COFACE Families Europe

Building sustainable and future-proof education systems: How can families contribute to a paradigm shift?” 4-5 October, Austria
2018-10-04 - 2018-10-05 | Graz, Austria
A COFACE Families Europe conference, co-hosted with KFÖ, the City of Graz, the Province of Styria under the Austrian EU-Presidency

Concept
The starting point for the conference is to explore education in a holistic way and bring the family perspective to debates on education, including the core values of COFACE Families Europe: social inclusion, equal opportunities, solidarity, empowerment, human rights and non-discrimination. COFACE Families Europe considers these essential for building inclusive, diverse and sustainable communities in Europe.

Context

The Right to Education has been recognized as a human right in a number of international conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 26), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Articles 13 and 14), and the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 28) which recognises a right to free, compulsory primary education for all, and includes an obligation to develop secondary education and higher education accessible to all. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) defines and guarantees the right to inclusive education.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030. SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning. Education is the key that will allow many other SDGs to be achieved. Inclusive and quality education must therefore be placed as a priority in both policy and practice.
Child rights and well-being is a priority for COFACE Families Europe, and this includes in the field of education. Member organisations of COFACE Families Europe provide different types of services to families to help them support the well-being of their children, including support in addressing challenges linked to the education of their children.
Education is a hot topic at EU level, with principle 1 of the recently proclaimed European Pillar of Social Rights focusing on Education, training and life-long learning: “Everyone has the right to quality and inclusive education, training and life-long learning in order to maintain and acquire skills that enable them to participate fully in society and manage successfully transitions in the labour market.”

Conference objectives
The combination of international human rights obligations, the momentum around the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the newly proclaimed European Pillar of Social Rights, and the importance of education for COFACE Families Europe, means the time is right for us to contribute to promoting education where children without discrimination can take part in quality and inclusive education, so they can have a good start in life and access better opportunities across their lifecycle.
This conference will look at education holistically, and namely:

Mainstream the core values of COFACE in discussions on education;
Examine the role of families as first educators and their support needs;
Explore the role of families in building sustainable and future-proof education systems;
Ensure that inclusive and quality education is placed as priority in both policy and practice;
Contribute to shaping the future education landscape in Europe.

Thematic workshops
Different experts on education will gather from Europe and Austria to examine practical examples of along the following four topics:

Making education inclusive and accessible for all;
The role and limits of digitalization in schools;
The importance of childcare, at a crossroads between education, family and social policy;
Supporting parents to tackle different forms of discrimination in schools.

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Speaker’s presentations
Welcome speeches
Video message from Marianne Thyssen, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility
Keynotes
“Placing the child at the centre of our education systems”
Irmeli Halinen, Director for Educational Innovations, Metodix Oy. Former Head of National Curriculum Development, Finland.
WS 1: Inclusive education from right to reality: is legislation enough to empower families?
Michèle Racke, Deputy Director of APEMH, Luxembourg.
Gaetano Santonocito, Managing Director of A.I.A.S. Città di Monza Onlus, Italy.
Isabel Amaro (Psychologist) and Maria José Lorena (Occupational Therapist), Fundaçao Liga, Portugal.
WS 2: The transformative power of digitalization in schools: where to draw the line?
Claire Morvan, Communication Manager, eTwinning, Europe.
Julien Léonard, Expert, Union Nationale des Associations Familiales, UNAF, France
WS 3: Childcare in the 21st century: at a crossroads between education, family and social policy?
Kurt Hohensinner, City Councellor for Families, Youth, Education, childcare and social affairs, Member of the City Government, Graz, Austria.
Sven Iversen, Director of the Association of German Family Organisations (AGF), Germany.
WS 4: Parental support services to address discrimination against their children: how can education contribute to building inclusive societies?
Livia Járóka, Member of European Parliament, Hungary. (video speech)
Astrid Ebenberger, KFÖ-Vice-President
Antonia Torrens, Director of KMOP (Family and Childcare Centre), Greece.

More information
To see the programme of the conference click here.
To see the biographies of the great international line-up of speakers click here.
To see the info pack, click here on INFO PACK GRAZ CONFERENCE 4-5.10.2018.
Questions? Contact secretariat@coface-eu.org

