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COFACE News | May 2016
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Dear all,
 
My name is Liz Gosme. Liz is my Scottish side. Gosme is my French side (a silent "S" since the surname dates back to before the circumflex was introduced). So: Franco-Scottish roots. Born in Paris. Today a citizen of Brussels. As a European social policy analyst with twelve years of experience defending and promoting the interests of civil society organisations in the European political arena, it is an honour for me to join the COFACE professional family at such a crucial time for Europe: economic pressure on Eurozone and other countries, waves of refugees arriving from further afield, increasing pressure on families to provide a safety net for their more vulnerable members. The daily innovations in our civil society organisations are more important than ever, and I intend to make sure the European Union is fully aware of the valuable contribution we can make to shaping family-friendly societies.
 
This month of May has been a busy one with some key actions and developments worth highlighting:
 
Enriching the team: We recruited a new policy and advocacy officer to join our Brussels team: Magdi Birtha (PHD). Selected for her specific expertise on Disability, with experience in the field of research on the European Disability NGO sector and on the implementation of the UNCRPD, and her involvement in de-institutionalisation projects at national level in Hungary (her birth country). She will monitor three main fields for COFACE members: Disability issues, Education, Poverty and Social Exclusion.
 
International Day of Families 2016: COFACE members celebrated the International Day of Families in style on 15th May, with various types of initiatives and campaigns. This is an important annual opportunity to raise awareness on the need to develop family-friendly policies. The UN especially wishes to demonstrate how such policies can contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals 1 to 5: No Poverty, No Hunger, Promoting Health and well-being, Quality Education, and Gender Equality. All goals which COFACE currently strives for in Europe.
 
United Nations and the Sustainable Development Goals: COFACE was represented by our President, Annemie Drieskens, at the United Nations (UN) expert meeting on "Family policies and 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda" which took place on 12-13th May in New York. For this meeting, we prepared a COFACE paper based on some of the key ideas and recommendations from our Amsterdam conference on the SDGs (April 2016) in order to provide information about the latest research on family trends, show some of the innovations in our civil society organisations, and provide policy pointers for the future. This was a great opportunity for COFACE to bring a European perspective to the global stage offered by the UN.
 
Upcoming seminar on the EU Pillar of Social Rights: While we do look beyond Europe now and then, our central focus is key developments in the European Union, and namely the European Semester. During this month of May 2016, the European Commission published its 2016 Country Specific Recommendations (CSR) which are tailored recommendations to help countries prioritise their expenditure in order to boost economic growth, employment and social inclusion. We intend to build on the family-friendly 2016 CSRs in our upcoming September seminar on the future EU Pillar of Social Rights - an opportunity to take a closer look at the potential of building a sustainable rights-based EU social policy agenda which can both support family-friendly policies and contribute to the inclusive growth objectives of the Europe2020 Strategy.
 
I hope you enjoy reading our newsletter - as always comments and feedback are welcome!
 
All the best,

Liz Gosme
COFACE Director

 

COFACE
UN expert meeting on "Family policies and 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda"

The expert group meeting on ‘Family policies and 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda’ took place on 12-13 May in New York, and contributed to further analysis of the role of family policies in advancing broader development goals and a number of SDG targets. COFACE was represented by its President Annemie Drieskens to reflect on 'The role of civil society organisations in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals', and to provide a European perspective in the debates.
Read the COFACE Paper “The role of civil society organisations in the achievement of the SDGs”

The meeting coincided with the International Day of Families 2016, this year on ‘Families, healthy lives and sustainable future’.

READ MORE

COFACE
COFACE welcomes a report on work-life balance and invites MEPs to support it

While waiting for the European Commission to analyse the responses to the public consultation and preparing a proposal for a European Reconciliation Package, the EP has taken a pro-active attitude and initiated a report on “Creating labour market conditions favourable to work-life balance”. The report will be voted during the summer, and then, presented and voted in Strasbourg. COFACE welcomes this report and invites MEPs to support this initiative.
In particular, COFACE welcomes the Life-cycle approach. Reconciliation should not be seen and promoted as a benefit for young parents only, but as a system and a safety net for all family members throughout their lives.

