The European Child Guarantee recognises the importance of using national and local policy levers to support its implementation through quality services for children in vulnerable situations. Municipalities and services are at the forefront of work to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. According to a report adopted by the European Parliament in November 2023, “more needs to be done to achieve a more comprehensive, intersectoral approach to tackling children’s risk of vulnerability and to ensure genuine implementation by removing the policy, political, administrative and financial barriers.” This aligns with recent developments in various European nations, where there is a growing focus on enhancing multi-agency collaboration across local service providers. These offer a wide range of early intervention support to families through a proactive, preventive approach, which can facilitate smooth transitions during times of stress or crises, such as poor health, financial hardship, or unemployment.
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Content report
- Main findings
- Background
- Supporting parents and carers in the first years of life: effective intervention models
- An international perspective on effective poverty prevention models
- Utilising effective local poverty prevention systems to implement the European Child Guarantee
- Concluding remarks
Main findings
| Need for increased efforts to reduce the risk of poverty among children and young people | The trend in the amount of children and young people at risk of poverty in the EU is not on track to meet the 2030 targets. In addition, the poverty gap between households with and without children is increasing. Efforts to combat child poverty must be increased. |
| European Child Guarantee is viewed favourably | According to many participants, the European Child Guarantee (CG) has triggered additional investments at European and national level to prevent poverty and promote inclusion, created platforms for coordination and / or at least increased the priority and visibilty for combating child poverty. |
| From “relabelling” existing measures to providing additional funds | In their national action plans, some countries have essentially listed or relabelled existing activities. Although the participants believe that additional actions and funding should be triggered, some existing approaches and the coordination of existing measures have been strengthened by the Child Guarantee. |
| Child guarantee as an opportunity for preventive approaches | At the national level, the Child Guarantee has in part led to an improvement in funding opportunities for preventative approaches. This shift from “reactive” to “preventive” poverty policies should be further strengthened. This requires coherent strategies that include national, regional and local levels. |
| Interdepartmental approaches and the involvement of the finance ministries appear to be helpful | Interdepartmental approaches to combating poverty and promoting inclusion have been among the central demands on national implementation processes since the beginning of the discussion on the Child Guarantee. Those member states that have succeeded in establishing binding cross-departmental coordination structures appear to be particularly successful. Especially when the Ministry of Finance plays a constructive role. |
| Mixing universal and target group-oriented measures | Successful anti-poverty and inclusion policies have a mix of universal, preventative and target group-oriented activities. Both strategies must be combined and coordinated. |
| Involvement of stakeholders in the planning and implementation of specific measures | The participants see the community based orientation of support structures and measures as an important prerequisite for needs-based local preventative policies. In addition to aggregated data, this should be based on families and children being able to contribute their lived experience to planning and implementation. |
Agenda
9.30-10.00: Registrations/coffee
10.00-10.15: Welcome
COFACE and AGF
10.15-12.15: Panel discussion: Supporting parents and carers in the early years: effective models of intervention
Moderator: Martino Serapioni (COFACE)
Panelists:
– Arianna Lazzari (University of Bologna)
– Sandra Fischer (University of Bonn)
– Kristien Nys (Odisee University)
12.15-13.30: Lunch break
13.30-15.00
Panel discussion: An international perspective on effective models of prevention
Moderator: Sven Iversen (AGF)
Panelists:
– Jörg Fischer (Erfurt University of Applied Sciences)
– Olivier Thevenon (WISE Centre – OECD)
– Martin Lichte (European Social Network)
15.00-15.15: Stretching break
15.15-17.00 Panel discussion: Leveraging effective local prevention systems for implementing the European Child Guarantee
Moderator: Elizabeth Gosme (COFACE)
State of play of the CG Implementation: Jiri Svarc (DG EMPL – European Commission)
Panelists:
– Martina Kottmann (Fed. Ministry of Family Affairs – Germany))
– Hanna Vseviov (Ministry of Social Affairs – Estonia)
17.00-17.30: Final remarks
– Annemie Drieskens, Chair of the Steering Group of the European Observatory on Family Policy
The agenda can be downloaded here.
The event was followed by an internal meeting of stakeholders of the European Observatory on Family Policy on a strategic brainstorming about future research and policy partnerships. This took place on Thursday, 10 October 2024 in the AGF office.