November 27th | Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
The Meeting
On November 27th, the 1st International Meeting of ProChild CoLAB: The Childhood Pact will take place at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
The agenda of this meeting revolves around the public petition fostered by ProChild CoLAB for public discussion around the Childhood Pact which is built upon four pillars:
- Promotion of social inclusion and fight against child poverty
- Prevention and protection against all forms of discrimination and violence against children
- Promotion of children’s participation in advocating for their rights
- Coordinating childhood policies at various levels of governance
This will be a unique opportunity that brings together academics, professionals, representatives from public and private entities and policymakers in a participatory and enriching debate on combating child poverty and promoting the well-being and rights of children.
While putting children front and centre as a national priority, this event aims above all to generate a commitment for the adoption of active public policy measures and concrete actions oriented towards realizing the vision embodied in the Childhood Pact.
Join us!
Pact for Childhood
On the occasion of the 32nd anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on November 20, 1989 and ratified by Portugal on September 21, 1990, the citizens who sign the Pact for Childhood call on all sovereign bodies – the President of the Republic, the Assembly of the Republic, the Government and the Courts – autonomous regions and local authorities, bodies and services of the State administration, companies and social organizations, as well as the Portuguese people to assume, within their sphere of action and influence, the priority of childhood, which can be expressed in active public policy measures and concrete actions capable of guaranteeing in the present, without further delay, a happy childhood in a more cohesive and harmonious society.
At least 7500 signatures are needed to take this pact to the Portuguese Parliament for discussion.
Preparatory work to explore the Childhood Pact
To ensure fruitful discussions about the Childhood Pact, in January 2023 ProChild CoLAB began a preparatory work in which it conducted focus groups with children and discussion groups with reference professionals, organizations working on the ground, entities responsible for childhood and youth matters and local authorities experienced in initiatives involving children and young people.
The work involving focus groups with children took place in the Learning Territory of Guimarães and included participations by representative and inclusive groups from the 3rd and 4th grade classes of EB 1 Gondar and EB1 Selho de São Cristóvão schools, as well as children and youngsters from the Porta 7 group. In total, ProChild CoLAB held 15 working sessions bringing together children, teachers and school staff. The sessions involved exploring children’s rights through scenarios, scripts, and narratives created with them along with representations of stories that make up each pillar of the Childhood Pact. In these focus groups, children expressed the significance of the Pact and the importance they attribute to its different pillars through their own words. The outcome of these sessions is resumed in a video named “A Pact for Children in Children’s voices” which will be officially presented on November 27th.
During this preparatory process, ProChild CoLAB also conducted discussion groups with the aim of exploring different professionals’ perspectives on factors, conditions, mechanisms, strategies and measures to promote social inclusion and fight against child poverty. Representing each pillar of the pact, four groups were organized with the presence of a prominent researcher in the field, representatives from entities working on the ground, agents responsible for childhood and youth matters, and commissaries from local authorities with experience in initiatives involving children’s participation.
Each discussion group met twice online, led by a ProChild CoLAB researcher who posed common questions for all pact pillars and questions tailored for the theme of each specific discussion group, informed by literature and best practices. A ProChild CoLAB researcher also acted as a rapporteur during these sessions, taking in charge the task of collecting and processing information. On the day of the 1st International Meeting of ProChild CoLAB, this rapporteur will moderate the roundtable discussion for their respective pillar, thereby bringing the reflections, insights, and recommendations generated by these discussion groups to the forefront of the November 27th meeting.
Therefore, this event will be a unique opportunity to bring together academics, professionals, representatives of public and private entities, and political decision-makers in a participatory and enriching debate on combating child poverty and promoting the well-being and rights of children, with the ultimate objective of generating commitments for the adoption of active public policy measures and concrete actions aimed at achieving the vision set out in the Childhood Pact.