Activities

Expert (QoC) Talks

To regularly hold expert talks in the Working Group on the Quality of Childhood (QoC) in the European Parliament building. This Working Group was set up by the AFC-ENG in 2006 together with the Austrian Member of the European Parliament, Karin Resetarits. The AFC-ENG is helpful to the Members of the Parliament to develop the agenda for the Working Group sessions and to draft the reports of these meetings.

The sessions are hosted by MEPs. So far some thirty MEPs from different parties have hosted these sessions. See the list of these MEPs here.

Since December 2006 the Working Group has held six QoC Talks every year in the European Parliament building in Brussels. Currently the Working Group is planning to host three to four QoC Talks per year. Altogether 91 sessions have been held up to the beginning of 2024. See the list of the QoC talks here.

The QoC sessions are open for public. They are announced in the Parliament Building and via a mailing list by the Chairman. The AFC-ENG dispatches the invitation for the expert talks to 1,800 people worldwide and also in this way conveys its mission to interested network partners. Since 2014 the Learning for Well-being Foundation, which is a partner of AFC-ENG, has hosted a more informal discussion session after the parliamentary presentation.

Partner Meetings

The AFC-ENG holds two partner meetings each year in Brussels in the context of the sessions held by the Working Group on the Quality of Childhood at the European Parliament (QoC Talks). In the meetings, the partners brief each other on their viewpoints and activities in their own organizations and countries and in this way exchange ideas and practices in relation to the mission of the AFC-ENG. The partners also participate in the planning of the activities of the AFC-ENG.

Books

To publish books on expert QoC talks and invited papers. The AFC-ENG has published seven volumes during the period 2010 to 2018. Volumes 1 to 4 were published with ECSWE (European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education), and volumes 5 to 7 with the Learning for Well-being Foundation. See Publications.

Collaboration

To collaborate with organizations who share the same vision and goals as the AFC-ENG.

The AFC-ENG is a member of Eurochild, the EU Alliance for Investing in Children, the Child's Rights Action Group of NGOs in Brussels (CRAG) and the European Policy Centre (EPC), and a partner in the International Council of the Alliance for Childhood and of the Learning for Well-being Community.

Stimulate cooperation

To stimulate cooperation among the partners of the AFC-ENG and in the European Parliament for the benefit of children. We were pleased therefore that in December 2014 an (official) Intergroup on Children's Rights was established by Members of the European Parliament.

Conferences

AFC-ENG and its predecessors have been the co-organizers of the following conferences

In 2000 in Brussels: Rights to children, a bridge to the future
On 18 January 2001 at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam the conference 'A Policy Agenda for the Child'.
In 2002 in Zeist, The Netherlands: The heart and soul of learning
In 2005 in Salzburg: How children learn
In 2010 in Budapest: Child in the balance
In 2012 in Washington: Conference ‘A Global Summit on Childhood' was organised by the Association for Childhood International and the American Alliance for Childhood in Washington, USA from 28 until 31 March 2012. From the AFC-ENG participated Christopher Clouder, Lea Pulkkinen and Michiel Matthes. Lea Pulkkinen gave a speech entitled: ‘Ten Pillars of a Good Childhood: a Finnish Perspective'.
In 2013 in Brussels: The unfolding conference nurturing a culture, that allows each and every child to unfold their unique potential and to engage in society.
Two partners of the AFC-ENG, i.e. NIVOZ and the Learning for Well-being Foundation, organized a follow-up to the unfolding conference in Brussels on February 8 and 9 2017 in the Netherlands. The title of the conference was 'Unfolding human potential'.
A partner of AFC-ENG, Haukkala Foundation, organised a conference 'For the Best of the Child' in Helsinki on June 15, 2017.

The Chairman and partners of AFC-ENG have also actively participated in conferences organized by its collaborators to learn from each other and promote the mission of the AFC-ENG.

Current plans are to organize Partners' Days

to get a deeper understanding of each other's organizations and activities
to identify where we can learn from each other's goals and activities
to explore how to be more effective in bringing about change in the real world that we all wish to do
to detect in which ways can we be more intelligent in our individual and joint efforts and collaborations to fulfill our Mission and Approach