Who are we?

Eurochild is an active network of organisations and individuals working in and across Europe to improve the quality of life of children and young people.  Eurochild’s work is underpinned by the principles enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Eurochild AISBL is funded by the European Commission within the Community Action Programme to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion.

The association has the following non-profit-making, internationally useful objectives ‘to promote the welfare and rights of children and young people’ through:

• producing, developing and sharing information on policy and practice
• monitoring and influencing policy development at the European level
• developing interest groups and partnerships between members in European countries
• developing partnerships with other European associations that share common goals
• influencing and making recommendations to international institutions such as the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the United Nations
• supporting and developing the capacity of members
• empowering children and young people to make their views heard

The activities which the association proposes to undertake to achieve these objectives are the following:

• conduct campaigns in pursuit of the above social objectives
• create forums for discussion, consultation and co-operation
• facilitate opportunities for trans-national support and exchange
• arrange conferences, seminars, training and other events
• produce and disseminate both paper and electronic information
• represent the views of members to international institutions in Europe through both formal and informal structures as well as through written material
• commission and carry out research
• obtain, collect and receive money and funds by way of contributions, fees, donations, subscriptions, legacies, grants and any other lawful methods
• support the development of new initiatives
• take appropriate action as is necessary for the above mentioned aims and objectives such as employment of staff, leasing or purchasing office accomodation and equipment and other services as required

Nothing in these declared aims and objectives should be construed or implemented in such a way as to interfere with the statutes of member organisations.

For more information, please see Eurochild's Statutes

Funding

Until 2007 Eurochild's main source of funding was the Community Action Programme to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion of the European Commission. It also receives part of its revenue from membership fees and other income such as donations.

CAP to Combat Poverty & Social Exclusion 2002-2006

In the context of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), this programme is meant to support cooperation which enables the Community and member states to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of policies to combat poverty and social exclusion by:

• improving the understanding of social exclusion and poverty with the help in particular of indicators that allow for comparisons,
• organising exchanges on policies which are implemented and promoting mutual learning in the context of national action plans (NAPs),
• developing the capacity of actors to address social exclusion and poverty effectively and to promote innovative approaches.

Eurochild was being funded by Strand 3 of this programme: Participation of the various actors and support for networking at European level.

However, from 2007, the CAP and several other Programmes of the European Commission are going to be replaced by the so-called PROGRESS Programme:

PROGRESS, the new Community programme for employment and social solidarity entered into force on 1 January 2007. PROGRESS has the objective to financially support the implementation of the objectives of the EU in the employment and social affairs. It also enables the co-funding of NGOs active in the following fields:

• Employment (implementation of the European Employment Strategy)
• Social protection and inclusion (specifically, the implementation of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) in this field)
• Working conditions (including health and safety at work)
• Anti-discrimination and diversity (implementation of Article 13, also the mainstreaming of anti-discrimination in EU policies)
• Gender equality (implementation of gender equality, and gender mainstreaming in EU policies)

For more information on the new Programme, please check the website of the PROGRESS program.