Child Poverty NZ Summit

About

Conference Discounts:
2 for 1 discount – Send two people from your organisation for the price of one
Plus 25% discount for NGOs and registered charities.

If you’re from an NGO or registered charity, send two people along and spend less than $750 per person for a 2-day conference!

Make sure to book before the early-bird price of $1995 ends on September 16th!

New Zealand was ranked 24th out of 25 rated OECD countries on child well-being in a 2007 UNICEF study. The need has never been greater for a concerted shift in the way that we consider policies affecting the health and wellbeing of our youngest and most vulnerable members of society.

The Child Poverty New Zealand Summit aims to provide a roadmap to better child policy outcomes. The content has been structured to be as practical as possible, to show what programmes and initiatives have worked and what hasn’t.

We also recognise that as an attendee, you have has as much to offer the conference through your expertise and experience as our speakers. Attendees are encouraged to participate fully by bringing posterboard summaries of their own experiences to the conference to share with the other delegates. We will also be brainstorming key policy areas and programmes to try and get some form of consensus on the approaches or policies that work the most effectively.

We have assembled a line-up of some of the premier thought leaders on Child Poverty in New Zealand and abroad, including:

• Helen Barnard, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (UK)
• Dr John Angus, Children’s Commisssioner
• Judge Peter Boshier, Principal Judge of the Family Court of New Zealand
• Dr Ian Hassall, AUT University
• John Tamihere, Te Whanau O Waipareira Trust
• Dr Constance Lehman, Ministry of Health
• Dr Susan St John, University of Auckland & Child Poverty Action Group
• Julie Helson, KidsCan Charitable Trust

We’ll be covering a wide range of key topics such as:

Child-centric policy | The economic cost of ignoring child poverty | Poverty and hardship measurement | Government transfers and Working for Families | Child health policy priorities | Child abuse | Maori and Pasifika Trends | Community Engagement on Poverty

Discounts

Conferenz recognises that the majority of delegates attending policy focused conferences do so in pairs or larger groups from within their organisation.  Conferenz has developed a pricing structure to encourage more than one delegate per organisation to attend.

2 for 1 Offer
Register two people from the same organisation at the same time, and the second delegate attends for free.Ticket price per delegate is $997.50 for two days and $498.75 per day.

  • NGOs and registered charities receive a further 25% discount on top of the two for one discount. This equates to less than $750 per person for a 2-day conference and less than $375 per day.

 

 

Press Release

26/8/10

For immediate release

Child Poverty NZ Summit

Conferenz has created the Child Poverty Summit to provide a policy roadmap to progress better child outcomes in New Zealand and provide a forum for better inter-agency co-operation.  The conference is positioned at a policy level and brings various expert perspectives to affect policy on child poverty in New Zealand.

New Zealand has the highest rates of teen suicide; higher than average rates of child mortality and low immunisation rates.  New Zealand spends less than the OECD average on young children.  28% of NZ children are said to be living in Poverty.  Conferenz believes that this is a conference needed to be held.

Conferenz recognises that the majority of delegates attending policy focused conferences do so in pairs or larger groups from within their organisation.  Conferenz has developed a pricing structure to encourage more than one delegate per organisation to attend.

Clarification of Pricing

  • All delegates receive a 2 for 1 discount at the early bird discount of $1995 + GST.  Ticket price per delegate is $997.50 for two days and $498.75 per day.
  • NGOs and registered charities receive a further 25% discount on top of the two for one. This equates to less than $750 per person for a 2-day conference and less than $375 per day.

Conferenz is proudly 100% NZ owned and operated organisation and takes total ownership and risk for the conferences it creates.  This conference has been created to allow attendees to discuss and debate the issues at hand and receives no government funding.

For further information please contact Steve Scott 09 912 3612 or 021 270 2736

Agenda

Agenda: Day 1

8.30

Registration & Coffee

9.00

Opening remarks from the Chair

The Chair will open the conference, and also introduce the brainstorms and poster presentations situated around the conference room covering key issues and discussion points, which all attendees are invited to contribute to.

