Editorial
Dear all,
I hope that most of you are taking a break this week to spend time with your close ones. Some of you are maybe temporarily "transnational families" during this school holiday period, going back home with your children while your partner continues working, or going back home to visit your (grand-)parents. Thank goodness for technology right? To help you stay in touch. That virtual contact can be very helpful for family and personal relations but, if taken to the extreme, can carry risks. We'll discuss the impact of digitalisation on families next week in Berlin, with a full house. The mobilisation in Germany and from across Europe has been inspiring. We're looking forward to brainstorming with key stakeholders to prepare the future. To prepare the now. Be sure to follow us on Twitter using the #DigitalFamiliesEU hashtag.
The news from COFACE members this month covers initiatives on a variety of fronts as always: building capacity of civil society organisations in child/youth policy in Croatia; raising awareness on energy poverty prevention in Spain; addressing new food-related challenges for elderly populations in Italy; making links with the European Pillar of Social Rights and the role of carers in Slovakia; promoting family health through sports in France; supporting family carers through the launch of an "Emergency Family Carers Card" in Belgium.
We strive to link this local innovation to EU initiatives such as the adoption in EPSCO Council of an opinion on the European Pillar of Social Rights; the work of the European Commission on implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; promoting the development of community-based social and health services through the European Structural and Investment Funds; providing a voice for civil society family organisations in different key European debates such as the Annual Data Summit looking at harnessing the power of the digital revolution; and the publication of country profiles under the Social Protection Performance Monitor which monitors progress towards the 2020 poverty target. One EU initiative taken a few days ago, the signing of the CETA trade agreement between the EU and Canada, is only indirectly linked to our work but is likely to have an impact. See below for full updates.
I guess one way to make real links between the local level and EU realities is to convene a meeting of COFACE members in Brussels. We did just that with members of our COFACE Disability branch converging to Brussels for their annual meeting 10 days ago. It was extremely useful to discuss current developments in relation to disability at national and EU level, the implementation of the UN CRPD, the progress on the transition from institutional to community-based care, and prepare our 2017 stocktaking study of the challenges and needs of family carers in several European countries.
Happy reading and very best wishes,
Liz Gosme
Director of COFACE-Families Europe
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Public consultation on the European Pillar of Social Rights
In March, the European Commission put forward a first, preliminary outline of what should become the European Pillar of Social Rights, followed by a wide public consultation taking place throughout 2016 to allow citizens to provide feedback on the outline. Following COFACE Families Europe's reflection seminar held in Brussels end of September 2016... Read more
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Call for proposals 2017 Erasmus+
The Erasmus+ programme offers opportunities for higher education mobility and cooperation projects with European partners. The new Erasmus+ Programme Guide is still covering the fields of Education, Training, Youth, Jean Monnet and Sports, through different key actions that are detailed in the call... Read more
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Final countdown to the conference “The impact of digitalisation on 21st century families”, 7-8 November, Berlin
To take part in the debates online, feel free to follow us on Twitter @COFACE_EU and use the conference hashtag #digitalfamiliesEU on Tuesday 8 from 9am to 4.30pm CET. All the information about the conference can be found here
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COFACE-Disability annual meeting
On 21 October, COFACE Disability (consisting of organisations representing families of people with disabilities) held its annual meeting in Brussels led by Chantal Bruno, President of COFACE Disability. The group decided to review next year the European Charter for Family Carers to better reflect the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities... Read more
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The European Reconciliation Package presented at the UN in Geneva
On 10th October, the NGO Committee on the Status of Women held its Forum on Economic Empowerment of Women & Girls in Geneva. COFACE-Families Europe was invited to present the European Reconciliation Package and the current EU developments in the field of reconciling work, family, care and personal life... Read more
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How to bring support and health care services to the people in the community? EEG seminar,Poland
On 6-7th October, COFACE Families Europe represented the European Expert Group on Deinstitutionalisation (EEG) at a seminar co-organised by the Polish Ministry of Health, the EEG, DG Empl and DG Regio. The seminar was attended by policy makers from regional and national level... Read more
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COFACE participation at the eTwinning and Digital Citizenship conference
COFACE Families Europe’s Vice-President Antonia Torrens attended the eTwinning and Digital Citizenship conference held in Athens on 27-29 October. The event aimed at exploring how to raise the capabilities of the schools of today to be prepared for the challenges of the fully digital society of tomorrow... Read more
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Questionnaire of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
The Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities is currently preparing a study on the provision of support to persons with disabilities. COFACE Families Europe answered the questionnaire and we hope that it will be of great help to better cover the challenges of persons with disabilities and their families face in Europe... Read more
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BEUC and COFACE’s campaigns on food marketing targeting to children
COFACE Families Europe fully supports BEUC’s campaign “Food marketing to children: game over” on food marketing targeting children. COFACE is also very active in this field and has created a media teaching tool applied to nutrition intended for any person with educational concerns: NUTRIMEDIA... Read more
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Digital parenting or ‘just’ parenting? - Exploring the dilemmas of modern parenting
The online world offers ‘new’ sets of challenges, where children may encounter certain ‘risks’ or ‘inappropriate content’ online at a much earlier age, and parenting clearly needs to ‘adapt’ to this new reality. Not all ‘traditional’ parenting can be transposed to online settings, however – bullying and cyberbullying are clearly different... Read more
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Step by Step (Croatia) “Organisations that care” project
In 2015 and 2016 the Parents' association Step by Step implemented the project “Organisations that care”. The main objective of the project was to strengthen the capacities of civil society organisations for monitoring and advocacy for good governance and transparent decision-making regarding policies referring to children and youth... Read more
