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Editorial
"Ensuring social cohesion through investing in people” was one of the key messages of Commission President Barroso. Not only did he address the European Parliament in his on the 12th September in his State of the Union address, he also sent a letter to the President of the European Parliament, in which he gives an insight into the upcoming priorities of the European Commission. We here at COFACE are greatly anticipating the European Commission’s Work Programme for 2013, to be able to shape our own work plan accordingly.
COFACE Members will meet on the 8-9th October to discuss our priorities for 2013, which will determine what we will work on next year. Vulnerable families figure very highly on our list of priorities, as well as reconciliation of work and family life. We will of course continue to work on early school leavers, early childhood care and education, consumer policies, safer internet and disability in the family.
Migrant families and families separated by economic migration were on the agenda of a study day we organised on the 18th September. With our Members we discussed how to take the issue further within COFACE, as well as at European and Member States levels. As we have been accepted as full members at the Integration Forum, this is definitely an issue we will continue working on.
In other news we are very close to finalizing our Nutrimedia project, which is a collaborative effort with UNAF France, ASGECO Spain and APTE France. The project is an awareness raising tool for family organisations on the harmful practices in advertising food and beverages targeted specifically at children, and what parents can do to challenge critical thinking in children vis-à-vis these adverts.
We hope you enjoy the newsletter, and we hope to see you soon, perhaps at our next event on the 9th October?
Agnes Uhereczky, COFACE Director |
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COFACE - European Year 2014 Campaign updateCOFACE took part in the Administrative Board meeting of ELISAN, the European Local Inclusion and Social Network, where we presented the activities of the European Year 2014 Alliance and asked for the support of local authorities, municipalities towards our campaign.
After a fruitful discussion within the Board of ELISAN we are happy to announce that the network of European territorial communities, active in the field of local social actions, is pleased join to the Alliance and back our Manifesto. ELISAN’s decision further supports our belief that the proposal for 2014 to be dedicated to showcase, discuss and exchange practices in family and work life reconciliation issues has real actuality, not just in European, but also national, regional and local level.
Also, next month we are starting our lobby activities in the European Parliament regarding a Written Declaration campaign, calling for the European Year 2014. We will keep you informed, mobilised and updated!
Press release: Local Authorities support 2014 European Year for Reconciling Work and Family Life
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EU - Becoming employment policy expertsThe demographic challenge we so often talk about is not the future, it is only the vehicle that takes us to a future, in which we will basically have to work until the end of our days, as the social security system we enjoy currently won’t be able to cope with the sheer number of users. No wonder, as all the current policy makers are either approaching, or already over the current usual retirement age.
Therefore, we must really try to look at this issue differently. The old lifecycle model of 1. studies, 2. graduation, 3. work, 4. retirement won’t exist in the near future. We don’t want to wait until we retire to start spending time with family members or travel. We want to reconcile our work engagements in a very mobile, fluid way wit care responsibilities, studies and travel. This implies starting work later, in our late twenties, taking longer career breaks for care or self-development, but also staying active later, with diversified activities, in both formal employment and voluntary work engagements.
This is also one of the reasons we need to be successful with our 2014 European Year, to shake up current beliefs, and modernise labour market policies and practices to benefit families... Read more
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COFACE - Upcoming event on Family friendly regionsCOFACE will organise a workshop on "Family Friendly Regions - Towards smart and sustainable growth" during the 2012 Open Days of the Committee of the Regions on 9 October 2012. The aim of this workshop is to draw the attention on the role local and regional authorities can have in shaping the living and working environment to respond better to the needs of families.
If you wish to attend this event, please, register here
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COFACE - Families across borders: the family impact of economic migrationThe idea of the "transnational family" is about recognizing that settling in a foreign country does not tie up all the loose ends of immigration and that migrants keep in regular touch with their families across borders. This has several implications, on the individual, on the family and also on the countries of origin and destination.
Family expectations and needs are often the trigger for economic migration but also for internal EU mobility. Pretending otherwise, or refusing to see that migration is a family business and does not only concern the single individual but has a strong family dimension is partial and short-sighted... Read more
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COFACE - Digital Na(t)ïvesIn an essay published in 2001, Marc Prensky coined the term "Digital natives" to describe a new generation, born typically after 1980, who are inherently familiar with and competent in using new technologies and feel at ease in the "digital" world.
