Take a look at our 2023 journey to build a strong social and inclusive Europe
COFACE Core Values
COFACE – FAMILIES EUROPE is a network promoting the well-being, health and security of families and their members in a changing society. And serves as a trusted entity for family mainstreaming and for the voice/needs of families in the EU and beyond.
COFACE Families Europe is rooted in a set of six core values:
COFACE key activities
We advocate for families of all types without discrimination, bringing their voice to the table of European Union decision-making, ensuring that EU policies and legislation work in the general interest.
Furthermore, we support transnational exchanges between COFACE members (civil society organisations representing and supporting families) in the form of expert meetings, trainings, campaigns, conferences, webinars and more.
COFACE members are regularly updated and partners via the Families Corner newsletter, and interact with our social media communities.
Act NOW for families of today
COFACE Families Europe together with its members is very active in addressing the social challenges faced by families of today and advocating for policies to support their well-being. Here are ten specific actions (also available in Easy-to-Read language) which we would like to see integrated in the programme of the European Union from 2024 to 2029.
HIGHLIGHTED COFACE NEWS
Latest articles
Inclusive support systems for single parents families: from Belgium to Hungary
All across Europe, COFACE members continuously work to contribute to positive outcomes for diverse types of families in a changing society, including single-parent households. Organisations such as La Ligue des Familles and Single Parents Foundation have both recently and respectively put a spotlight on concrete ways to support and empower single parents in Europe from Belgium to Hungary.
Driving inclusion and diversity in the workplace: insights from Share The Care Poland
COFACE’s Polish member, Fundacja Share The Care supported the creation of a comprehensive study assessing the maturity of Polish organisations in managing diversity and inclusion (D&I). Conducted between January and March 2024, the study assessed 77 companies and organisations, primarily large enterprises, representing a wide range of industries.
OPINION – Empowering Parenthood: How the Work-Life Balance Directive reshapes parental Leave in Poland
On 23rd of March 2023, the President of Poland signed the bill implementing the work-life balance directive in Poland and the new regulation came into force on 26th of April 2023. This marks, two years of advocacy work led by Share the Care foundation coming to an end.
Explore more of COFACE work
COFACE develops different types of publications
including position papers, studies based on feedback from families, briefs on family and EU policies, meeting reports.
Our latest publications include a list of economic principles to help build an economy that cares.
You and the EU
The European Union develops different actions and laws to ensure family and child well-being.
And we at COFACE try to shape these actions based on our core values. These actions include:
- key guidelines and laws for national governments to strengthen their social and family policies;
- different long-term action plans to support governments;
- funding mechanisms to boost NGOs and families.
European Family Lab
Family supports & resilience in challenging times
Family supports are an essential part of making social rights a reality, and civil society has grown over decades to create a wide range of supports to families and children to ensure health and well-being.
Now, more than ever, it is important to connect professionals in real time through transnational exchanges in order to tackle the social impacts of different transitions (digital, green, energy, health) on families and children.
We believe the European Family Lab is the place to connect them, serving as an innovation incubator for ideas and cross-country knowledge transfer to help family professionals deliver the best possible supports for Europeans. We are building the Lab virtual room by virtual room, with a newly launched Education&Training programme for upskilling of professionals and families: the L.I.N.K. Programme.
COMING UP with COFACE
Events
COFACE working group on work-life balance
COFACE working group on work-life balance
The aim of this working group is to bring together COFACE members working on work-life balance matters and disability rights, to kick-start a discussion on the work-life balance of parents and carers with disabilities. We will discuss relevant EU legislation, and collec...
EU Policy Webinar on the implementation of the European Care Strategy
EU Policy Webinar on the implementation of the European Care Strategy
This webinar will bring together speakers from the EU institutions, and participants from different fields and backgrounds in order to discuss tools for monitoring and evaluation of the European Care Strategy implementation; and to share knowledge from national and EU l...
COFACE working group on safer internet
COFACE working group on safer internet
The aim of this working group meeting will be to find intersections between family, education and digital policies, to address key digital challenges for families of today, and to build stronger partnerships between family organisations, Safer Internet Centres and other...