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Confédération des organisations familiales de l'Union européenne

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Areas of expertise & Fields of activity:	Economic and Social: Children Disabled Persons Education Family Information Women Women/gender Equality Gender Issues and Advancement of Women: Advocacy and outreach Policy advice Violence against women Women and poverty Women and the economy Women in power and decision-making Population: International migration Population growth Population structure Reproduction, family formation and the status of women Public Administration: Socio-Economic Governance and Management Social Development: Aging Disabled persons Employment Information and Communications Technologies Poverty Social policy Youth Sustainable Development: Consumption and production patterns Demographics Education Energy Finance Gender equality Health Poverty
Geographic scope:	International
Country of activity:	Belgium Greece Ireland Romania Austria France Poland Estonia Latvia Netherlands Portugal Luxembourg Czechia Bulgaria Finland Hungary Norway Spain Sweden United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Denmark Italy Slovakia Switzerland Germany Croatia Cyprus Slovenia Malta
Millennium Development Goals:	Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Promote gender equality and empower women Improve maternal health Ensure environmental sustainability
Mission statement:	COFACE works towards a family friendly environment, enabling families and their members to benefit from appropriate financial resources, available quality services and sufficient time in order to live and enjoy their family life in dignity and harmony. In addition, the core values of COFACE are non-discrimination and equal opportunities, pluralism and democracy. We are basing our guiding principles on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the best interest of the child being central to all the activities we do and promote at COFACE. In addition, as COFACE is also giving a voice to families with a member with disabilities, we have also applied to UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to the work we do on that subject. In addition, a lot of our work is also focused around women as mothers, carers and workers, as well as policy makers and decision makers. We are advocating for gender equality, reducing the gender pay and pension’s gap, eliminating all forms of violence and discrimination against women, as well as we are working towards creating the necessary conditions for women’s participation in the labour market, and for this work we rely on the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (PFA). COFACE worked on a number of projects to prevent, detect and fight any form of violence against women, especially focusing on domestic violence. In this work we base our guiding principles on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). COFACE is also very active in the reduction of the risk of and the prevention of poverty, and related to this also social exclusion. We are active in a number of areas to represent the interest of families in protecting them from over indebtedness, to ensure decent and affordable housing, a safe and healthy environment. COFACE was very actively involved in the 2010 European year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, which also adapted the MDGs to the European region, as the year was carried out in cooperation with the UNDP Europe and Central Asia region. We are also working on ensuring affordable, available and quality early childhood care and education, the right of every child to participation and quality education, as well as the role of the families in preventing early school leaving, which in the majority of cases leads to youth unemployment, social exclusion and poverty. Health in general, more specifically the impact of the market economy and pollution on health determinants in the family is another core issue for COFACE. We are actively working on the prevention of obesity, and the promotion of healthy and active lifestyles. Many of our members are also working directly with women and men on sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, and our Spanish and Finnish members are also carrying out awareness raising campaigns on the fight against FGM. Environmental sustainability, the support to local producers, the information to local consumers, a more ecological consumption and production is another focal point of the activities of COFACE. COFACE is also member of the European Expert Group on De-Institutionalisation, the promotion of transition from institutional to community based care. Under this initiative we cooperate with the UN OHCHR and UNICEF.
Year established:	1958
Year of registration:	1988
Organizational structure:	COFACE’s structure is organised to guarantee real representativeness: The General Assembly is open to the representatives of all member organisations and lays down general policy each year. The Administrative Council is COFACE's most important decision-making body. The Executive Bureau carries out the Administrative Council's decisions. (The Bureau consists of a President, two Vice-Presidents and a Treasurer.) The Secretariat in Brussels ensures the representation and the smooth functioning of COFACE and consists of a Director, Advocacy Officer, Communication Officer, Project and Finance Manager and two Policy Officers. In addition, the Policy work of COFACE is structured in 5 Working Groups of experts from the member organisations focusing on a range of issues: - Family and Social policies - Inclusive policies for disabled, other dependent persons and their families (COFACE-Disability) - Consumer Protection, Services, Public Health and Sustainable Development policies - Education and Information and Communication Technologies policies - Exchange of Information and Experiences: Mutual Learning & Capacity Building
Number and type of members:	COFACE represents the interest of all families. COFACE does not discriminate between family forms, and it gives a voice to all families. Its members are family organisations, or other non-governmental, non-profit organisations working with and for families. Members’ of COFACE are mostly interested in almost all of the European policies, as they all have an impact on family life. COFACE currently has 54 member organisations across 21 Member States of the European Union.
Affiliation with NGO networks:	Social Platform, European Disability Forum, European Alliance for Families
Funding structure:	Membership fees or dues Fundraising campaigns Other sources Grants from Governments
Funding structure other:	European Commission grants

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