This term caused a lot of excitement amongst politicians and companies, believing that this new generation would reconcile our fatigued economies with growth by innovating with their natural ICT skills. Many actors, especially NGOs advocating for more child protection online, found out to their dismay that this term was instrumental to block many potential actions (regulatory or self-regulatory) by governments or businesses.
Indeed the term is present in the ”Digital agenda" which calls for listening more to these "Digital natives” and is discussed in articles and blogs on the EC websites. Some people have pointed out the oversimplification of such a term, but the recognition that this term is misleading has not lead to any policy implications... Read more
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EU - Economic crisis and suicide – families hit twiceStatistical feedback from EU Member States since the onset of the crisis in 2008 shows a worrying link between rising unemployment and the suicide rate. Italy’s Association for Economic and Social Research claims that one suicide every day may be caused by the economic crisis in Italy, where the number of jobless people taking their own lives rose by over 30% in 2010.
It is clear that things have taken a serious turn for the worse in the four years since the WHO first warned political leaders about the human toll taken by the crisis back in 2008.
The debt-ridden retired pharmacist in Greece who committed suicide in central Athens leaving a note accusing the Greek government with its EU-imposed austerity measures of "annihilating any hope for my survival" is still fresh in the memory.
Broadly, the hardest-hit are men aged 45-65, mostly fathers, heads of households and the main family breadwinner in countries where female employment is not the norm. Some countries facing serious budget deficits are thinking about or actually are cutting back their support services to families when they need them most, especially when having to cope with the tragic death of a loved one.
Many sociological studies have shown that the family is ultimately the first social safety net in an economic crisis. Our political leaders would do well not to forget that. Families are paying the cost of the crisis in more ways than one...
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COFACE - The role of parents: to give support, parents need supportParents play a key role in providing support for their children with their online experience in various ways. They can use technical mediation (use parental tools), restrictive mediation (forbid the use of the internet) or active mediation (discuss their child's activities online). Parents may feel overwhelmed and lost when confronted with the extremely fast paced innovation and change in both the online world and the technology (smartphones, tablets...). They therefore need specific help and assistance from a variety of actors to keep up with the change.
To assist and protect their children, parents need knowledge (awareness raising campaigns), time (policies reconciling work and family life – see COFACE's campaign on the 2014 European Year) and often money (when using specific tools or devices).
However, whereas every actor can provide information (public authorities, NGOs and the industry), only companies can directly influence the development and functionality of most of the tools parents have at their disposal.
Several developments are needed to ensure that parents have adequate tools to support them in their digital parenting... Read more
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UE - European Platform against poverty and social exclusion: stakeholder dialogueOn the 21st of September, the European Commission organised the 5th meeting of EU stakeholders on the European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion.
During this meeting, Lieve Fransen, Director of the unit "Europe 2020: Social Policies” at DG Employment, ensured that they will find a general agreement for 2013-2014 work programme. Their targets are the following: child poverty, active inclusion, the social investment package (inclusion to the labour market; extreme sides of poverty, as homelessness; increase the efficiency of social investment, as the social protection; increase innovation and creativity in the social area; improve the governance).
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EU - Parenting support and education in EuropeThe final meeting of Eurofound’s report on Parenting Support and Education in Europe was held in Dublin on the 10 September with the presence of several research bodies, university representatives and social partners. COFACE warmly welcomes the work of Eurofound in the area of parenting support and education since the topic coincides with our work in many aspects.
Firstly, several parts of the research document closely follows COFACE’s previous policy papers as well as contributions to consultations, where the notion of positive parenting, peer support, self help groups or the promotion of e-parenting is underscored. Moreover, the concept of family mainstreaming is also well emphasized in the document; a perception that has always been very important in our work at EU as well as member states level.
Secondly, positive parenting cannot happen without both parents dedicating appropriate amount of time to their children. This recognition in the research paper has particular importance for us, considering COFACE’s and other European level networks’ lobby efforts to campaign towards 2014 to be the European Year for Reconciling Work and Family Life.
The report is to be launched during the next upcoming months and will be widely distributed at all levels.
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