(The agenda is according article 5.2 of the statutes)

Report No 7 to the General Assembly
Glasgow – Scotland - September 2004
Daniel VIDAUD

As I announced at the General Assembly in Berlin in 2002 my two-year mandate as a representative of France to FICE is expiring this year. I also withdraw from my function as Vice President of FICE, in which I was responsible for activities in the French speaking parts of Africa, as well as for relations with UNESCO and the Council of Europe
Although it wasn’t always possible for me to take part in all meetings of the Executive Committee and of the Federal Council, I regularly reported on my activities in these organisations and in the French-speaking parts of Africa in the past 20 months.
In many countries the situation of children is of particular concern, but in my view Africa appears to be an area where swift action is required, even if we face great difficulties in the countries we represent (I, for myself, am thinking of France in particular).
Several issues need to be addressed here – they concern us all:
• Migration and its effects on the lives of children
• The wars in the Middle East (Palestine), in Sudan (Darfur) and in Iraq
• The spread of AIDS which has an increasing impact on families in these countries
• The lack of a “social policy” and the shortage of educated and trained social workers
• The difficulties faced by UNESCO in the implementation of Human Rights, in particular the rights of women and the rights of children
• The difficulties faced by UNESCO and UNICEF in the implementation of the plan “Education for all“, for 128 countries.
Of course, we cannot do everything; but we, as FICE, must become active. Our problem is not “money” but “taking action”.
During the past two years we have been able to become active in the French-speaking countries, with the help of the FICE Sections of Switzerland, Belgium, and France, with the help of training seminars organised by FICE Switzerland and the International Social Service in Dakar, with the help given by Belgium to the Democratic Republic of Congo and with the help of documentation material, which FICE France has been distributing in 7 countries. Books and periodicals on pedagogical topics in French are sent there on a regular basis, in 11 consignments over the past two years.
All this has had its effects. Evidence thereof is a letter by the Congolese delegation from August this year, in which we were informed that the President had contacted other African countries and invited them to cooperate (see attachment).
In spite of all the problems our friends in these countries have to face, I think it would be desirable for other FICE-delegations to become active in the English-speaking countries of Africa – just as our colleague James Anglin some years ago in South Africa.

UNESCO
The regular meetings of NGOs (one every three months) are important because they provide an opportunity for pointing out the activities of FICE.
But as I already said in Roskilde it is necessary to give precise rendering of the activities of each Section and therefore we must – as required by our friend Rolf WIDMER – compile a detailed annual report of our publications.

COUNCIL OF EUROPE
Two meetings were held in Strasbourg in 2004, neither of which I could attend.
It would be desirable that FICE-Europe takes charge of FICE’s representation there.
I have informed the Treasurer of the membership dues for UNESCO-NGOs (100 €) and COUNCIL OF EUROPE-NGOs (100 €), which – with the approval of the Executive Committee – still need to be paid for 2004.
In concluding this brief report I would like to express my wish that what we have started two years ago may be continued. With your agreement the new representative of France, Alain AMATE, would accept this responsibility.
I am prepared to assist him, as necessary, and to hand over all relevant correspondence to him.
With my best wishes
Daniel VIDAUD - FICE France

Report of Vice President
Time period: FICE FC 2004/1 (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) – 2004/2 (Glasgow, Scotland)

I. Projects
Since the FICE Federal Council meeting in May in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, I have been working on four projects in Russia:
1) Support to reform of Russian child welfare (2003-2005)
2) Promotion of healthy lifestyle and social wellbeing of young people (2004-2006)
3) “Together more and better – development of new models for child welfare service provi-sion in the Republic of Karelia” (2004-2005)
4) Support to preventive work for children, youth and families at risk in Karelia and Vyborg region (2004-2006)
Goals and partners of these projects as well as my duties in them have been described in my previous report. In June 7 – July 5 I worked on these projects in Petrozavodsk, the Republic of Karelia (Russia), including collection of materials, meetings with authorities and representatives of NGO’s, visits to social services for children and young people, participation in a seminar, planning for questionnaires, etc.
In addition, I participated in a seminar (presentation of the project number 2 above) in Moscow (May 14) and drew up statements on applications for grants (project 4).