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COFACE
COFACE at the Families and Media Self-regulation meeting, London School of Economics

On the 10th of May, LSE hosted a symposium on the topic of families and “screen time”: challenges of media self-regulation. The event addressed the critical issue of successfully reaching parents with resources which will empower them to better accompany their children in navigating the Internet, taking full advantage of the opportunities, develop resilience and minimize risks which could lead to harm.
Much of the debate centered on the tricky contradiction between the necessity to present clear and simple messages and guidance while at the same time addressing the various parent “profiles” and their varying needs based on their parenting styles, socio-economic status or education level.

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COFACE
COFACE at the EU Consumer Over-indebtedness conference in London

The major issue of the conference was about identifying the best level to act, to design policy responses to overindebtedness and more specifically, insolvency. Full or partial harmonisation? Or rather subsidiarity and no need for EU intervention? The large range of experts, professionals, academics and industry representatives invited brought their views on this complex question. The conference was structured on the case studies of four European countries.
The major arguments in favor of minimal harmonisation are based on the cultural, social and historical major differences between Member states.

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MEMBERS

Women 4 Women, Czech Republic | Celebration of UN’s International Day of Families

Women for Women –the Czech Republic’s leading organisation for one-parent families put together a programme, which offered great entertainment, fun games and activities and useful information for all types of families and for the young and old. Ivan Tykac, and founder of W4W said ‘All families matter. We celebrate all types of family – one-parent families, step families, the traditional married family, adoptive and foster families, blended and extended families, and those with opposite and same sex parents’.

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MEMBERS
AGF, Germany |
27 June, Berlin: "Measures, objectives & principles of monetary transfers for children in Europe"

In nearly all European countries the question of how a subsistence minimum for children and families can be secured by the social system needs an answer. This is an important topic for families and family politics. The definition and the system of a subsistence minimum for children and families have a major impact on other social standards as well (in social, fiscal and maintenance law).
The Association of German Family Organisations (AGF) is organising a European expert meeting on this topic in Berlin.

REGISTRATION

MEMBERS
Salud y Familia, Spain | New programme for sustainable economy within the family

The Spanish association Salud y Familia (Health and Family) is launching a new program called 'Revalúa' (Revalue) for sustainable family economy in order to provide advice and assistance to vulnerable families suffering from energy poverty. They provide information and guidelines for a responsible and basic sustainable consumption.
More information about this programme (in Spanish)

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MEMBERS

CWSP, Bulgaria | 16 June, Brussels: Presentation of the “European guide of best practices: companies fighting gender-based violence”

CWSP, the Bulgarian Center of Women's Studies and Policies, is presenting, together with the partners of the CARVE project, a European guide of best practices on fighting gender-based violence. The guide is a practical tool for companies to address the issue of gender violence at work but also outside the workplace. Good examples of companies, public administration, State and NGO’s good practices will illustrate the guide.

REGISTRATION

MEMBERS
KMOP, Greece | Online Questionnaire for Support Workers

We invite you to participate in the research conducted as part of the EMPOWER (Educational Materials for Practitioners providing Opportunities for vulnerable Women’s Employability and  Resilience) project, under the Erasmus+ programme.
The main objective of the questionnaire is to identify the training needs and challenged faced by support workers working with vulnerable women as well as the current provision of services and areas of demand, in the UK, Greece, Iceland and Lithuania. The collected information will be used only for research purposes.

SURVEY

EU NEWS
Draft Disability Strategy 2017-2023: will it help persons with disabilities to live with their families?

On 1 April 2016, the Council of Europe (CoE) has published the draft Disability Strategy 2017-2023 ‘Disability: from rights to reality’, a key document setting out the priority areas for CoE Member States to carry out actions in relation to disability in the next 7 years. The document is not legally binding, but it is an influential tool to be implemented by the governments of all 47 Council Member States.
The Strategy aims to ‘ensure equal opportunities, and independence of persons with disabilities and to guarantee their freedom of choice, full citizenship and equal participation in society’

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EU NEWS
EU Semester 2016 - A short overview of Country Specific Recommendations (CSRs) promoting family-friendly policies

The European Semester annual cycle is launched in November of each year with the publication of the European Commission's Annual Growth Survey which sets out the general annual reform priorities needed to promote economic growth and stability. Three months later, countries publish their National Reform Programmes. Then six months later, the Commission responds to the national reform programmes with CSRs. This year, as in previous years, the Commission recommends family-friendly measures such as supporting women’s employment, further developing early childhood services, addressing the gender pension gap, the gender pay gap, and more.

