Michaela Ashley-Cooper is a Programme Manager and head of research at the Centre for Early Childhood Development, an early childhood development NPO based in Cape Town. She holds a master’s degree in Research in Psychology from the University of Cape Town with a thesis on the neuropsychological effects of childhood trauma. Michaela has worked in the ECD sector for over 12 years; managing a range of integrative intervention programmes and research programmes. Her research has included conducting quantitative and qualitative research, researching and writing ECD programme evaluations, writing research reports, journal articles, opinion articles and academic papers on ECD in South Africa, as well as analysing data and writing reports for all the Monitoring and Evaluation elements of the various intervention programmes CECD runs. This has included conducting and publishing a large-scale ECD research study looking at effective ECD programmes in South Africa, for the Department of Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency, as well as working as the lead author on a book chapter entitled, “Early Childhood Development in South Africa: Inequality and Opportunity” for a book on education and inequality in South Africa edited by Nic Spaull and Jonathan Jansen, published by Springer Press. More recently Michaela worked at the co-editor on two books, “Thought Leaders on Early Childhood development in South Africa: A Collection of Thought-Provoking Essays” published by CECD, and “Voices from the Early Childhood Care and Education Field in South Africa: Research and Promising Practices for New Directions” published by SARAECE.