Dr Susan St John, Associate Professor, University of Auckland

9.15

International Address: Reducing child poverty in the UK

Over 600,000 children were lifted out of poverty in the UK between 1998 and 2008, with a major policy drive and political commitment. The drivers for this achievement are still debated, but significant resources and innovative policy settings played a big role. With the British Government’s goal to eliminate child poverty by 2020 having recently become law, there is still a lot of work to be done, and progress has stalled in recent times.
• How child poverty in the UK was reduced: what worked and what went wrong?
• Dealing with issues from the Global Financial Crisis
• Lessons learned and future directions in child poverty alleviation in the UK

Helen Barnard, Policy and Research Manager, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (via Videolink)

10.10

Children’s Commission Address: Developing child-centric government policy

Currently, government policy is often not created with the needs of children in mind. As children generally have little voice in the consultation phase of legislation, often they or their interests crty little weight. New Zealand has one of the lowest incidences in the OECD of poverty amongst the elderly, yet one of the higher incidences of child poverty - so this session asks:

• What is the position of children in respect of income poverty and material hardship?
• Why are we willing to tolerate for children such high rates of child poverty over the past 20 years?
• What will it take at a policy level to develop legislation and policies that reduce the incidence of poverty?
• How do we best engage children in decision-making?

Dr John Angus, Children’s Commissioner

10.50

Morning tea

11.10

Measuring child poverty in order to reduce it: evidence for policy change

Until recently in New Zealand there were no agreed ways to measure poverty and assess which groups within the population were most affected. As a consequence debates around the need for poverty reduction policies were full of anecdotes that were unconvincing for many members of the public and politicians alike. During the 1990s the NZ Poverty Measurement Project and MSD’s Living Standards research changed all that.
• How do we define poverty and measure it?
• What are the current levels of child poverty and how do these compare with other age-groups and with past levels?
• How do we develop policies that will reduce poverty sustainably?

Charles Waldegrave, Leader - Social Policy Research Unit, The Family Centre

11.55

Working for Families: Working for children?

The Tax Working Group found that the combination of tax rates and welfare claw-backs held people back from increasing their incomes. The problem is that tax works on the basis of individual income while the welfare system, including WFF, is based on the total family income.
• Is Working for Families actually making a difference?
• Do the costs of the scheme outweigh the benefits?
• Using data from the MSD’s national sample surveys, what would be the effect on child poverty of extending WFF?

12.25

Panel Discussion: The role of government transfers in child poverty alleviation

There are different schools of thought on the role that welfare and government transfers should play in addressing child poverty in New Zealand. The arguments go right to the core of the role of welfare in society. This panel discussion will examine the arguments for and against, and the evidence supporting and disproving, the roles of government transfers versus private income subsidies through WFF in child poverty alleviation.
• Is more money the answer? Or is the money we are allocating being misdirected?
• Tax issues with Working for Families and GST
• Do the recent welfare reforms adequately take the needs of children into account?

Dr Susan St John, Associate Professor – Economics, University of Auckland
Charles Waldegrave, Leader - Social Policy Research Unit, The Family Centre

1.00

Lunch

1.50

Case Study: Using community engagement to deliver better child poverty outcomes

Child poverty alleviation measures can be much more effective when administered in a community setting. This case study will profile the Manaaki Hapori project, and their community-level work on child welfare and poverty issues.
• Programmes and activities used to increase community engagement and awareness
• Working in partnership with other local authorities, community groups, NGOs and central government
• What we have found to be the most effective methods of engaging with high risk communities

Dr Betsan Martin, Researcher, New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services

2.30

Child abuse and child poverty: Engaging with those in greatest need

Poverty is correlated with higher risks of the physical abuse of children. Not only that, but it significantly raises the risk of social costs and problems later in the life of the child. This in turn is a strong predictor of intergenerational poverty and violence. This session will examine:
• The links between poverty, violence, and substance abuse
• Housing and overcrowding issues and their link with child neglect
• What more can be done?

Judge Peter Boshier, Principal Judge, Family Court of New Zealand

3.15

Afternoon tea

3.35

Funding and policy priorities for child health

The greatest gains in child health can be found by spending money at the earliest stages of childhood. This means that there needs to be better allocation of funds both within the health sector, and greater integration between Ministries to ensure that all policies actively promote child wellbeing.
• Why does New Zealand have higher rates of many childhood illnesses than elsewhere in the OECD?
• Finding the right mix of universal standards coupled with targeting for high-risk communities
• The importance of promoting more funds earlier in life

Dr Constance Lehman, Manager - Child Youth and Maternity Policy Team, Ministry of Health

4.20

Case Study: KidsCan: A profile of one NGO’s experiences with alleviating child poverty

This session will discuss the lessons KidsCan has learned at the coalface of child poverty, what programmes and initiatives have worked, what hasn’t, and thoughts on how to get the best outcomes for children under tight budgets.
• Developing grass-roots and community level initiatives
• Driving media attention and putting the spotlight on child poverty under tight budgetary constraints