II. Other
• Contacts with Latvian colleagues concerning their journey to FICE-Congress in Glasgow
• Assisting Latvian foster care association to establish contacts with Nordic foster care or-ganisations
• Correspondence with colleagues from Daugavpils University, Department of Psychology
• Meeting with Ms Marina Levina and Mr Alexandr Levin from Parents’s Bridge foundation (Russia) in Helsinki (August 20)
• Meeting with Ms Sirje Grossmann-Loot from Estonian Children’s Fund and Mr Alar Tamm from Estonian Union for Child Welfare at National Congress on Child Welfare in Lappeenranta, Finland (August 24-26)
• Participation in a study visit to Vyborg, Russia (August 26-27)
• Meeting with Ms Galina Kozareva/Russian Children’s Fund in Helsinki, Finland (Sep-tember 1)
• Discussions and correspondence with David Lane concerning the proposal for a publica-tion to celebrate FICE’s 60th anniversary.

Martti Kemppainen
Vice-President

Vice President’s Report

Since the last Federal Council meeting I have been involved in very few FICE International activities because of other priorities.

1 Dictionary

No further action.

2 Archives

The archives relating to the period up to the mid-1980s have now been traced with the help of Professor Heinrich Tuggener and Dr Nufer. They are at Trogen and a member of staff has been given the task of going through them and putting them in order.

The later archives are in Amsterdam at the President’s office. In due course the archives should be brought together. I also propose to select significant documents for scanning and putting on the FICE-Inter website.

3 Congress 2004

I attended some of the meetings of the Steering Group for the Glasgow Congress.

4 FICE-Inter Website

Together with Bill Stevenson, I have kept the website up to date. As noted above, I hope that some items from the archives can be scanned and put on the website.

It seems likely that FICE-England & Wales will be wound up in the near future. If so, another National Section or the President’s office will need to take over the management of the site.

5 Sixtieth Anniversary Publication

I have discussed with Martti Kemppainen his proposal for a publication to celebrate FICE’s sixtieth anniversary. I will be prepared to participate in this piece of work, for example in editing drafts, but I do not wish to act as the Project Manager.

6 Caring for Children / FICE England and Wales

A decision was taken at the last Board meeting that CfC should be wound up. A final meeting is due to take place during the Congress, and unless other members come forward to act as office-holders, the Association will be terminated. Thereafter, it is possible that other people with an interest in FICE will come together and set up an alternative organisation, but I have heard no indication that this will be the case, and any Federal Council members with contacts in England or Wales will be welcome to encourage them to do so. FICE-Scotland may be able to holding a watching brief for the United Kingdom as a whole, but it is doubtful whether this could be a permanent solution, as it would be contrary to the strong arguments put forward when FICE-Scotland was created.

CfC has never been a large organisation, but it has maintained links between FICE and the United Kingdom since the Social Care Association withdrew from membership about fifteen years ago. The CfC has now simply run out of steam, and the decision is sad but realistic.

7 Children Webmag

I have continued to edit the Webmag on www.childrenwebmag.com , which has now had about 6 million hits since it started. A recent addition to the site is a forum for discussion about the introduction of social education / paedagogy to the United Kingdom.

A Consortium is now under way to manage the Webmag, involving University College Northampton, Barnardo’s and the National Council for Voluntary Child Care Organisations, an influential national co-ordinatory body for the voluntary sector. A paid Editor has been appointed, but I hope to remain fully involved on a consultative basis.

The Webmag is still available as a mouthpiece for FICE. Although I have not taken action since the last meeting, I hope to have time soon to work on the co-ordination of an electronic version of journals prepared by FICE National Sections linked with the FICE-Inter website and the Webmag.

8 Meeting of International Childcare Organisations

I have been involved in the arrangement of a meeting of representatives of international childcare organisations during the Congress. It is hoped that it will be attended by representatives of AIEJI, IDFCO, Eurochild and possibly OMEP, as well as FICE. Representatives of IFSW and IFCO have shown interest but have had to tender apologies.

