Investing in children
The 2013 Recommendation on Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage stresses the importance of early intervention and an integrated preventative approach, as a way to break the cycle of disadvantage.
The document calls on EU countries to:
- support parents’ access to the labour market and make sure that work ‘pays’,
- improve access to affordable early childhood education and care services,
- provide adequate income support such as child and family benefits, which should be redistributive across income groups but avoid inactivity traps and stigmatization,
- support children’s participation in extra-curricular activities and in legal decisions affecting them.
In 2017, when presenting the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Commission and the experts of the European Social Policy Network prepared an evaluation of the implementation of the Recommendation on Investing in Children:
- Commission staff working document – Taking stock of the 2013 Recommendation on Investing in children (2017)
- ESPN report – Progress across Europe in the implementation of the 2013 EU Recommendation on Investing in children (2017)
The Commission monitors and supports the implementation of the Recommendation and the European Pillar of Social Rights, in particular by:
- looking at the evolution of key policies through the European semester with the help of a scoreboard of indicators,
- advising how best to use EU funds to invest in children, for example the new Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived or the European Social Fund,
- disseminating innovative practices through the European Platform for Investing in Children (EPIC).
The EU Alliance for Investing in Children arises with the mission of raising awareness of the importance of Member States establishing national strategic policy frameworks for reducing poverty and promoting social inclusion, with a specific focus on preventing and tackling child poverty and promoting child well-being.