Whole Child Advisors
Strategy, sustainability, and systems thinking for children and youth in adversity
Our Mission
Our mission is to enable philanthropic foundations and organizations focused on children and youth in adversity and fragile contexts to invest strategically, design for sustainability, and strengthen systems and local capacity for lasting impact.
What We Do
At Whole Child Advisors, we provide strategic advisory support to foundations and organizations working for children and youth in adversity and fragile contexts, helping them make stronger choices about strategy, sustainability, local engagement, and implementation realities.
Our work is grounded in systems thinking and designed to strengthen the people, partnerships, and capacities closest to the work rather than center our own role.
We support clients at different points in the life of an initiative, portfolio or funding cycle: from shaping strategy and learning agendas to adapting during implementation and planning for continuity beyond a single grant, program, or portfolio. Our services can stand alone or form part of a broader advisory partnership, depending on what your work requires.
Services
Strategy & Investment Choices
Helping foundations and organizations clarify where to focus, where to invest, and which partnerships or opportunities are most likely to create lasting value.
Adaptive Implementation & Learning
Helping teams adapt as realities shift — using evidence, implementation experience, and practical constraints to make stronger decisions over time.
Localization & Local Capacity
Helping clients identify and engage local actors, strengthen local leadership and participation, and connect organizations to the partnerships and support systems that sustain impact.
Sustainability & Transition
Helping clients design for durability from the outset through local ownership, stronger system alignment, and practical pathways for continuity beyond any single grant or program, including a thoughtful transition or exit.
We work across countries and contexts though prioritize efforts in:
Colombia
Brazil
Cent. America
Caribbean
Haiti
Kenya
Mozambique
Tanzania
India
Pakistan
Colombia
Brazil
Haiti
Kenya
Mozambique
Tanzania
India
Pakistan
Areas of Deep Experience
Our work is grounded in whole child approaches to learning, protection, and wellbeing for children and youth in crisis, conflict, and fragile contexts.
Central to our methodology is the principle of collaborative learning based on evidence and experiences.
1
Early childhood development
2
Primary and secondary education
3
Technical and vocational education
4
Adolescent and youth development
5
Family, school, and community engagement
6
Mental health and psychosocial support
7
Resilience
8
Social and emotional learning
9
Teacher and school leader development for holistic learning
10
Whole child learning for children in crisis, conflict, or fragile contexts
Whole child approaches to learning and wellbeing
Child protection, mental health, psychosocial support
Resilience, and social-emotional learning
Teacher and school leader development
Early childhood development
Primary and secondary education
Adolescent and youth development / transitions to work
Family, school, and community engagement
Cross-cutting and emerging areas of interest: Responsible AI in education and learning, and climate-related risks affecting children and youth.
Why Us?
Whole Child Advisors is led by Ryan Burgess and draws on trusted consultants, researchers, and local partners as needed to match the scope and context of each assignment. We bring deep experience supporting foundations and organizations working for children and youth in adversity and fragile contexts — especially where leaders are navigating complexity, weighing trade-offs, and seeking impact that lasts beyond any single grant or program.
Our work combines strategic judgment, systems thinking, and a strong commitment to local leadership. We work behind the scenes to help clients make stronger choices, adapt as realities shift, and design for continuity from the outset.
If you’re facing questions around strategy, learning, implementation, local engagement, or sustainability, we’d be glad to connect.
Selected Examples of Advisory Work
Global Strategy Revision
U.S. Government Strategy for Children in Adversity: Led the revision of this multisectoral, interagency global strategy for children, families and communities in adversity. The revised strategy was launched in 2024 and shaped a renewed framework for action across sectors and agencies.
Partnership Strategy for Early Childhood Development
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation: Developed a partnership strategy and implementation roadmap to align funding and collaboration for early childhood development, creating a practical pathway for coordinated investment and action.
Domestic Financing Advocacy Strategies for Early Childhood Development
Moving Minds Alliance: Led the development of advocacy strategies to mobilize domestic financing for early childhood development in Nigeria, Syria, and Colombia. Based on stakeholder and financing analysis, this work produced country-specific strategies and action plans now being taken forward by partners.
About
Dr. Ryan Burgess is the Managing Director of Whole Child Advisors. He brings more than 20 years of experience supporting initiatives that strengthen learning, protection, and wellbeing for children and youth in adversity and fragile contexts across 40+ countries and five continents.
Whole Child Advisors applies a flexible model that brings in trusted consultants, researchers, and local partners when needed, particularly for multi-country work and context-specific assignments. WCA also collaborates with a small number of aligned institutions and networks, including Childhood Education International, the Learning for Well-Being Institute, and the Education Finance Network.
Ryan is from Colombia and the United States and holds a doctorate in International Educational Development from Teachers College, Columbia University. He maintains long-standing relationships across philanthropy, education, and child-focused global development that help connect strategy with grounded local knowledge.
Extensive Experience
Dr. Burgess has dedicated his career to the protection, resilience, learning and development of children facing significant adversities and fragile contexts. In the past 20+ years, he collaborated with Ministries of Education, foundations, and international and local organizations to strengthen education systems from early childhood to secondary education, including technical and vocational education, in over 30 programs valued at over $1b. He has contributed to systemic change in education in 17+ countries and reached over 45 countries.
Believing in the importance of understanding and working closely with those impacted by programs, Dr. Burgess has lived and worked in over 10 countries; speaks four languages; and studied several others (e.g., Serbian and Armenian) to understand the culture and language of where he worked or lived. He has experience in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe and Caucasus. Dr. Burgess has a doctorate in International Educational Development from Teachers College at Columbia University.
Contact Us
If you’re working through questions of strategy, learning, implementation, local engagement, or sustainability, we’d be glad to connect. Whole Child Advisors supports foundations and organizations working for children and youth in adversity and fragile contexts, with a focus on helping clients make thoughtful decisions that strengthen impact over time.
To explore whether a conversation or collaboration would be useful, please get in touch.
- +1 (917) 499-4947
- contact@wholechildadvisors.com
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