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DESCRIPTION |
Spring 1997 | Michiel Matthes has a consultancy business on a part time basis and he focuses on innovation processes for society as a whole. In this context he works a.o. with Ted Gaebler (one of the authors of Re-inventing Government) en Lester Brown (founder of the WorldWatch Institute) and Pascal Baudry, who organizes Learning Expeditions from Europe to the US. Michiel decides to concentrate himself on the subject ‘children’. He is married and has three sons, born in 1972, 1977 and 1980. He manages to interest Frans Donders, board member of the Catholic Pedagogical Centre (KPC) in Den Bosch, to organize in the spring of 1997 a conference with the title ‘Crisis in the ecology of the child, the challenge for local government’. Michiel’s consultancy company gets the task to draft the program for the conference.
Milestones:
· Michiel defines for the first time the concept of the ‘living environment of the child / the ecology of the child’, instead looking at ‘education’, youth criminality or children with a certain handicap or problem.
· Michiel contacted the office of Hillary Clinton to invite her as a speaker to the conference and to present her book ‘It takes a village and other lessons children teach us’. Hillary Clinton is interested but in the end she declines because of other pressing matters.
· He furthermore discovers that all organisations in the Netherlands only concentrate on one or a few aspects of the life of a child and these organizations are not aware of each other’s existence and do not coordinate their activities with each other.
· As a preparation for the conference a comparison is made between key indicators for children in the USA and the Netherlands. At that moment it is discovered that certain indicators are much higher in the USA than in the Netherlands, in some case 30 to 300 times higher.
· Michiel contacts Alexandra Draxler, the project manager of the UNESCO Commission on Education for the 21st century, presided by Jacques Delors. Alexandra Draxler proves to be a very valuable contact thereafter.
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Spring 1998 | The KPC Group decides not to hold the conference, because after the first mailing only 50 persons reacted. The assignment given to Michiel’s company is terminated.
Michiel realises that most innovation processes in society are not initiated by governmental organisations, but by citizens, that are worried about a certain development. We see this for instance in the case of the movement to abolish slavery, the socialist movement and the environmental movement.
Milestone:
· Michiel decides to carry on himself. He realises that in this area it is necessary to launch a movement for children along the same lines as the environmental movement. Michiel calls it the Child Movement.
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25 June 1998 in the Polman’s House in Utrecht | Michiel decides to invite the organisations of citizens who work to attain certain objectives with regards to children. The meeting takes place in the Polman’s House on 25 June 1998. A.o the following persons are present:. Peter van Heek of the Nederlandse Jeugd Groep (Netherlands Youth Group), Peter van der Vliet of Scouting Nederland, Irene van Kesteren of the Netherlands Organisation of Catholic Parents, , Wil Klaassen of the Platform of Client Organisations in the area of Care for Youth (Jeugdzorg) and Family Law. Kees Jan Bender presents the ‘Future Search Conference Model’. Werner van Katwijk of the Organisation of Protestant Parents (Ouders en COO) could not make it, but would later on turn out tob e an important ally.
The objective of the meeting:
· To get to know each other,
· To formulate common objectives Michiel wrote a preparatory note in this context,
· To form a group and to decided to work together henceforth.
Milestones:
· It was for the representatives coming from the various spheres of the life of a child to meet each other and to discuss their own work with colleagues, who focus on another aspect of the the life of a child.
· This group is called ‘Children Dialogue Group’ (Overleggroep Kinderen). The persons represented in this Dialogue Group represent, in some cases via a two tier structure, more than one million children in the Netherlands.
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30 October 1998 | The Children Dialogue Group convenes in the office of Scouting Nederland.
Milestones:
· The Group decides to stay together and to learn more from each others’activities.
· The Group is very interested in the approach of the Children Defence Fund and decides to focus on the indicators for children and to make the comparison between the USA and the Netherlands.
· SWOT Analysis is made regarding the living environment of the child, facilitated by Werner van Katwijk of Ouders & COO.
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21 January 1999 | The Children Dialogue Group convenes again in the office of Scouting Nederland. Although only 7 persons attend the quality of the discussion is very good.
Milestones:
· The group wants to establish an association, which will represent the interests of children and families. There is furthermore the idea to seel products and services to families.
· The group wants to publish regularly a report entitled ‘The State of Dutch Children’. Publication of this report could be done together with a conference on the subject.