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Anziani e non solo (Italy): Project Gymsen-Elderly at risk of malnutrition
“Coaching the taste and smell” of older people can have positive effects on nutrition and on their health. This is one of the preliminary results of the project "Gymsen (Sensory gymnastics for elderly) carried out under the EU programme Erasmus+. COFACE Families Europe’s member “Anziani e non solo” is the Italian partner of this project... Read more
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Seminar (in Slovakia) on the European Pillar of Social Rights in the context of formal and informal care for EU citizens
The Slovak Chamber of Social´s Workers and Assistants of Social's Workers together with the Civic Association for Sustainable Development of Regions in Slovakia (represented by Slavomíra Mareková, member of COFACE Disability) are organising a seminar on the EU Pillar of Social Rights in the context of formal and informal care for EU citizens on November the 3rd... Read more
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Isadora Duncan (Spain) organises a workshop for preventing energy poverty
The Single Parent families Foundation "Isadora Duncan" organised a workshop on the prevention of energy poverty: "An answer to your questions on electricity bills". The workshop targets single parent families, women and immigrants, and was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality... Read more
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Aidants Proches (Belgium) celebrates the family carers week
The 3rd edition of the family carers week was organised from 3rd to 9th October in Belgium. During that week, more than 60 activities focused on family carers were organised around the message “Think of me as much as I think of you”. The programme proposed conferences, open doors, information sessions, experience sharing, roleplaying exercises, movie debates, workshops, games, and more... Read more
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UNAF (France) partner of the “Famillathlon”, Families’ National Sports Day
The 12th edition of “Famillathlon”, Families’ National Sports Day took place from 17th September to October 2nd, and was sponsored by the French Secretary of State for Sports. Famillathlon aimed to help different generations explore the pleasure and benefits generated through sports in order to motivate families to take time to do some sport regularly... Read more
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EU and Canada sign a trade agreement, known as CETA
On 30th October, following much debate and controversy, the EU and Canada sign a trade agreement, known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). COFACE Families Europe will monitor the developments of this trade agreement from afar, through different civil society alliances at EU level... Read more
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Update on the work of the EU Social Protection Committee
On 13th October, the EPSCO Council adopted a joint opinion of the EU Social Protection Committee and the EU Employment Committee on the European Pillar of Social Rights. Both Committees suggested a number of areas which they think merit greater visibility within the Pillar, including gender equality, adequate systems of social assistance, non-discrimination, and the effects of digitalisation and automation... Read more
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Report 2016 Work Forum on the implementation of the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities published
The Work Forum aimed at ensuring that the UN Convention is fully implemented. It allowed to share experiences on its practical implementation and monitoring and to promote solutions to common challenges. Magdi Birtha, COFACE-Families Europe’s Policy and Advocacy officer wrote the report of the forum that has been just published. More information here
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Press Statement on the situation of Children in Calais by the EP Intergroup on Children’s Rights
Many of the unaccompanied minors in Calais are at high risk of going missing and ending up in the hands of traffickers and smugglers. MEP Caterina Chinnici, Intergroup's Co-Chair called on the French law-enforcement authorities to take all the necessary measures to ensure that the dismantling of the camp is conducted in full compliance with the best interest of the child... Read more
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World Mental Health Day: The digital age as an opportunity to improve youth mental health
On the 10th of October, Mental Health Europe held a conference on the issue of mental health in the digital age. Experts from the industry and representatives from civil society gathered to share expertise and experience on how to prevent, protect and improve youth mental health online.COFACE-Families Europe presented the #DeleteCyberbullying project and lessons learned... Read more
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EU Committee of the Regions (CoR) consultation on sustainable EU food policy
The CoR is currently drafting an opinion on sustainable EU food policy, which will be aiming to address the issue of food production in a more comprehensive way, promoting more sustainable food production and consumption patterns and pleading for establishing a link between food and other policies... Read more
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Annual Data Summit “Harnessing the Power of the Digital Revolution”
On the 13th of October, Politico Europe, in partnership with Telefonica, organized the second Annual Data Summit. This year, the focus was on the opportunities that processing data could bring, as opposed to underlining the risks. COFACE-Families Europe has been very skeptical about the so called “benefits” of Big Data... Read more
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UN: Call for Submissions for the UN CSocD55 Photo Exhibition
The UN Commission for Social Development (CSocD55) based in NY is planning to hold a photo exhibition on “Strategies for the eradication of poverty to achieve sustainable development for all” from 1 to 10 February 2017 to promote the work of the Division. Deadline: 21 November. More information on this website
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EASPD: 20 Years on the Road. Service providers constantly evolving to pave the way to inclusion
In 2016, the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) celebrates its 20th anniversary and therefore organised a number of events, including a big anniversary conference, “Join the Trip! 20 Years on the Road”. The conference was organised with some of their key partners, including COFACE Families Europe... Read more
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Families&Societies: Final conference in Brussels
COFACE Families Europe attended the final conference of the research project "Families and Societies" on 17th-18th October. The programme included presentations on changing family constellations across Europe; Education and Fertility; Vulnerable Families; the positive outcomes of childcare, and much more. We will use the evidence collected during this 4-year research project to feed into national and EU reconciliation policy discussions. More information here
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Eurofound research report: The gender employment gap - Challenges and solutions
The report details the main characteristics of gender gaps in labour market participation, employment and economic status. It looks at the main determinants of female labour market participation and studies the social effects of women’s participation in the labour market, as these effects go beyond the economic sphere and extend to people’s well-being and to society as a whole. More information here
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