Eurochild’s leading role and best practices as a knowledge broker for child well-being in Europe is recognised in a new OECD working paper
New analysis highlights the role played by knowledge brokers such as Eurochild in mobilising evidence to support effective policies for child well-being.
In a new working paper published by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in May 2023, “Mobilising evidence to enhance the effectiveness of child well-being policies: The role of knowledge brokers”, Eurochild’s contributions to developing best practices for creating evidence-informed policies to promote child well-being and drive more investment for children are identified. The OECD paper is based on a stocktaking of 81 knowledge broker organisations across 24 countries, complemented by a survey carried out with national and international experts, including Eurochild’s Director of Policy, Advocacy, and Communications, Dr Ally Dunhill.
Eurochild is among the European-based organisations highlighted as a best practice to achieve impact for children’s rights and well-being at the European and national levels. Furthermore, the work and expertise of Eurochild members at the national level in Europe, namely Bertelsmann Stiftung (Germany), the Central Union for Child Welfare (Finland), and the Netherlands Youth Institute (Netherlands) are also highlighted in the working paper.
The OECD issues ten recommendations to assist countries and knowledge brokers mobilise evidence, which reaffirms Eurochild’s strategic approach to promoting children’s rights and well-being:
- Mobilise evidence to inform holistic, long-term child well-being strategies that can overcome policy fragmentation and short-sightedness.
- Engage with policymakers at the highest level to bring child well-being to the forefront of policy debate.
- Set clear priorities for analysis after mapping the knowledge gaps and opportunities in policy making.
- Always nurture trust when building relationships with policymakers.
- Ensure that evidence affects budgeting and resource allocation decisions by offering clear statements on effectiveness.
- Pay attention to evidence addressing the challenges of implementation.
- Disseminate findings widely through active communication strategies that target various audiences and achieve impact in the community.
- Overcome silos by providing multidisciplinary evidence that draws on and benefits from diversified expertise.
- Invest in building strong data underpinnings focusing on longitudinal, multi-domain, and outcome-focused datasets.
- Actively engage and share methodological practices and findings at the international level.