· Roger Pauly, Secretary of the Flemish Association of Big and Young Familes, is invited to give a presentation. It turns out that the Flemish people are more advanced in organising themselves with regards to families and children. The association has 300,000 members and 15000 active volunteers. In the Netherlands such an organisation does not exist.
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1 March 1999 | Michiel Matthes has a discussion with Herman Wijffels about his initiative. Herman Wijffels confirms the analysis made by Michiel Matthes and advises him to position his activity as an NGO and not to seek government assignments to pursue the work.
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14-apr-99 | The Children Dialogue Group convenes in the office of the Dutch Council of Families (Nederlandse Gezinsraad) in The Hague. 6 persons are present among which Wouter Hanhart, the representative of the Platform of Clients in the area of Care for Youth (Jeugdzorg) en Family Law. This group consists of 16 associations with a total membership base of 11000 persons. This Platform focuses especially on issues with regard to court decisions about tutelage and family law.
Milestones:
· The group has a constructive discussion about setting up a Dutch group analogous to the Flemish Association of Big and Young Familes. The Flemish Association is even prepared to support logistically and financially such an initiative. The group discusses which other parties to invite for this initiative.
· The publication ‘The State of Dutch Children’ should appear regularly.
· The group pays attention to the Rotterdam Youth Monitor: this is a publication of the local government of Rotterdam concerning the quality of the living environment for children in Rotterdam. René Diekstra is one of the pioneers of this publication. The group is of the opinion that Rotterdam is the benchmark in the Netherlands for this type work for other local governments.
· Rotterdam was inspired by the work of the Carnegie Corporation in New York: this foundation has formulated 13 essential requirements regarding adolescents. (for Michiel Matthes these 13 essential requirements was an important step forward).
· Wouter Hanhart, who attended for the first time, became an important ally in the years that follow.
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June 1999 | Milestones:
· With one phone call to the USA the URL of www.jeugd.net is registered.’jeugd.nl’ was not any more free since it was given to the Dutch broadcasting group NCRV. Later that summer the website is made with the help of son Alexander and one of his friends.
· The cooperation arrangement with FEMI (Foundation to Earth, Mankind through Inspiration and Initiative) is agreed upon. This means a considerable strengthening of Jeugd.net, because of the support of Annelies Verloop and Ruud Bakhuizen and also the financial support.
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23 June 1999 | The Children Dialogue Group convenes in Utrecht on the premises of the Dutch Youth Group (Nederlandse Jeugd Groep). 5 people are present.
Milestones:
· The brochure of Jeugd.net (Youth.net) is finalised, drafted by Michiel Matthes, Peter van Heek of the Nederlandse Jeugd Groep, Peter Cuyvers van de Council of Families (Nederlandse Gezinsraad), Wouter Hanhart en Werner van Katwijk (OUDERS & COO) and Elma Wiegman. The text is validated by the group and both the group and the individuals take responsibility for it.
· The group looks back at what is achieved during the past 4 months. Several members are disappointed that an association along the lines of the Flemish Association of Big and Young Familes was not festablished, but creating a network organization base don the internet seems tob e feasible. Furthermore the group could convene once or twice per year and become a knowledge organization.
· What we did attain was that the civil organizations working in the different spheres of the living environment of children, i.e. the home, the school and the spare time, met for the first time in the Netherlands and they had a fruitful dialogue with each other about the quality of the living environment of the child and what could be done about it.
· The Children Dialogue Group has been useful and developed a strategy.
· The Children Dialogue Group expressed the wish to organise a conference.
· The theme of children should be pushed and the members of the group could try to get children higher on the agenda of the election programs of the political parties in the elections of May 2002.
Missed chance:
The NOC-NSF is the umbrella organisation of 30.000 sports clubs in the Netherlands. Michiel Matthes tried to involve them in the Children Dialogue Group. Several managers were positive about it, but in the end they decided not to participate.
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17-nov-99 | The Children Dialogue Group meets in the office of FEMI in Baarn. 6 persons are present. Ruud Bakhuizen, chairman of FEMI, is present for the first time. It turns out to be the last time that the group meets. However the group expresses the wish to publish ‘The State of Dutch Children’ and to organize a symposium about the ‘Quality of the Living Environment of the Child’. These wishes will not be materialised by the group itself, but Werner van Katwijk, director of OUDERS & COO and one of the persons present, pursues the matter and in December 2000 / January 2001 both plans are achieved.
