Matthew Dalling is a senior child protection and social services specialist with more than twenty-five years of experience supporting child protection systems in humanitarian, fragile, and development contexts. His work focuses on child protection systems strengthening, social service workforce development, alternative care, case management, civil registration, and child protection in emergencies, with a strong emphasis on translating policy commitments into practical, implementable, and sustainable reform. He brings particular expertise in supporting governments and UN partners to operationalise national strategies through costed plans, standards, tools, and workforce development approaches.
Matthew has held senior leadership roles with UNICEF, including as Chief of Child Protection in the State of Palestine and Sierra Leone, where he led system strengthening efforts in complex humanitarian and crisis contexts. He has provided technical leadership on multi-country initiatives to develop service standards, integrated case management tools, competency frameworks, and costed workforce roadmaps, and has supported care reform through the development of minimum standards, gatekeeping mechanisms, and transition plans. His work also includes strengthening family support services, community-based prevention, multisector referral pathways, and contracting and monitoring systems for social services. Matthew is known for producing clear, operational guidance to support government-led reform processes. He holds a Master of Science in Development Management (London School of Economics) and Bachelor degrees with Honours in Social Work and Industrial Psychology, and is based in South Africa.