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Cairo, Egypt, 19th - 20th of January 2009

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Under the umbrella of the Egypt National Observatory for Child Rights, the Egypt Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), the National Council of Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) and the United Nations Children’s Fund in Egypt (UNICEF) are organizing an international conference on “Child Poverty and Disparities: Public Policies for Social Justice”. The conference serves as a platform for innovative thinking on social policy and child rights. It will bring together academics, policy makers, practitioners as well as university students to exchange experiences and discuss proposals for inclusive and child-sensitive public social and economic policies which aim to reduce child poverty and are based on scientific evidence.

Background

Many countries have been unable to set an economic agenda that eliminates poverty at the rate foreseen by the MDGs and which is required to achieve the rights of the child. In addition, inequalities have persisted or even increased. Moreover, even though children often constitute around 40% of the total population, their rights and special needs are often placed below other priorities, leading to lost opportunities in terms of both human and economic development.

Call for Papers

The conference organizers welcome proposals for presentations from academics, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners. University students and recent graduates are particularly encouraged to respond to the call for papers. The presentations at the conference can be any of the following formats:

1) Individual paper presentations of applied research or documented experiences;
2) Poster presentations on research findings or successful experiences; and
3) Feedback sessions for ongoing research projects by university students and PhD candidates.

Papers and presentations submitted should focus either on Egypt specifically or should discuss relevant applied research and experiences reporting on policy proposals that could possibly be transposed to the Egyptian context. They should 1) have a solid methodological approach, be it quantitative or qualitative; 2) have a strong evidence base and 3) discuss implications for inclusive public policies that advance children’s rights and reduce their vulnerability to the multidimensional notion of poverty.

Focus on disparities between boys and girls, and/or between other groups or geographical regions within a country, is highly encouraged.

Poster presentations display the essential information of a research paper or documented successful experience on one sheet of paper. Its presentation uses the same logical sequence of the sections/components of the originally printed paper or report.

Feedback sessions give university students and PhD candidates a chance to receive constructive comments and suggestions on their hypotheses, methodologies, field work, findings and conclusions with the aim to help in finalizing their research project.

Selected papers, presentations and research projects will address at least one of the following themes:

1) Policy implications of child poverty from a child rights perspective with a focus on:
a) income deprivation and/or
b) education deprivation and/or
c) health deprivation and/or
d) nutrition deprivation and/or
e) deprivation of social protection and/or
f) deprivation of social support systems for children at risk of violence, abuse and exploitation
2) Child and adolescent participation in research and development to achieve child rights

Structure of the conference

The conference is planned to have the following components: 1) Presentations of selected research papers, poster presentations and post-graduate feedback sessions; 2) discussion on child rights and well-being indicators and their importance for monitoring the situation of children; 3) essay competition by Egyptian secondary school students on the perception of poverty from a child’s and adolescent’s perspective. Furthermore, as part of the IDSC Think Tank conference, a selected number of observatories for child rights will exchange experiences and discuss the role of these child rights focused think tanks.

Language

Presentations of selected papers, research projects as well as poster presentations at the conference can be either in English or Arabic. However, proposals (abstracts) and final papers must be submitted in English.

Financial assistance

Small grants covering accommodation can be provided to scholars and students from developing countries that will present their papers or projects. Please specify in the Proposal Submission Form.

Calendar of events

NEW 16 November, 2008 – Deadline for abstracts: Please submit a one-page abstract on paper, poster presentation or research project of no more than 400 words in English and accompanied by a CV by e-mail to egyptchildpovertyconference@unicef.org. Please use the Proposal Submission Form.
30 November, 2008 – Selection of papers, poster presentations and research projects: Selection will be done by a review board composed of renowned Egyptian scholars based on specified selection criteria.
15 December, 2008 – Deadline for final paper, poster and research project submissions: All papers should be submitted in .pdf or .doc format to egyptchildpovertyconference@unicef.org. Papers can be in a provisional version, but must contain a clear presentation of the results obtained and a complete reference list in order to be considered by the review board. The first page of the paper should include: i) submission title and affiliation; ii) author(s)’ name(s); iii) abstract and keywords; and iv) contact information (name, surname, e-mail address) of the author in charge of the communication. Final papers and poster presentations should be in English.
Mid-January, 2009 – Conference: There is no registration fee and both English and Arabic simultaneous interpretation will be available.

CONTACT:
Dennis Arends, Chief, Social Policy, Monitoring and Evaluation, UNICEF Egypt, egyptchildpovertyconference@unicef.org