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2000 | In 2000 there are a number of parallel developments:
· As follow-up to the meeting of 17.11.99 an article is written and sent to the paper NRC Handelsblad, but the article is refused (it is not a theme for the paper).
· A letter is written to a female members of the Dutch Parliament. Michiel gets feedback, that this is not the right approach, because it is felt as a discrimination to only address men or women. Instead it is better to address the specialised Committees of the Parliament, who deal with children issues.
· In March 1999 Michiel Matthes meets at a social occasion the former prime minister Ruud Lubbers and tells him about his initiative. Ruud Lubbers is interested and asks Michiel to write him a letter, which he does on 31 March. Ruud Lubbers replies and introduces Michiel to a friend of him. Michiel follows up this introduction but the person is more focused on health care for children. Ruud Lubbers furthermore mentions that he spoke with a researcher in Cambridge (USA) for whom the work of Jeugd.net could be interesting. The researcher could not be traced, so that no follow-up was given.
· Several members of the Children Dialogue Group give a briefing on 13 May to the Raad voor de Maatschappelijke Ontwikkeling (Council for Social Development). Present: Peter van Heek, Ruud Bakhuizen, Wouter Hanhart and Michiel Matthes. The ideas expressed are taken up by the Council and incorporated in a report entitled RMO Advies, Aansprekend opvoeden, balanceren tussen steun en toezicht (advies 18). Translation of the title: ‘Attractive education, balancing between support and supervision’. The report was submitted to the Dutch cabinet.
· Michiel participates with a number of other Dutch people in a conference in Brussels, organised by the Alliance for Childhood on 11-14 October 2003. Margalit Laufer arranges the translation into English of the brochure of Jeug.net (milestone) and is distributed at the conference. Several hundreds of people are present at the conference from all over the world, including members of the European Parliament. The motor behind the organisation is the movement of the international Steiner schools. Michiel Matthes establishes many useful international contacts and gets a confirmation that his analysis is correct.
· Lt Colonel Dave Grossman, the well known author of ‘Stop Teaching Our Kids To Kill, A Call To Action Against TV, Movie & Video Game Violence’.
· Jürgen Flinspach, director of the International Association of Waldorfkindergärten, based in Stuttgart.
· Valeer van Achter, who established the DIROO Group in Belgium (www.diroo.be).
· Sally Jenkinson of the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship in East Sussex, Engeland (http://www.steinerwaldorf.org.uk)
· O. Fred Donaldson (USA), whose mission it is in life to teach people how to play with children and to teach them how important it is for children that they can play.
· Prof Peter Adriaenssens from Leuven, one of the key experts in the area of the abuse of children in Belgium and author of many books.
· Prof Reinald Eichholz, who one of the leaders in Germany to start up the implementation process after Germany had signed the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. He was the motor behind the brochure ‘Dialogverfahren Kinderfreundlichkeit’, published by the government of Nordrhein-Westfalen.
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Defence for Children International | Via the Nederlandse Jeugd Groep (Dutch Youth Group) Michiel Matthes is introduced to Stan Meuwese, the director of Defence for Children International, Section The Netherlands, abbreviated DCI. This is the official NGO which monitors the Dutch state regarding the implementation of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child in the Dutch situation. DCI’s role is twofold:
· The Dutch State signed and ratified the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, but does not fulfill all requirements of this Convention: DCI will regularly report its findings to the Dutch Government.
· DCI assists also other countries to implement the UN Convention.
Within DCI a little Working Group is set up called RAAK (Action Group regarding Child Abuse). The motor behind this group is Stan Meuwese, prof. dr. Jan Willems, en prof. dr. Dries van Dantzig (who died in the autumn of 2005). Michiel participates on and off in this Action Group.
Milestones:
· The supporters of RAAK, among which Ruud Bakhuizen and Michiel Matthes, sign the Manifesto that is offered to the Committee on Youth and Justice of the Dutch Parliament in November 2000. Michiel is present when it is handed over to the Committee. In the evening the event is shown on tv: the news bulletin of the NOS.
· RAAK manages to get the theme of Child Abuse in the Government Agreement of 2002, which is the basic document for the work of the cabinet, consisting of three coalition partners.
