Child Poverty- Eurochild’s achievements in 2023
Annual Report 2023.
With 19.4 million EU children are at risk of poverty and vulnerable groups, like Roma children, facing even higher risks of growing up in poverty, Eurochild continues its advocacy efforts to fight child poverty. The experience of poverty in childhood negatively impacts health, education, and employment outcomes later in life. Moreover, there is the intergenerational transfer of poverty. This is a devastating cost, not only to the individual but also to society as a whole. Governments and decision-makers should collaborate with civil society organisations to break the cycle of poverty by investing in children.
Eurochild has been advocating for a specific instrument to tackle child poverty since 2015, when the concept of the Child Guarantee (an EU initiative that should guarantee effective access of children in need to a set of key services) was first created in the European Parliament.
Our Achievements:
Thanks to the intensive advocacy work of Eurochild and other members of the Alliance for Investing in Children, the European Parliament adopted a report calling for stronger financial support for the European Child Guarantee. Eurochild also significantly contributed to the EP Resolution on ‘Children first – strengthening the Child Guarantee, two years on from its adoption’ and EP REPORTon reducing inequalities and promoting social inclusion in times of crisis forchildren and their families. Furthermore, our recommendations for the European Semester put children at heart of EU policies.
Eurochild also monitored the progress of the Child Guarantee including the overviews of the National Action Plans, expressing disappointment at the lack of meaningful consultations with children and delays in publishing national plans. To raise awareness and engage children in the initiative, Eurochild developed a Child Guarantee child-friendly explainer and game, including the innovative involvement of Roma children through the Reaching In project in Spain. Eurochild members joined a Spanish Presidency conference on Child Guarantee in Valencia, Spain.
Thanks to partnership with Tanya’s Dream Fund, we launched the project Leveraging EU influence to prevent child-family separation for families in adversity and influenced the inclusion of supportive measures in the Bulgarian Child Guarantee National Action Plan. We also started building a network of BG and other collaborators to prioritise families in policy.
Eurochild Members attended the 2023 EAPN People’s Summit in Porto to prepare the agenda for Porto Social Forum. This prepared the ground for Eurochild, as co-chair of the EU Alliance for Investing in Children, to actively participated in the Porto Social Forum 2023 where we presented joint recommendations to fight child poverty.
In the frame of the Community of Practice on Social Inclusion, hosted by ESF plus agency, Eurochild led debate on the Child Guarantee via co-organising and presenting at the events (4) aimed at ESF+ Managing Authorities, national public authorities and other stakeholders.
Additionally, in October, Eurochild's report, "Poverty takes away the right to childhood," based on children's contributions from children across the 4 National Eurochild Forums. This report
shed light on the harsh realities faced by children experiencing poverty.
On World Children’s Day, Eurochild released our flagship report: Children's Rights: Political will or won't? providing country-specific recommendations, including strategies to address child poverty and social exclusion based on assessments provided by 38 Eurochild members in 26 countries.
Through these initiatives, Eurochild continued to lead the charge in advocating for tangible solutions to fight child poverty and promote social inclusion across Europe.
