CanWeBelieveinYou campaign gathers steam across Europe

With the rollout of Eurochild’s Can We Believe in You campaign we have seen encouraging discussions on children’s rights at local and national levels. National governments and civil society actors are beginning to address the European Child Guarantee initiative to tackle child poverty in their respective countries.

Following the launch of the original video on European media including Euronews and Euractiv in April, three new videos were released focusing on the situation of children in Finland, Spain and Bulgaria. In these videos, we hear children’s perspectives on the challenges they have faced including poverty, violence, discrimination – issues that have exacerbated as a result of the pandemic. 

One in three children in Spain are living with or at risk of poverty. The Spanish video puts the viewer in the shoes of such a child at risk. The video was rolled out in Spain by Plataforma de Infancia, a leading network of children’s rights organisations on the occasion of the European Social Summit in Porto, Portugal. The video campaign received attention in Spanish press and significant attention on Twitter.

Pedimos a los jefes de Estado y Gobierno de la UE que se reúnen hoy y mañana en Oporto #EUSocialSummit21 que asuman la recomendación de la Comisión Europea de crear una Garantía Infantil Europea #PodemosConfiarenTi #WeCanBelieveinYou @Eurochild_org https://t.co/4zwXIxbJkJ pic.twitter.com/FkIEcihXy7

— Plataforma de Infancia (@platdeinfancia) May 7, 2021

“We need the people in power to listen”.

In Finland, the Central Union for Child Welfare launched the Finnish video in time with the municipal election campaigns to ensure children’s rights remain a political concern.

Bulgarian child rights organisation National Network for Children has released the Bulgarian version of the video in which children ask “How can we meet our full potential when accessing school online is an everyday struggle? How can we call out abuse if we are left without a voice... We need you to stop arguing and start listening. Put us first.”

The videos encourage policy makers and decision makers to prioritise children’s rights and well-being and use the new European Child Guarantee initiative to change the lives of children. We encourage you to share it with your decision-makers and leaders so that the Child Guarantee can improve the situation of children across the European Union.

Watch the three videos:

In Ireland where our member Children’s Rights Alliance Ireland held a timely discussion on the Child Guarantee, Minister Joe O’Brien confirmed that the EU initiative would “sharpen” the Government's focus on child poverty. Child poverty in Ireland rose to 8 percent in 2019 after seeing a decrease in 2013-2018. Read the coverage of the discussions in the Irish media.

Learn more about the European Child Guarantee here.