News
European Platform for Investing in Children |
21-02-2018 |
Audrey Tourniaire
Evidence-based practices in child & family policies
On the occasion of the Family & Social Inclusion Committee meeting held on 20 February, ESIP Members discussed together with representatives of RAND Europe. The European Platform for investing in children (EPIC), an online platform financed under EU funds and managed by RAND Europe, a non-profit organization was presented.
EPIC provides for a collection of practices and evaluation of evidence-based practices on child and family policies implemented in the different EU Member states. Evidence-based practices are practices that have shown evidence of their effectiveness, a potential of transferability and sustainability. In-depth discussions followed to understand better how practices are evaluated within the Platform. The impact of the labelling on EPIC was also discussed, especially since the French CNAF was interested in labelling some of its practices yet felt that some of the criteria where hard to comply with for public bodies.
ESIP Members expressed concerns regarding a lack of transparency on the process of evaluation even if RAND evaluates scientifically the practices submitted by stakeholders, independently from the European Commission and governments. A lack of diversity was also noted in the composition of the committee of evaluation largely composed by Anglo-Saxon experts as well as some uncertainty regarding the benefits of an EPIC labelling. However, the RAND team was opened to further cooperation and discussion in order to improve the platform.
