Public Policy Research Institute To Present Family Research Initiatives At UN

Staff members of the Public Policy Research Institute (PPRI) at Texas A&M University will present two new initiatives – including one addressing children with disabilities — at the UN International Day of Families Program on Tuesday (May 18) at UN Headquarters in New York.

The group members are guests of the Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the United Nations.

PPRI Director Charles Johnson plans to present a report from Project CHILD – Children and the Landscape of Disabilities, an extensive research project that examines the state of children with disabilities around the world. Project CHILD integrates findings from 57 countries, drawn from more than 100 interviews conducted with worldwide experts whose collective experience captures the realities confronting 75 percent of the world’s population.

Trey Marchbanks, a research scientist at PPRI, will present the Global State of the Family Index. This online index is a new family-focused database that provides international researchers with a uniquely relevant set of standardized metrics on the health and wellbeing of the family. The index consists of more than 90 indicators, including national rates of mortality and morbidity, child well-being, marriage, divorce and family economic data, and allows users to take advantage of the latest web-based statistical applications for their research.

In addition to the primary presenters, the PPRI research team traveling to the UN includes Cary Haynes, Shannon Peairson and Ryan Gosewehr.

This is PPRI’s third invitation to the United Nations, having previously presented other initiatives in 2008 and 2009, such as Global Family Matters Information System (FAMIS), an electronic archive of data and bibliographic resources on marriage, children, law, public policy and other topics that affect the family all over the world. The focus for this year’s International Day of Families in 2010 is on migration and its impact on families around the world.

PPRI’s research was funded by the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development, a leading global academic institute that sponsors research and scholarship on the legal, sociological and scientific basis of the family as the natural and fundamental group unit of society.

PPRI is a social policy research organization that has provided scientific research and evaluative services to public and private organizations engaged in determining public policy at both the national and international levels for more than 20 years.