School of Social and Political Science

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Biography of Mr. Benjamin Perks

Benjamin Perks is the Head of Campaigns and Advocacy in the Division of Global Communications and Advocacy at the United Nations Children’s Fund, based in New York. He leads on public and policy advocacy on issues related to the survival, development and protection of children. He is a member of the Policy Advisory Group on the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and serves on a number of other bodies.

He previously served in human rights diplomacy roles as the UNICEF Representative and UN Resident Coordinator ad interim to both the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Montenegro. In both capacities he advocated for reforms to fulfill international human rights commitments and realization of the Sustainable Development Goals.

He has also served in Georgia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, India and Albania. In Afghanistan he helped to coordinate the Back to School campaign in the Northern part of the country which brought 3 million children, including 1 million girls, into school-most of them for the first times in their lives. In his term he was overseeing demobilization, disarmament and reintegration of child solders.

In personal capacity, he is Senior Fellow at the Jubilee Centre at the University of Birmingham in the UK, which researches education policy on character, social and emotional development of children. He holds a master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Kent at Canterbury and has recently completed a mid-career programme with the Harvard Graduate School of Education on Leadership and Education Reform. He is recognized as a public speaker, blogger and influencer on violence against children and adverse childhood experiences. His TedX talk on Adverse Childhood Experiences can be found here. Ben can be followed on twitter and his blogsite.