DCI is an important alliance partner for Jeugd.net. Michiel follows from a certain distance the activities of RAAK/ DCI and participates now and then in a meeting.
Remark: prof van Dantzig has been a psychiatrist all his life, who has been helping people who were victims themselves of child abuse / incest or indirect victims. As soon as he was retired he decided to work on the issue of preventing child abuse instead of only helping people when the harm has been done already.
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Christmas 2000 | Milestones:
Werner van Katwijk gave the note of Jeugd.net to the editor of the Dutch newspaper TROUW and briefed him about the idea to look into the quality of the living environment of children in the Netherlands. This person became enthusiastic about the approach and decided to make a special report on the occasion of Christmas 2000 on the topic ‘The State of Dutch Children’. This special report was well received.
In February 2006 this initiative was repeated, but on a much bigger scale and this time the indicators were derived from the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child e.g. protection, provision, participation etc. This time it was a project of the following organisations: Kinderpostzegels, Jantje Beton, Verweij-Jonker Instituut, Defence for Children International and Unicef. The title of the report is ‘Kinderen in Tel’ . The website for more information is www.kinderenintel.nl. The methodology of the US initiative ‘Kids Count’ was followed.
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18 January 2001 | Milestone:
OUDERS & COO, the protestant parent organisation, organised with the support of the newspaper TROUW and the Association for Christian Scientific Education ( Vereniging voor Christelijk Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs) at the Free University of Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit te Amsterdam) on 18 January 2001 a symposium entitled ‘New Chances for Children in Dutch Society, in Search of a New Policy Agenda’ (Nieuwe Kansen voor het Kind in de Nederlandse Samenleving, De Zoektocht naar een Beleidsagenda). When organising this event the group was inspired by the work of Jeugd.net, implying that the focus should not be on poor children but instead on the quality of the living environment of the child. Michiel Matthes helped also to invite a number of speakers, among others Stan Meuwese of DCI and Alexandra Draxler of UNESCO, who prepared a video for the conference, because she could not make it in person.
The purpose of the symposium was to prepare a wish list for the political parties, which had all started to write their election manifestos for the parliamentary elections in May 2002. It was an excellent opportunity for all organisations working for and with children to present in 7 minutes 7 wishes for this policy agenda.
This approach worked very well because 30 organisations accepted the invitation. Furthermore all political parties were represented at top level. Total number of participants: 180. The presentations were very lively because each speaker, also in case they were famous like rabbi Soetendorp, only got 7 minutes to present their wishes for their policy agenda for children.
Werner van Katwijk offered to Jeugd.net to hold a workshop in the morning of that day prior to the symposium as a gesture for his contribution to the policy approach taken and Michiel presented in 7 minutes the outcome of this workshop to the symposium audience in the afternoon. In the workshop participated the members of the Children Dialogue Group and some other persons.
With hindsight we think, that this symposium contributed to achieving a more prominent place for children and their living environment in the Dutch election campaign of 2001/2002.
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February 2001 | Second Symposium of the newspaper TROUW. The key note speaker this time is Mrs Van Lippe Biesterfeld (better known as princess Irene, the sister of the Dutch queen). Neither Michiel Matthes nor Ruud Bakhuizen were present this time.
At the end of the Second Symposium people in the audience remarked, that it was necessary to continue with this approach.
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Spring 2001, the Sprarkling Gang is formed | A small group of activists, who had participated in one or both of the above mentioned symposiums, decided to come together and to discuss in which way it could be feasible to give a follow-up to the ideas presented. It is Charlotte Korbee and Kees Blase who take the lead in this respect. Charlotte Korbee has established a foundation called Shapers of Education and Kees Blase works for APS and has also an own activity in the area of Heart Brain Learning. The newly formed group gives itself the name ‘De Bruisbende’ (in English the Sparkling Gang). Some 15 to 25 persons participate in the work of the Sparkling Gang, among who Michiel Matthes.
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(Bruisbende) | In order to give the group a concrete goal it is decided to plan a conference from May 31 until June 2, 2002 at the conference venue of Woudschoten in Zeist, The Netherlands. The title of the conference ‘Heart and Soul of Learning’. Jeugd.net supports this initiative by a.o. introducing Charlotte Korbee to the FEMI Foundation. Subsequently Annelies Verloop of FEMI takes care of the secretariat of the conference in which participate some 200 persons, of which some 50 foreigners.
