Combating Child Poverty Through Measures Promoting the Socio

comment paper France Peer Review on combating child poverty, Belgium 2012 Combating child poverty through measures promoting the socio-cultural participation of clients of the Public Centres of Social Action/Welfare (Brussels, 20-21 September 2012) Combating child poverty through measures promoting the socio-cultural participation1 Catherine Lesterpt Social cohesion general directorate Marie-Automne Thepot CCAS, Grenoble 1. A brief assessment of the potential learning value of the Belgian policy and its relevance to France Poverty rise in France As in other European countries, poverty in France has been increasing since the beginning of the economic crisis. The latest figures, released in September 2012, show that in 2010 14.1% of the French population was at risk of poverty (13.5% in 2009). For the first time, this growth affects all categories of population, except those in the top 10% of income bracket. Nevertheless, some categories of the population are more affected than others such as: . Single parents families. In 2010, 32.2% are below the poverty threshold (30.9% in 2009); . Children under 18 (19.6% in 2010, 18.5% in 2009). According to the national statistics office (INSEE), this progression of poverty can be explained by the non-renewal of certain temporary measures taken to alleviate the effects of the crisis on poorer households and by the freeze of the family benefits scale decided in 2010. Decentralisation For nearly 30 years, there has been a decentralisation movement in France leading the State to transfer some of its missions to actors closer to the field. In the social action field, this decentralisation is quite extensive. The designated lead manager for social action is the County Council, who manages several services at county (“département”) level: child welfare, assistance to disabled adults and the elderly, health protection for families and child, the fight against social problems. Many responsibilities are also carried out at a local level (municipalities) such as optional social actions, through the Borough social action centre (see below), the management of crèches and other child care facilities, the management of nursing 1 Prepared for the Peer Review in Social Protection and Social Inclusion programme coordinated by ÖSB Consulting, the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and Applica, and funded by the European Commission. © ÖSB Consulting, 2012 1 comment paper France Peer Review on combating child poverty, Belgium 2012 homes etc. Municipalities also intervene in the educational field. They are responsible for the creation, management and financing (except for the teacher’s wages) of kindergartens (école maternelle) and elementary schools. In the cultural and leisure field, municipalities have also a strong role to play (management of cultural and sports facilities; after-school activities etc.). The NGO sector plays also a very important role to provide social and cultural services and to develop new ideas. This is particularly true in the domain of parenting support and “popular education”. Nevertheless, setting the legal condition of access of the beneficiaries remains the responsibility of the State (general regulations and definition of the social policy.) During this autumn, the Government will undertake a large consultation about the missions of public services, their territorial organisation and the prospects for a new stage of decentralisation. The French strategy to fight poverty and the way it takes into consideration child poverty Since 1945, one of the continuing objectives of French family policy has been to alleviate the situation of vulnerable families, through a very comprehensive system of family benefits for instance. Nevertheless, before 2000, the fight against child poverty was not identified as a specific field of action on the French political agenda and there was no real transversal approach. There was also a lack of studies and knowledge in that area. In 2004, public awareness of child poverty began to rise, thanks to several public reports. One important step has also been taken in 2008, with the law that introduced the new minimum income benefit called “RSA”. This law introduced a “poverty scoreboard”, with several indicators monitoring child poverty. Since then, public authorities have been trying to develop cross-cutting and multi- dimensional approaches to address this problem. An increasing number of studies are trying to consider the children’s viewpoint. Next November, a national conference against poverty and exclusion will held in Paris. That should be the starting point for the preparation of a five-year plan against poverty that should be made public at the beginning of 2013. The role of “Borough social action centres” (CCAS) At the municipal level, the borough social action centres (CCAS) has the duty of organisation, prevention and social development, complementing the actions implemented by the County Council. It is the first level of action, the main “local assistance offices” for the elderly, disabled, children and families. Its mission is also to fight against exclusion. It is an important tool of governance as, within its board of directors, one can find representatives of both civil society (NGOs) and members of the municipal council. CCAS are the closest equivalent, at a French level, to the Belgian Public Centres of Social Action. 2 comment paper France Peer Review on combating child poverty, Belgium 2012 2. How to overcome potential barriers to children’s socio-cultural participation In France, direct participation of people in the public policy making and assessment and in the development of services is now considered as an important part of democracy, complementary to participatory democracy. First initiatives appeared at the end of the 90s in the field of health services. In order to take user’s rights into consideration, a combined approach was developed: an individual one (right to dignity, non-discrimination in access to health care, the right to informed consent etc.) and a collective one (involvement of users in decision-making bodies). In the field of active inclusion policies, many efforts have been made since 2004 in order to put participation in practice. It is considered to be especially important to develop such a participative culture in that field because, traditionally, programmes and tools related to social work made no specific provision for public involvement, whereas it is now well known that such an involvement is crucial for the effectiveness of the actions taken. Nevertheless, user participation must be carefully organised and supported in order to avoid mere instrumentalisation of the participants. The methodology applied is critical. Another big barrier is the failure to reach people who are in need of social services. This phenomenon has been highlighted at a national level in France with the assessment of the RSA (minimum income) in 2011. One way to reach all families is to combine a universal approach with a more specific one. Universal benefits are more necessary than ever to maintain social cohesion or to fulfil other important objectives such as, for instance, conciliation between family and professional life. A universal approach also allows avoiding stigmatisation. But it is also necessary to make sure that people who are most in need of these benefits are really receiving them. The example of the methodology followed by the CNLE This year, the National Council of Politics to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion (CNLE), a consultative body which is under the prime ministers authority, has established, experimentally, a new board with representatives of people experiencing poverty. The CNLE experiment will be carefully monitored and the members of this new board will benefit from specific training and preparation before every plenary session. Special attention has also been given to: . The selection of these persons; . Informing them about the outcome of the project; . The payment of their mission expenses. Measures carried out by a particular CCAS to overcome barriers to participation: . A CCAS proposes 50 young volunteers (drop out young people from deprived areas) some 6-month missions to serve the public action. It is a real challenge to incorporate these young people but it allows them to better understand how a public institution works and what are their rights and duties. It also helps social 3 comment paper France Peer Review on combating child poverty, Belgium 2012 workers to understand their views and facilitates communication between them and users. A CCAS introduced a metric (“barometer”) to understand why people don’t claim benefits to which they are entitled. It has showed that young people were particularly prone not to claim these benefits, for lack of knowledge, non-receipt or even refusal by them. Actions such as the “cultural pass” or the “solidarity basket” are not aimed only at deprived families but, on the contrary at all the inhabitants of an area. Most deprived people will, nevertheless, benefit from adapted fares and specific communication actions. 3. What policy domains and levels are relevant and how can an integrated and coordinated approach be achieved? This question should be studied during the national conference against poverty in November, within the round table dedicated to child and youth poverty. This work is also strongly linked with the national consultation on decentralisation that will take place at the same time and with the implementation of the roadmap for the inhabitants of the most deprived areas recently released by the government. Many very interesting experiments have been conducted in France, especially in the parenting support field but are not always generalised. An example of a national coordinated approach in the education field: the parent's kit This participative tool has been tried since 2008 at a local level (in a poor suburban area) and is now adopted at a national level by 1,300 secondary schools, (that is to say a quarter of the secondary schools) for parents who have an 11/12 year old child who is newly joining a middle school.

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