Eurochild held their General Assembly and Members’ Day 17-18 April in Brussels. COPE was approved as a member organisation, and is looking forward to being an active part of the Eurochild network. The event began with a welcome from Jana Hainsworth, Eurochild Secretary General, and then a panel discussion/exchange in the morning of April 17, with Josefine Hederström, Stefaan Hermans and Valeria Setti from the European Commission responding to questions asked by children from the Eurochild Children’s Council.
Valeria Setti identified three priorities in her work: coordination between colleagues to help realise the children’s rights perspective in their work; encouraging dialogue between key actors to help them understand the needs when promoting children’s rights; ensuring that funding goes hand in hand with policy priorities. Ms. Setti also highlighted that there is still a need for awareness raising in children’s rights. One of the questions asked during the panel discussion was how children can support the work of the commission (and that of child rights organisations). Ms. Setti responded that it is important that we work together, that children’s input is essential on evidence, data, challenges and how to address them. She highlighted a need to include more children.
Ms. Hederström mentioned that there are big differences between Commission departments, saying that it is fundamental that the commission be able to work with civil society in a transparent way, and that there is room for improvement in the engagement of people with disabilities and those living in poverty. Ms. Setti discussed that the European Commission can improve the incorporation of children’s views, that child participation is a journey and it is important to begin this journey. As a conclusion to the panel, Ms. Hederström underlined that the Commission is working on preventing extremism, that there are 23 million children in the EU classified as poor, and that homelessness and poverty are key issues being targeted. Ms. Setti mentioned a significant amount of work is being done to combat hate speech and some member States have lowered the voting age to 16 as a way to increase youth participation. She also mentioned it would be great to see an intergroup on children’s rights in the next parliament. Mr. Hermans asked a question to those present – how many people in society are still being left out? And what can we do about it? Jana Hainsworth’s conclusion to the panel considered objectives for the next five years, and what we want to achieve. She said that there is a need for an ongoing discussion and dialogue, and to learn about democracy from an early age. The Eurochild General Assembly reviewed work from 2018, including the Eurochild conference in October 2018 in Opatija and the Europe Kids Want survey as a way to give a voice to children and young people. The outgoing Eurochild Children’s Council gave a presentation on their experience and Dalia, from Estonia, said ‘the training I have received has given me the tools I need to give back on a local level’. In 2019, Eurochild is moving towards investing in early childhood development, there is a policy briefing being developed with recommendations for the next EU mandate. Eurochild is looking to harness member’s knowledge to bring attention to gaps in service provision, and work on internal and external monitoring and evaluation.
On 18 April, there were a number of breakout sessions, providing members the opportunity to discuss a range of different topics, and to develop ideas for future projects and collaboration. Breakout sessions included themes such as Eurochild’s European Elections Campaign; Taking Eurochild’s child participation strategy to the next level; Eurochild’s governance & network development; The next EU budget from a Child Rights perspective & the Child Guarantee; EU presidencies & Institutionalising child participation in EU institutions; Early Childhood Development – a campaign to leverage EU funds & influence for better policies & public investment.
Some key conclusions from the child participation session included the need for more two-way exchange between young people and key actors, where young people give input at a high level/participate in initiatives, but then where those who received the input should come back to young people and share with them the results of their input. Young people should receive feedback on what happens when their views are shared. Suggestions were made for the creation of a child-friendly guide to EU governance, and meetings with adults to increase their awareness of how best to facilitate child participation. Asking children their opinions should be mainstreamed! Highlights from the session on early childhood development were focused on key advocacy messages concerning the subject. Children are precious resources and should be invested in. With comprehensive programmes, inequalities can be tackled in early life. All children should have access to preschool and school, and education should be adapted based on the needs and ideas of children.
The 2019 Eurochild Members Day and General Assembly provided a fantastic opportunity to meet and discuss with other members who are working towards improving children’s rights on a European scale. There are a number of exciting initiatives coming up in the next few years, and COPE is looking forward to continuing participation with Eurochild.