Better public spending for better outcomes for children & families

Date: 28th November 2014
Category: Awareness-raising

The Eurochild Annual Conference 'Children First: Better Public Spending for Better Outcomes for Children & Families' took place in Bucharest on 26th-28th November 2014 and presentations and initial conclusions have now been published.

The conference addressed important questions around public spending choices, including what evidence is needed for good decision-making? How should evidence be used? What is the role of the public and private sectors? How do we ensure accountability in service delivery, as well as efficiency and effectiveness? How can we meaningfully involve and empower the children and families we support?

Together attended the conference and this opportunity was used to help establish new and strengthen current links with European organisations working to further children's rights, and to determine new EU funding opportunities. The conference was valuable in gathering views and experiences from a range of European children's organisations on the success and barriers of ensuring policy translates into practice in their countries, and in increasing understanding the current context of children's rights in Scotland.

Together found that many similar barriers were faced in ensuring children's rights were realised in practice such as access to justice and ensuring that the rights of the most vulnerable children were protected. Scotland is regarded highly in terms of its policy and legislation on children and children's rights, yet many of the conversations concluded that regardless of differences in policy and legislation, implementation of children's rights remains patchy across Europe.

• Presentations and initial conclusions from the conference can be found here.

A full report of the conference will be published in early 2015.