COFACE Disability Platform meeting and field visit hosted by the Institute of Robotics for Dependency in Spain
2018-06-27 | Sitges, Spain
On 25-26 June 2018, the COFACE Disability platform (for the rights of persons with disabilities and their families) met in Sitges, Spain. The meeting was hosted by COFACE member The Institute of Robotics for Dependency (IRD or Instituto de Robótica para la Dependencia in Spanish). IRD is a foundation, based in Sitges, Barcelona. It promotes and encourages research and training in robotics and assistive technology for disabled and dependant persons, in order to improve their quality of life, as well as the quality of life of their families and care professionals.
On the first day, the participants followed a Seminar on support needs in Catalonia with presentations from Rosa Cadenas (Dincat Group), Glòria Canals (Fundació Aura) and Montserrat Falgera (Redós Foundation). We will take some of the key messages from Catalonia back to Brussels in EU-level discussions, namely the need to support autonomy and inclusion, as well as fair and adequate retirement for persons with disabilities, and community-based support. After the introduction on the Catalan examples, there was an introduction of different projects from the IRD followed by a questions and answers session. Some examples here
After the seminar, the group visited the Ave Maria Foundation to see the several projects focused on enhancing independent living of persons with disabilities in the community. Some examples, the Never Alone project (telecare platform for people living at home), the innovative residential care facility of the Ave Maria Foundation for persons with disabilities and the Laundry ID project (2017 EESC Civil Society Prize winner project for labour market inclusion of persons with disabilities).
On the second day, the participants followed a session on EU developments such as the European Accessibility Act, the EEG/DI, the next EU Multi-Annual Financial Framework, the EU Disability Strategy, the European Pillar of Social Rights and the proposed EU Work-Life Balance Directive. The participants also discussed the COFACE Study on Family Carers and COFACE’s position on the family dimension of the long-term care. The COFACE members also exchanged on different training programmes for family carers.
More information about IRD: https://institutorobotica.org
Photos of the event: https://flic.kr/s/aHskAGS9nR

COFACE Families Europe celebrates 60 years of active engagement
2018-05-15
MEDIA RELEASE – 15 May 2018, International Day of Families
On the International Day of Families 2018, the United Nations is celebrating families and inclusive societies, highlighting the role of families and family policies in advancing Sustainable Development. On this occasion, COFACE Families Europe is celebrating its 60th anniversary looking back at the achievements of family organisations in Europe, and starting from there to build a sustainable future for all families.
#cofaceturns60 #familieseurope @COFACE_EU

The history of COFACE is intertwined with the history of the European Union. COFACE was born in 1958 as a separate arm of the International Union of Family Organisations, following the creation of the European Economic Community. In this context, the family was considered a ’consuming unit’. COFACE members mainstreamed the family perspective beyond consumer policy, namely in the social, education, and disability fields. COFACE members followed the evolution of society through the years, with a formal shift from “the family” to “families”.
Today, COFACE Families Europe is an open and pluralistic network of national/regional organisations representing families in their diversity, striving to build a ‘better society for all families’ driven by solidarity, non-discrimination and equal opportunities. These values guide actions at EU level to support the implementation of key agendas such as the European Pillar of Social Rights, and the international obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. COFACE members create synergies both internally and externally through their wide range of expertise spanning different areas: from social policy to education, financial inclusion, disability, care/support, gender equality, migration, consumer issues, safer internet and data protection.
Marianne Thyssen, Commissioner responsible for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility: “I warmly congratulate COFACE on its 60th anniversary. COFACE is a great promoter of families, of social progress and inclusion. As Commission we do what we can on the European level. But COFACE knows best what families want. I hope the next sixty years will be as fruitful, and as social, as the previous sixty”.
Looking to the future, Annemie Drieskens, COFACE Families Europe President: “More than ever, pluralistic civil society organisations like COFACE need broad support to promote core European values, and to build bridges between local and EU level. Family organisations are essential for democracy holding governments at all level accountable. They are watchdogs and agents of change drawing attention to the emerging needs of families. Together they strive for the respect and implementation of fundamental rights and a better society for all European families”. This commitment must be reflected in the future ambitions of the European Union, in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
END
COFACE has published a series of drawings illustrating 30 milestones of its history, as well as a digital exhibition with real pieces of history.
See also: International Day of Families
About COFACE Families Europe
COFACE Families Europe has been involved for 60 years in building a strong social, family friendly Europe. COFACE Families Europe advocates for strong social policies that take into consideration family needs and guarantee equal opportunities for all families.

Making the European Pillar of Social Rights a reality for Europe’s families: mind the gap
2016-09-27 08:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Making the European Pillar of Social Rights a reality for Europe’s families: mind the gap
This COFACE seminar brought together key EU-level stakeholders, and published a discussion paper to kick off the debate.
Session 1: How to take the EU Pillar of Social Rights to the local level to both prevent and address the increasing vulnerability of families?
The first panel discussed openly and constructively how the proposed Pillar can have an impact at local level – what instruments exist already and what are the obstacles and the opportunities in using them.
Session 2: Mainstreaming social rights in other areas: how to take the Pillar beyond the EU social policy realm?
The second panel discussion focused on ensuring horizontal coherence between the Pillar and relevant parallel EU initiatives, which are relevant to some of the principles put forward in the Pillar proposal.
See here:

Full programme
Discussion paper
Seminar report
