This expert meeting will use the integrated family policy framework created by the European Observatory on Family Policy to look more closely at the impact of services on children and their families, linking the implementation of the European Child Guarantee recommendation to the local level.
On 2-3rd May 2024 in Brussels, the Belgian presidency of the EU organise a conference entitled European Child Guarantee from engagement to reality. The event had a dual objective: firstly, to give key players the opportunity to analyse the work already completed and what remains to be done to achieve the objectives set, and secondly, to provide Child Guarantee coordinators with a platform to share their knowledge in the implementation of the European Child Guarantee.
On World Children’s Day 2023, the Spanish presidency organised an event in San Sebastián aimed at strengthening the commitment to providing school meals, building upon the foundation laid by the European Child Guarantee. COFACE Families Europe was represented at this conference by Spanish COFACE Board member, Amaia Echevarría, Director of UNAF Spain.
This online expert meeting will bring together speakers from the EU institutions, and ministries working on the Child Guarantee and COFACE member organisations, in order to discuss tools for monitoring and evaluation of Child Guarantee implementation.
This report from the European Social Policy Analysis Network (ESPAN) shows that most EU countries have mechanisms in place to ensure that all children (or at least those from low-income households) have access to each of these six “services”. However, these mechanisms vary considerably in reach, and all 27 countries have challenges to meet which may only concern access to a few services or may relate to (almost) all of them.
Together with 160 organisations and recognised academics, COFACE Families Europe has sent a letter to Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, urging her to comply with her own working programme and publish an ambitious Framework for Sustainable Food Systems.
On the 14th of June 2021, EU Member States unanimously adopted the Council Recommendation establishing a European Child Guarantee. Two years after this historical adoption and the promise of all EU Member States to act to lift children and their families out of poverty, COFACE Families Europe has published an assessment of the National Action Plans implementing the Child Guarantee.
The online exchange for COFACE and COFACE Disability members will especially focus on child-staff ratio in ECEC as a primary driver for child well-being and family engagement.
With this statement, the EU Alliance for Investing in Children aims to demand immediate attention to the delays in submitting the national action plans and offer key recommendations on the Child Guarantee and its upcoming implementation.
Even before the pandemic, child poverty levels were already high in cities – often much higher than national averages, which is why many cities have already been finding innovative ways to combat it.