Julie Helson, Executive Director, KidsCan Charitable Trust

5.00

End of day one & networking drinks

Agenda: Day 2

9.00

Opening remarks from the Chair

Dr Susan St John, Associate Professor, University of Auckland

9.05

Counting the economic cost of ignoring child poverty

Ignoring child poverty does not only incur social costs; there are also severe economic costs involved as well. Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman notes that money invested in early childhood development pay themselves back eight times in reduced remedial and societal costs. So to what extent is the relief of child poverty an effective means of investing in early childhood development? In particular:
• What is the “business case” for alleviating child poverty?
• What are the flow-on effects through society from child neglect and underfunding?
• How a lower level of child poverty benefits the rest of society

David Grimmond, Senior Economist, Infometrics Ltd

9.50

Early Childhood Education: first step on the ladder out of poverty?

The importance of education in reducing poverty cannot be understated. Although initiatives such as the 20 hours free Early Childhood Education have increased participation rates in education, there is still much work to be done. This session will look at why participation in ECE needs to be increased and thoughts as to how this can occur.
• Addressing staffing issues and shortages in ECE institutions, especially in rural areas
• How can participation be increased at a community level?
• What should the role of the Early Childhood Educator be in addressing poverty?

Dr Linda Mitchell, Senior Lecturer, University of Waikato

10.30

Morning tea

10.50

Keynote Address: More than just a nation of shopkeepers

Children’s wellbeing depends on their family, community and society making a place for them independently of the economy to which they make little contribution. The ideology that has dominated policy-making in New Zealand for the last 25 years constructs human transactions in market terms and struggles to find a place for children. Child Poverty is an inevitable consequence. Future prosperity for New Zealand depends upon a new ideology which has a prominent place for children.

Dr Ian Hassall, Senior Researcher – Institute of Public Policy, AUT University

11.30

Developing a strategic, interagency approach to child poverty

One of the biggest obstacles holding back the efficacy of poverty alleviation programmes is the lack of a strategic, integrated approach between government agencies, NGOs and charitable entities. In many cases, this can lead to a duplication of resources, and a reduction in the effectiveness of many programmes.
• Overcoming the silo mentality of the different government departments and NFPs
• What can the different agencies do for each other? Where should these dialogues start?
• Is an overarching model, like that of Whanau Ora, the answer?

Deborah Morris-Travers, Project Team Member, Every Child Counts

12.15

Lunch

1.00

Maori and Pasifika trends and perspectives on child poverty

Maori and Pacific peoples are over-represented in many of the statistics and measures of child poverty in New Zealand. This session will examine the potential effectiveness of Whanau Ora on child poverty, and thoughts on other initiatives in Maori and Pacific communities.
• What are the best ways to engage with Maori and Pacific communities on Child Poverty issues?
• Should we even be grouping them together?
• With demographics pointing to future growth in Maori and Pasifika populations, what does that mean for the way we look at policies for these ethnic groups?

John Tamihere, CEO, Te Whanau O Waipareira Trust

1.45

Children’s housing futures: Addressing the role of housing in child poverty

Housing indicators are used globally as a key monitor of child wellbeing. An overcrowded, inadequately insulated or leaky home can have severe health and wellbeing effects on children, including severe respiratory illness and influenza. This session will examine the state of the current housing stock, and realistic policies and initiatives that can be employed to address our current housing issues.
• The link between housing and relative poverty
• Addressing the shortage of adequate, suitable and affordable housing for children and their families
• What initiatives could be employed to improve the stock?

Dr Bev James, Principal, Public Policy & Research

2.30

Afternoon tea

2.45

Examining the role of nutrition in poverty alleviation

As counterintuitive as it may sound, the child obesity epidemic has its roots in poverty. Junk foods are often cheaper to purchase than healthy alternatives, and for parents living on the poverty line, nutritious and nourishing meal choices can be hard to make.
• How we can make healthy options realistic to impoverished families
• The difference healthy eating can make to health and educational performance
• Consumer education and pricing factors to consider

Dr Winsome Parnell, Associate Professor – Human Nutrition, University of Otago

3.30

Group Session: Presentation of brainstorm sheets

Over the course of the two days, all attendees will have had the opportunity to contribute to the brainstorm sheets and posters throughout the conference room. The main findings of these will be presented by the Chair for discussion, and will be made available electronically after the conference.

Facilitated by:
Dr Susan St John, Associate Professor, University of Auckland

4.15

Closing remarks from the Chair and end of conference

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