Families want a healthy environment for their children to thrive and develop their own wings. This year, we celebrate the 30 years of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. For the occasion and with Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) in mind, in Helsinki on 3-4th October 2019 under the Finnish Presidency of the EU, COFACE Families Europe and Vaestoliitto (the Family Federation of Finland) will host a gathering of family professionals on the topic of shaping a healthy environment fit for children. This is an open conference, and we are aiming to gather between 80-100 key stakeholders from Finland and Europe.

Taking a holistic family perspective and multi-generation approach as a starting point, we will use this opportunity to:

• Consider different areas (education, nutrition, early childhood education care, environmental risks, child-friendly cities, family circumstances) which impact the health and well-being of children;
• Bring to the fore the expertise of the COFACE network and consider together how to strengthen the child health perspective in different policy areas;
• Use the conference as an Open Space for family professionals to meet, exchange, network, collaborate, and build transnational dynamics;
• Use the brainstorms and exchanges to develop the first elements of a 2030 compass to guide the work of COFACE and partners to ensure we can develop measures to build a healthy society, environment and economy fit for children.

This meetup will start on 3rd October with a Spotlight on Finland : Round table on evidence-based methods on family work. There have been sustained national efforts to compile evidence-based methods on family work, which can be found on the “Early Intervention” online platform.  Similar approaches exist in Sweden and Norway but this is quite a new trend in support programmes for families. A representative from the European Platform for Investing in Children will also take part in this session to bring a European perspective to the discussions.

On 4th October, we will open the conference with keynotes on the new Finnish Child Strategy and an overview of child well-being across the EU. Then the learning and networking with happen through two channels: Open Spaces and Networking Hotspots.

• Open Space  1
  Age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education for children in Finland: Delivery, advocacy and building support
• Open Space  2
  Building child-friendly spaces and cities for well-being
  
• Open Space  3
  Inclusive early childhood education and care – a great start for children with disabilities
• Open Space  4
  The health impact of environmental risks for children with special focus on air quality and endocrine disruptors.
• Open Space  5
  Nutrimedias: a training on the impact of advertising on the food and nutritional choices of children 
• Open Space 6
  A family environment at risk of poverty: the economic, social and health consequences for well-being of children

See full programme.

Join us! Register here. Deadline: 16th September 2019.

For more information : secretariat@coface-eu.org