What We Do
The FXB Center undertakes innovative research that takes a rights-based approach to understand and address the obstacles facing marginalized children, adolescents, and youth in parts of the world as varied as India, Serbia and South Africa. Through grassroots partnerships, we pilot positive interventions that are designed to empower these populations. In the search for sustainable solutions that can be implemented on a larger scale, we employ a range of interdisciplinary methods derived from public health and law, the social sciences, and the humanities. We translate our findings into policy recommendations and practice by engaging with international entities and relevant levels of government and civil society.
Our Work
The 21st century holds uncertain promise and grave risks for the great majority of young people. To respond to these risks, we conduct research and analysis on children, adolescents, and youth in extreme circumstances with the goal of promoting sustainable solutions. Our major initiatives focus on child protection and adolescent agency, particularly the transition to adulthood, as follows.
Child Protection
• Prevention of human trafficking and bonded labor in India and the United States;
• Identification and promotion of factors critical to the psychosocial adjustment and social rein¬tegration of former child soldiers and other war-affected youth in Sierra Leone;
• Family strengthening interventions among Rwandan children and families affected by HIV/AIDS.
• Advancement of the rights of children in undocumented, refugee and detention settings; and
• Protection of the health rights of women, children, and adolescents through policy deliberations at the state and international levels.
Adolescent Agency
• Enhancement of access to secondary education among rural adolescent girls in Gujarat, India;
• Assessment of success factors among first-generation female college students in several states in India;
• Collaboration with organizations in South Africa intent on improving education and employment opportunities for disadvantaged adolescents and youth; and
• Empowerment of Roma adolescents and youth in Europe through social media and participatory research to challenge and remove obstacles to their education and employ¬ment.
The FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University is an interdisciplinary center that works to protect and promote the rights and wellbeing of children, adolescents, youth and their families trapped in grave poverty, stigma, and deprivation throughout the world. The Center pursues this goal by conducting and supporting research, advocacy, and targeted action in order to advance possibilities for empowerment as well as for sustainable and scalable solutions.