Milestones:
The conference is a great success, among others because of the extensive network of the persons participating in the Sparkling Gang. The conference is openend by dr. J. Witteveen, Soefi, and former president of the IMF. For more information on the conference see http://www.shapersofeducation.org.
Michiel Matthes gives a presentation to a workshop in the conference.
The conference brings together in a very constructive way 150 Dutch people, who are pioneering fundamental innovations in the Dutch educational system. In this conference a microcosm was created of how learning could be shaped.
The conference could also be considered as a follow-up of the network for Effective / Affective Learning, which held in Rolduc in June 1998 a conference. The group of Charlotte Korbee has links with the international Society for Effective and Affective Learning (http://www.seal.org.uk/)
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Input for the election programs of the Dutch political parties sent out on March 9, 2001 | Milestone:
Jeugd.net drafts a note as input for the election programs of the Dutch political parties. The note is based on the outcome of the Symposium of 18 January 2001 and own research work of Michiel Matthes. Wouter Hanhart helps in editing the note.
The PvdA (the Dutch Labour Party) is so happy with the note that they invite Michiel Matthes to summarize the text in 3000 words so that it can be placed on their internet site www.kiespvda.nl. It was on this site during the entire election campaign.
The theme of children and the environment of the child was during the entire election campaign of 2001/2002 a hot topic.
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apr-02 | Milestone:
Jeugd.net makes a comparison of the election programs of the 6 biggest parties regarding children, the living environment of children and education and publishes this note on the internet.
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31 May 2001: Workshop on Shaping a Social Work Trainee Program for children, following secondary education | Milestone:
The SP (Socialist Party) was happy with the note of Jeugd.net. They are struggling with the question whether a trainee program with social institutions for children following secondary education is feasible. Marianne Langkamp of the SP approaches Jeugd.net to explore this question. On 31 May 2001 a workshop on this topic is held in the office of FEMI in Baarn with a number of educational experts, among which Clan Visser ’t Hooft. Clan was one of the driving forces and project manager of the studiehuis (= education based on project assignments). In the workshop the group agrees on a model for the trainee program and clarifies how to fit it into the existing educational framework. In this way the plan is ready for implementation.
The report of the workshop is sent to all political parties as an input in their election programs. The CDA and the SP incorporate the idea in their election manifesto. Christenunie and GroenLinks mention the topic, but elaborate it a bit differently.
Mrs Ros, assistant minister for youth announces on tv on 2.12.05 that the Social Work Trainee Program will be implemented from 2006 onwards.
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Webmaster from November 2001 until June 2002 | Milestone:
The FEMI foundation agrees to make a webmaster available to Jeugd.net for one day per week. The webmaster is Wouter Teeninga, a psychology student at Leiden University.
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28 juni 2002: Letter to team forming the new government | Milestone:
Jeugd.net sends a letter to the team forming the new cabinet (i.e. Messrs Balkenende, Zalm and Herben) + all members of the Parliament to hold a conference about the objectives in the area of the living environment of the child during the next governmental period of 4 years in order to create a basis for better coordination between the different ministries working with and for children.
The cabinet establishes in 2004 a unit (Operatie Jong, www.operatie-jong.nl), which receives as task to coordinate the activities regarding children by the various ministries. This was exactly the message which Jeugd.net had sent to the formation team of the cabinet, but there is no indication, that our letter did the trick.
In the election campaign for the local councils (Gemeenteraadsverkiezing) in March 2006 Assistant Minister Rutten (VVD) proposes to create in 2007 a Minister for Youth Policies. Femke Halsema (GroenLinks) proposes during the television discussion in week 9, 2006 to hold a Parliamentary Enquiry regarding the youth policies of the government.
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2-aug-02 | Letter to the editor of De Volkskrant (national newspaper) regarding the necessity to develop a consistent and coherent policy for children in the Netherlands. Michiel Matthes receives a friendly reply but no other follow up is given.
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10 October 2002 | Follow up of the conference in May: meeting with professor Luc Stevens, professor in the pedagogy at the University of Utrecht.
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26 October 2002 | Michiel Matthes participates in a conference of the Dutch Korczak Foundation in Almere. He meets there Theo Cappon and Jeroen Petri, with who a fruitful cooperation commences.
