Interview with Amy Karageorgos, Senior Advisor at Save the Children

CFD has partnered with Save the Children, an international NGO championing the rights of children across the globe. Newsletter Director Autumn Bachofen interviewed Amy Karageorgos, Senior Advisor for Disability Rights and Inclusion at Save the Children US to learn more about Save the Children’s history, projects, aspirations, and partnership with CFD.

CFD Team: Tell us a bit about your role as a Senior Advisor, Disability Rights and Inclusion for Save the Children US. What role do you see research playing in championing the rights of children around the world?

As Senior Advisor for Disability Rights and Inclusion at Save the Children US, I lead efforts to uphold the inherent dignity, autonomy and independence of both adults and children with disabilities through Save the Children’s programs and advocacy. My role focuses on ensuring that children with disabilities— and their families, as well as caregivers with disabilities— are included in our programs, policies, and advocacy initiatives . This means working across sectors such as education, health, child protection, and humanitarian response to remove barriers to participation and promote equity.

Research and evidence are essential to this work, helping us understand the current landscape, shape how we support the disability community, and amplify the voices of children with disabilities and their families so our approach is grounded in lived experience. Ultimately, robust evidence demonstrates that inclusion is not only a rights-based imperative— it’s also a driver of better outcomes for all children and communities.

CFD Team: Why partner with Boston University’s Center on Forced Displacement, and why now?

Partnering with Boston University’s Center for Forced Displacement is a strategic initiative to advance evidence-based solutions for one of the most pressing challenges of our time: providing meaningful support to children and families displaced by conflict, extreme weather events, and other factors — especially when resources are limited. We value the wealth of deep expertise in interdisciplinary research, data analysis, and policy engagement that this collaboration brings, all critical tools for understanding the complex drivers of displacement and its impact on children.

Why now? Global displacement is at record levels. Children are disproportionately affected, and those with disabilities face additional challenges. Without rigorous research and innovative approaches, responses risk being reactive rather than transformative. This partnership combines Save the Children’s 106-year-old expertise and global footprint with BU’s academic rigor to generate actionable insights that can influence program design— protecting rights, promoting resilience and, most importantly, getting resources to those that need it them most. This is the moment to invest in knowledge that can shape solutions that will impact generations.

CFD Team: Tell us a bit about the focus of your project in Somalia. What do you hope to learn through your research on displaced persons in Somalia dealing with disabilities?

Somalia faces protracted conflict and climate shocks, causing widespread displacement and other challenges. One of our projects there focuses on providing critical support to families with children with disabilities who are displaced and living in IDP camps.

This research addresses a major gap in disability-sensitive cash programming, as children with disabilities are among the most vulnerable in crises, and often invisible in humanitarian data and programming. In Somalia’s IDP camps—where families are already struggling with the compounded effects of conflict, climate-induced displacement, and severe resource scarcity— kids with disabilities face even greater barriers to accessing basic services, education, and protection.

This project enables a deeper understanding of how cash voucher assistance (CVA) can meaningfully support children with disabilities and their families in complex humanitarian contexts. While cash assistance is widely recognized as a strategic mechanism to support families in times of crisis, there is limited evidence on how much a family with a child or caregiver with disabilities needs to meet their specific needs. This research will help close that gap and inform more inclusive, effective programming, so every child has a better chance to thrive.

CFD Team: What outcome(s) do you hope to achieve through this research? How do you see this research contributing to the philanthropy and advocacy of Save the Children?

Through this research, we aim to achieve three key outcomes:

Inform evidence-based approaches for cash voucher assistance that adequately address the specific needs of families with children with disabilities in humanitarian settings. This includes understanding how families prioritize spending, identifying the additional costs they face—from specialized medical care and assistive devices to accessible shelter modifications and therapeutic support—and determining how much they need to meet these additional costs.
Generate actionable insights to strengthen Save the Children’s cash programming across humanitarian settings around the world. As a leading global humanitarian organization, it is critical that our programs are inclusive and responsive to the heightened vulnerabilities of children with disabilities and their families.
Provide a robust evidence base for philanthropy and advocacy. Findings will help advocate for disability-inclusive humanitarian financing, influence donor priorities, demonstrate the return on investment of targeted cash assistance, and make a compelling case for increased funding— specifically designated for disability inclusion in emergency response. This evidence will also support our advocacy efforts to establish minimum standards for organizations providing cash assistance to families with disabilities.

CFD Team: Broadly speaking, what else should people know about your research and work?

This project is part Save the Children’s broader commitment to ending discrimination against children with disabilities and their families. It reflects our dedication to evidence-based action—investing in rigorous research rather than making decisions based on assumptions. We intend for the findings from Somalia to have far-reaching implications, helping transform how the humanitarian sector approaches cash assistance for families with disabilities worldwide.

View all posts