Katia de Mello Dantas

Katia Dantas is a leading international expert in child protection dedicated to the prevention of institutional abuse with a focus on organizations targeting children and adolescents. With 20 years of academic and professional experience in preventing and responding to violence against vulnerable populations, Katia comes from a long history of working with global organizations, where she has led global and regional efforts to prevent and respond to the disappearance of children and adolescents, and child abuse and exploitation, both online and offline. In addition to being CEO & Senior Consultant for Educação Protegida, Katia has joined the renowned The Jane Group, a consulting firm specializing in crisis management, where she serves as a consultant for Latin America. Katia has served at the International Center for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) as Director of the Global Educator Center for Excellence, where she has equipped youth service organizations with tools, resources, and training to strengthen child protection, and has served as Executive Director of Monitoring and Program Evaluation, and Director of Programs and Policies for Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to working for ICMEC, Katia worked for the US Agency for International Development and the US Embassy in Brasilia. Katia earned her master's degree in International Development Policy from Duke University, supported by The Rotary Foundation's highly sought-after Master's Fellowship, the Rotary World Peace Fellowship. Fluent in three languages, Katia brings a multidisciplinary perspective and empirical knowledge to her projects and an extensive network of contacts in different areas relevant to child protection.