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EU NEWS
The European Parliament calls for common parental leave rules to be enforced

There are big differences in parental leave rules around the EU, and especially on who is entitled to take it. Public sector employees often have more protection than those in private businesses, and in some member states workers on fixed-term or zero-hour contracts are not always included.

The EU’s common rules on minimum parental leave should be better enforced EU-wide, says the European Parliament in a resolution voted on May 12th. The resolution, drafted by Maria Arena (S&D, BE) was passed by 491 votes to 101, with 38 abstentions.

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EU NEWS
New JRC study: Social innovation and digital technologies are supporting EU citizens and enhancing social services

A social enterprise recruits homeless people to work as tourist guides and uses the web to raise awareness about homelessness. Another one supports welfare beneficiaries by training selected individuals living with long-term conditions to help others with similar needs through a dedicated online platform. Governments have introduced telecare in health and social services or have developed intelligent systems for improving the prediction of demand and providing personalised services. These are real examples of how social innovation and digital technologies are supporting EU citizens and enhancing social services.

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EU NEWS
Study on the impact of marketing through social media, online games & mobile apps on children's behaviour

Children spend increasing amounts of time online, and television has been replaced by Internet both as an information source and a leisure activity among youngsters. The Internet has also overtaken television as the medium for advertising in Europe, and children are increasingly exposed to problematic online marketing practices.
To better understand the scope and effects of online marketing on children, the European Commission has funded an extensive research project. The study provides novel insights into the prevalence and characteristics of online marketing targeting children, how children's behaviour is influenced by these marketing practices, and how online marketing is regulated across Europe.

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PARTNERS
EESC: Civil Society Prize 2016 on Migration

For nearly two years the large and unprecedented flow of refugees from war-torn or underdeveloped countries to the European Union has heavily impacted Europe's political and social life. Providing food and shelter for the masses of refugees reaching the EU, familiarise them with the new realities and cultural differences as well as supporting them through their integration process was and still is a major challenge which the concerned Member States could only face thanks to the spontaneous and overwhelming support of citizens and civil society in general.
 
The EESC Civil Society Prize 2016 wishes to reward civil society organisations and/or individuals that have made a significant contribution in taking on this challenge by helping refugees and migrants and thus promoting European values and cohesion. The deadline for submitting applications is 9 September 2016.

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PARTNERS
BEUC: Finance: when more education isn’t the answer

Most people struggle with the basics of retail finance. Many financial products are constantly evolving and getting increasingly complex. Decisions like taking a mortgage or investing in a pension product have a massive impact on our financial lives, and on our children’s. The answer, many bankers and some public authorities say, is to throw education about financial services at consumers in adult classes or even at school. But does it really work?

READ MORE
PARTNERS

EASPD: Animation video “Reaching Out: building an inclusive society”

The European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities has launched the animated video presentation “Reaching Out: building an inclusive society”. The video is part of the EASPD’s activities to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

WATCH THE VIDEO

PARTNERS
Families and Societies Update

The FamiliesAndSocieties project studies important aspects of the family life course, focusing on new family configurations, life goals and transitions, on the new roles of women and men, and on late fertility, childlessness and assisted reproductive technologies.

LEARN MORE

OUR LOCATION

COFACE aisbl
Rue de Londres 17
1050 Brussels
Belgium

OUR SECRETARIAT

Contact details

Director: Liz Gosme
Editor: Ana Pérez
Contributors:
Martin Schmalzried, Magdi Birtha, Paola Panzeri

GET IN TOUCH!

Don’t hesitate to comment, ask questions, or start a conversation. We look forward to hearing from you!
© COFACE, as the Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union, has been involved for 58 years in building a strong social, family friendly Europe. COFACE brings forward the voice of millions of families, gathering 60 organisations from all over Europe. COFACE advocates for strong social policies that take into consideration family needs and guarantee equal opportunities for all families.

This newsletter has received financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation "EaSI" (2014-2020). More: http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi
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