas are often kept from school due to domestic labor, early marriage, or pregnancy. Indigenous youth encounter systemic inequities in education, vocational training, healthcare, and employment. Youth with disabilities experience stigma, isolation, and lack of access to inclusive infrastructure and services. Many have never encountered a program, classroom, or workplace adapted to their needs.

In this context of systemic adversity, World Vision is implementing models that provide youth with skills, resources, and support to envision and build a more peaceful society and a better future. These approaches empower young people as agents of change. This panel will reflect on three interventions demonstrating how education and community leadership become tools for building a culture of peace in fragile and violence-affected contexts. Panelists will discuss how their projects promote active, participatory, and transformative practices for social cohesion, resilience, and reconciliation.

From financial literacy to professional learning: Transforming educational practices and learning environments

Date & time: Wednesday, April 1, 2:45–4:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Floor: Ballroom level, Franciscan C
Group submission type: Paper session
Chair: Jin A Jung, OISE, University of Toronto
Presenters: Jin A Jung, OISE/University of Toronto; Xin Zheng, Institute of Curriculum & Instruction, East China Normal University; Rosalia Cha, OISE/University of Toronto; John Phiri, World Vision Zambia

Description: In a world where unequal access to quality education reflects broader social and economic divides, teacher professional development (TPD) plays a pivotal role in building more cohesive and resilient education systems. This paper examines how ICT-enabled school-based TPD models can improve teaching and learning while bridging inequities that undermine social cohesion.

Drawing on the TPD@Scale Coalition for the Global South and Zambia’s Enhanced School-based Continuing Professional Development programme — developed in partnership with the Ministry of Education, World Vision Zambia, and The Open University (UK) — we show how locally driven innovation can be amplified through global collaboration to reduce professional isolation, foster teacher communities, and expand equitable access to learning even in resource-constrained settings.

We argue that ICT-supported TPD is more than a technical reform: it is a policy instrument that bridges digital and professional divides, strengthens trust in education systems, and advances peace through inclusive, equitable teacher development.