2009.11.26.

Child poverty and child well-being: better monitoring for better policies
(conference on the draft report in Brussels, 26 November, 2009)

Children are an especially vulnerable group because of their dependent status and because they can only partly influence their own well-being. They are also our future: lack of opportunities during childhood all too often will have long-term consequences for the individuals concerned and for society as a whole. Swift action will instead pay off now as well as bear fruit in the years to come by breaking the vicious cycle of the inter-generational transmission of poverty.

Combating child poverty and improving child well-being have therefore become key issues on the policy agenda of the EU and Members States.

Following the work carried out in 2007 and 2008 by the European Commission and the Member States in the context of the European Strategy for Social Inclusion, notably the report prepared by the EU Task Force on Child Poverty and Child Well-Being, a new study was launched earlier this year to contribute to the development of more coherent and integrated policies in this area.

The main aim of the report is to:

• identify the main determinants of child poverty and social exclusion in Europe and across the Member States;
• provide an overview and assess the effectiveness of existing policies on income support and access to the labour market and enabling services of parents;
• define a reduced set of indicators which best reflect the multi-dimensional nature of child well-being, suitable for monitoring policies aimed at reducing child poverty, enhancing the welfare of children and improving their life-chances.

A conference organised by the European Commission on 26 November 2009 brought together researchers, policy-makers, experts and representatives of organisations working in this area to discuss the results of this study.

Agenda

9.00-9.10	Welcome: Georg Fisher, acting director (Directorate E - Social Protection and Integration, DG EMPL)
9:10-9:20	Child mainstreaming in the European Union: Isabelle Engsted-Maquet (Unit E/2 - Inclusion, Social Policy Aspects of Migration, Streamlining of Social Policy, DG EMPL)
9.20-9:30	The context and objectives of the project: István György Tóth (TÁRKI)/Terry Ward (Applica)
9.30-10.15	Session 1: Identifying the main factors of child poverty and social exclusion for policy making: combining international benchmarking and country level analysis
	Chair: Michael Förster (OECD)
	Presenter: András Gábos (TÁRKI)	(15 min)
	Discussant: Fran Bennett (University of Oxford, Dept. of Social Policy and Social Work)	(10 min)
	Discussion	(20 min)
10.15-10.45	Coffee break
10.45-13:00	Session 2: Policies that work in combating child poverty and social exclusion in the Member States
	Chair: Petra Hoelscher (UNICEF)
10.45-12.15	Part 1 Policy responses to key challenges (crisis)
	Country case study UK (Presenter: Jonathan Bradshaw – Social Policy Research Unit – University of York)	(10 min)
	Country case study Finland (Presenter: Markus Jäntti – Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University)	(10 min)
	Country case study France (Presenter: Michel Legros – Department of human and social sciences and health behaviour, Ecole des hautes études en santé publique)	(10 min)
	Country case study Poland (Presenter: Irena Woycicka – The Gdansk Institute for Market Economics)	(10 min)
	Discussant: Keetie Roelen (University of Maastricht)	(10 min)
	Discussion:	(30 min)
12.15-13:00	Part 2 Effective policy mixes (income support, access to labour market of parents, enabling services) and target setting at the level of Member States
	Presenter: Terry Ward (Applica)	(15 min)
	Discussant: John Halloran (ESN – European Social Network)	(10 min)
	Discussion	(20 min)
13.005-14.00	Lunch
14.00-15.30	Session 3: EU indicators of child well-being
	Chair: Eric Marlier (CEPS/INSTEAD)
	Analytical framework for reporting within the OMC and proposal for a limited set of child well-being indicators
	Presenter: István György Tóth, TÁRKI	(30 min)
	Discussant: Dominic Richardson (OECD)	(15 min)
	Discussion	(45 min)
15.30-15.45	Coffee break
15.45-16.45	Round table on Child poverty and well-being in the EU and the way forward
	Chair: Hugh Frazer (National University of Ireland)
	Participants: Magda de Meyer – Director of Cabinet of Philippe Courard, Secretary of State for social integration and the fight against poverty, Federal Ministry of Social affairs and public health; Aurelio Fernandez Lopez – Advisor to the Secretary of State for Social Security and Chair of the Social Protection Committee Margaret Wachenfeld - UNICEF Jana Hainsworth – EUROCHILD David Stanton – Chair of the ISG
16.45-17.00	Closing remarks: Isabelle Engsted-Maquet (Unit E/2 - Inclusion, Social Policy Aspects of Migration, Streamlining of Social Policy, DG EMPL)

Speakers and discussants (pdf)