PHA-Exch> Intl Forum on Child Poverty Egypt Jan 2009

[Claudio Schuftan]

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*CALL FOR PAPERS*

*First International Forum for the Developing Countries Think Tanks*

*UNICEF Egypt sponsored International Conference*

*on*

*"Child Poverty and Disparities: Public Policies for Social Justice"*

*Cairo, Egypt, January 2009*

Realizing the importance of sharing developmental Knowledge and enhancing
developmental cooperation between the developing countries, the Egyptian
Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) (www.idsc.gov.eg) is
taking the initiative of holding a *first International Forum for the
Developing Countries Think Tanks* in Cairo. The Forum is scheduled to take
place in January 2009. The significance of this initiative resides in the
fact that this will be the first international forum ever grouping the
developing world Think Tanks that are becoming more and more essential
policy actors in their societies.

Within the framework of the First International Forum for the Developing
Countries Think Tanks, the United Nations Children's Fund in Egypt (UNICEF)
is 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 that
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 that aim
to reduce child poverty and are based on scientific evidence.

The conference is the first in a planned series of bi-annual conferences on
*Child Rights, Social Justice and Equity* that aims to contribute to the
attainment of child rights through 1) sharing of ideas, research findings
and good practices; 2) strengthening the collaboration between researchers,
practitioners and policy makers working on children's issues and 3)
encouraging innovative research in "under-researched" areas.

*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 in part because poverty reduction strategies and development plans
have struggled to be pro-poor and to help disadvantaged populations
including women and families raising children. 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.

It is therefore important to produce, discuss and apply evidence that will
help influence economic and social policies that affect resource allocations
and that will make children a priority in national legislation, policies and
programmes.

*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. Post-graduate feedback sessions on ongoing research projects.



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.

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:

   1. education deprivation and/or
   2. health deprivation and/or
   3. nutrition deprivation and/or
   4. deprivation of social protection and/or
   5. 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*

Under the umbrella of the first International Conference on Think Tanks in
Developing Countries and in addition to the presentations of selected
research papers, poster presentations and post-graduate feedback sessions,
the conference is planned to have the following components: 1) exchange of
experiences on *observatories for child rights in developing countries*; 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; 4) *training workshop on participatory action
research* for young people; and 5) announcement of the winners of the first
*Young Innovators Awards for research on public policy and child rights*.

*Language*

The conference provides simultaneous interpretation for both English and
Arabic. 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*

There is no conference registration fee. Small grants covering accommodation
can be provided to scholars and students from developing countries that have
been selected to present their papers or projects. Grants will be provided
in the form of free accommodation and daily subsistence allowance.
Individuals who wish to be considered for grants need to specify this in the
*Proposal Submission Form*. Please note that funding is limited, so grants
are subject to fund availability.

*Calendar of events*

*31 October, 2008 – Deadline for proposal submission*: Please submit a
one-page abstract on paper, poster or post-graduate research project of no
more than 400 words in English and accompanied by a CV by e-mail to *
egyptchildpovertyconference at unicef.org*<egyptchildpovertyconference at 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 at unicef.org*<egyptchildpovertyconference at 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:*

For more information on the *First International Conference for the
Developing Countries Think Tanks*, please contact:

   - *Moustafa Moharram*, International Cooperation Specialist, IDSC Egypt,
   *mohazem at idsc.net.eg* <mohazem at idsc.net.eg>.



For more information on the *Child Poverty and Disparities: Public Policies
for Social Justice* conference, please contact:

   - *Dennis Arends*, Chief, Social Policy, Monitoring and Evaluation,
   UNICEF Egypt, *darends at unicef.org* <darends at unicef.org>.
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