David C. Lane
Vice President

25 08 04

Consultative Status with ECOSOC
United Nations Economic and Social Council

What is ECOSOC ?
The Economic and Social Council coordinates the work of the 14 UN specialized agencies, 10 functional commissions and five regional commissions; receives reports from 11 UN funds and programmes and issues policy recommendations to the UN system and to Member States. Under the UN Charter, ECOSOC is responsible for promoting higher standards of living, full employment, and economic and social progress; identifying solutions to international economic, social and health problems; facilitating international cultural and educational cooperation; and encouraging universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. ECOSOC's purview extends to over 70 per cent of the human and financial resources of the entire UN system.
In carrying out its mandate, ECOSOC consults with academics, business sector representatives and more than 2,100 registered non-governmental organizations (New York, Geneva, Vienna). FICE is one of these non-governmental organisations.
The activities of FICE’s representative to ECOSOC in Vienna focus on attending meetings of the NGO representatives accredited in Vienna. Such meetings are held about every three months. These meetings serve to inform the representatives on current UN target issues. In the first half of 2004 the focus was on programmes for the eradication of poverty and on programmes for providing clean drinking water to as many people as possible.
The NGOs provide (written) information on their work by submitting their annual reports and recent publications, if available.
The meetings also provide opportunity for direct contact among NGO representatives thus helping to promote the organisation.

It would be useful in this connection, if FICE had any “PR-material”, in addition to the information brochure, to present its work.

Helga Stefanov

September 2004

Federation International des Communautes Educatives
Federal Council meeting : Plovdiv : May 2004

Publication Proposal

1 It has been agreed by the Executive Committee that consideration should be given to the publication of a book to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the foundation of FICE. This will coincide with the Congress in 2008. This may seem a long way off, but the preparation of a publication takes time, and it is proposed that, if the Federal Council approves the proposal, work commences straightaway.

2 In part, the book will need to look back and give recognition to FICE’s achievements, but it is suggested that the book needs to be more than a history of FICE. The draft outline below puts FICE in the context of developments in services for children and young people, and, as well as analysing the past, it looks ahead to the future. The book could therefore be of interest to a wider readership. The link should both help to illuminate the work of FICE and identify the influence of National FICE Sections on the services provided for children and young people. A working title Sixty Years and More is suggested.

3 The proposed contents are as follows :

(a) An introductory chapter giving an overview of the book.

(b) The impact of external factors on children, their education and upbringing, including economics, culture, politics and war.

(c) The changing needs of children over the last sixty years, including changes in family patterns, refugees, improving health, changes in education, drugs, rights, child prostitution, sexual abuse, IT and the internationalisation of problems.

(d) The development of national legislation since World War II, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

(e) Developments in services, responding to changing needs, such as the swing away from residential care.

(f) The impact of outstanding leaders in the childcare field in each country, and within FICE (e.g. Louis Francois, Elizabeth Rotten and Meir Gottesmann).

(g) The role played by organisations in each country, including statutory bodies, NGOs and National Sections of FICE.

(h) The roles played by international organisations concerned with children’s issues, including FICE-International.

(i) Looking to the future, identifying trends and likely problems and opportunities, such as the increasing involvement of children in matters affecting them.

4 In order to prepare this book, it is proposed that each National Section should identify an author who could write authoritatively about these subjects - (b) to (g) in particular - in relation to their own country, in the language of their country. The remit for these authors could be spelt out more fully, in order to achieve some standardisation of the material. For example, while the last sixty years would be the primary focus, there might be reasons for references to earlier historical developments as well. A number of National Sections have extensive archives which could provide useful material, and wherever possible, FICE’s role should be used to exemplify national developments (for example in the themes of seminars and conferences), though it is appreciated that in some countries this will not be possible. Authors could also be approached to write about countries without FICE National Sections, so that a world-wide picture could be obtained. Each contribution should be properly researched, and could be published separately and put on the FICE-Inter website. It is proposed that this work is undertaken by the time of the Sarajevo Congress.

5 Where necessary, the national contributions would then be translated, and the FICE-Inter publication would be based on a selective combination and interpretation of the National Sections’ publications, with an additional international dimension. This work would then be undertaken in the period between the Sarajevo Congress and the 2008 Congress, where the book would be launched and put on sale. The full supporting material would remain on the website.

6 The book could be translated into the three FICE languages if necessary, but it is recommended that English is used as the working language in the drafting stages. If the Federal Council approves the proposal, it will be necessary to appoint an Editor, with a small international support group, and link people would need to be identified in each National Section to prepare each of the national booklets.

Martti Kemppainen
Vice President

31st January 2004