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16 November 2002: workshop of OSN in Wilnis, near Amsterdam | The OSN Groep (Onderwijs, Samenleving, Nederland or in English: Education, Society, the Netherlands ) holds a workshop. OSN is a group of activists who are concerned about the relationship between education and the quality of the society in the Netherlands in general. The group consists of some 20 persons, who have all a different religious, philosophical or political background. Michiel Matthes is one of the persons giving a presentation. The Hogeschool Utrecht supports the group with regards to logistics (meeting rooms etc).
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dec-02 | Michiel Matthes moves to Brussels because of his work for the Unico Banking Group.
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23 May 2003 | Michiel participates in a follow up symposium of the 2002 conference of the Sparkling Gang. This time some 20 persons attend and it is held in Boekesteyn, ‘s Graveland.
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25 September 2003 in Utrecht | The CDA, the Christian Democratic Party, is organising all over the country hearings about specific themes to learn what the members think about this subject. Michiel Matthes attends the session on 25.9.03 in Utrecht. The theme of the evening is: How free can the education be? Michiel presents his paper and hands it over to both Marja van Bijsterveldt, the chair person of the party, and Maria van der Hoeven, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science.
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1 October 2003 | Frans Leonard is asked by FEMI to help to upgrade the website of www.jeugd.net. Since then he is the webmaster.
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20-nov-03 | Michiel Matthes attends the Conference of RAAK / Defence for Children International in Amsterdam
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2 December 2003 in Brussels | Jeugd.net organises a lecture by professor Peter Adriaenssens (KU Leuven) in Brussel about the situation of children in Belgium. Nobody shows up. Peter Adriaenssens would have presented the presentation, which he gave to the Belgian cabinet in the summer of 2003 at the request of King Albert of Belgium.
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17 February 2004 | Jeugd.net reacts after a television program of Andries Knevel and a set of papers of Jeugd.net is attached. Andries Knevel replies personally.
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20 July 2004, Florence | Meeting with Mr Moyerson, Secretary General of ChildONEurope, which is the European Network of National Observatories on Childhood. This is an Italian initiative. The website is www.childoneurope.org.
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3-dec-04 | Jeugd.net reacts after a television program called The National Cabinet, which is chaired by Pieter Winsemius of McKinsey & Company. In the letter with annexes the approach of Jeugd.net is presented regarding the issues raised in the tv program. No reaction is received from Pieter Winsemius.
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apr-05 | After some discussion between the various stakeholders it is decided to change the name of www.jeugd.net into www.ecologyofthechild.org, because we got the idea to make it a European initiative.
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27-30 October 2005, St Virgil, Salzburg | Conference of Alliance for childhood and Verein Mit Kindern Wachsen. The title of the conference is ‘Wie kinder lernen’ (How children learn). It was again a great conference with a lot of valuable and good contacts. The website of the two organising organisations are http://www.allianceforchildhood.org.uk/ and http://www.mit-kindern-wachsen.de
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14 November 2005, Brussels | Ecology of the Child participates in the conference of Eurochild entitled ‘The position of socially excluded children in the EU policy process’. For more information see www.eurochild.org.
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23-25 November 2005, Brussels | Ecology of the Child participates in the conference ‘Child Health and the Environment: results from EU Framework 5, PINCHE, Children Genonetwork and Plutocracy Projects. In this conference more than 200 scientists discussed in detail the results of their studies. It was a very rich conference and I noted that the scientists are further advanced than the NGO’s working in the areas of poverty and social exclusion. More information on the following website: http://www.pinche.hvdgm.nl
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18 January 2006, Brussels | Michiel Matthes participates in a mind mapping session of the organisation Europe’s Children- Our Concern. This group mainly aims at children with a handicap and how to treat them in an optimal way. The website, which is impressive is: www.ecoc.be
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16-17 February 2006, Rome | Ecology of the Child participates in the forum entitled ‘Child inclusion as a challenge to the Mediterranean Partnership of the EU-The consequences of migration on children at risk in the Southern European Member States: Analyses, Concepts and Strategies’. The conference is a.o. organised by the European Foundation of Street Children Worldwide (www.enscw.org). Franco Frattini, Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security outlines his plans with regards to children.
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22 February 2006 in Baarn, the Netherlands | Presentation for the Kiwanis Club of Hilversum-Baarn about Ecology of the Child.
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24 February 2006, Helsinki | Ecology of the Child speaks with key children advocates in Finland
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27 February 2006, Brussels | Ecology of the Child becomes officially a private foundation under Belgian law. Apart from Michiel Matthes Ruud Bakhuizen and Huibert Matthes sit on the board.
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28 February 2006, Amsterdam | DCI organises with other partners the presentation of the report ‘Kinderen in Tel’. Michiel Matthes can not be present. Also the newspaper Trouw issued on 25 February a special report on ‘Kinderen in Tel’. More information on the website www.kinderenintel.nl. This study should be done in all EU member states in order to provide the authorities with hard data about the welfare of the children in the area for which they are responsible.
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3 March 2006, Brussels | Ecology of the Child holds a discussion with the European Foundation for Street Children Worldwide. Some weeks thereafter Ecology of the Child is accepted as member organisation.
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7 March 2006 | Ecology of the Child gives comments on the ‘Communication of the European Commission on the Rights of the Child’. This note is prepared by the Directorate General Justice, Freedom and Security of the European Commission, headed by Euro Commissioner Franco Frattini. This policy intention can be considered as a major step forward.
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21 March 2006 | The Belgisch Staatsblad (official paper of the Belgian state) mentions the statutes of Ecology of the Child private stichting and the board members.
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April 23-May 12 | Michiel follows at Schumacher College in Dorset, UK, the course ‘The science of quality: Leonardo, Goethe and Bateson’given by Fritjof Capra, Brian Goodwin, Stephen Harding and Noel Charlton. For more information www.schumachercollege.org.uk.
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23 March 2006 | Meeting with Jana Hainsworth, Secretary General of Eurochild. On April 20 Ecology of the Child submits an application to become member of Eurochild. On July 6 Ecology of the Child receives a letter, that it does not meet the membership criteria.
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22 May 2006 | Michiel Matthes has a discussion with Mrs Marie-Anne Paraskevas, Principal Administrator, Employment and Social Affairs Directorate-General of the European Commission. Mrs Paraskevas informs Michiel Matthes about the Call for Proposals VP/2006/009 regarding the support to European Networks involved in the fight against poverty and social exclusion.
From then on Michiel Matthes starts to get in touch with relevant organisations and individuals in the various EU countries to discuss with them the establishment of a network as mentioned in the Call for Proposals.
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7 June 2006 | Meeting with Mrs Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Member of the European Parliament and chairman of the Intergroup on Family and the Protection of Childhood, and her assistant Mrs Alexia Maniaki-Griva. Michiel Matthes is henceforth invited to the meetings of the Intergroup. The forthcoming meeting will be on 5 July 2006 in Strasburg, where Michiel will attend.
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7 June 2006 | Michiel Matthes participates in the event organised by Eurochild in one of the buildings of the European Parliament. The event was called ‘Why involve us’and 16 children / adolescents of various EU member states that face poverty and social exclusion could bring forward their experiences.
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7 June 2006 | The Belgisch Staatsblad (official paper of the Belgian state) reports that Michiel Matthes is appointed as chairman of the board of Ecology of the Child private stichting.
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19 June 2006 | Michiel Matthes participates in the soirée of Frank Schwalba-Hoth in Brussels and speaks with Els de Groen, Member of the European Parliament and working on the issue of Roma children.
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June-July 2006 | Michiel works mainly on the above mentioned tender. A European Network Group is brought together consisting of the following members:
Belgium Project Linkedness
Denmark The Kempler Institute
Germany Verein mit Kindern Wachsen
The Netherlands René Diekstra
Educare
Janusz Korczak Foundation
UK Christopher Clouder (Alliance for Childhood / European Council for Steiner Waldorf Schools)
Spain Rosario Ortega Ruiz, prof. University of Cordoba
Brussels Ecology of the Child
Per the end of July it becomes clear that not all conditions of the tender can be met. The group decides to start anyhow with its network cooperation.
The overall objective of the project: to work together on the improvement of the quality of the living environment of children in the EU.
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4 July 2006 | Michiel makes acquaintance with William Lay, the director of the Confederation of Family Organisations in the EU (www.coface-eu.org). José Manuel Barosso, chairman of the European Commission, and Franco Frattini, Eurocommissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security present to the European Parliament and the media the Communication of the European Commission entitled ‘Towards an EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child’. With this step the Commission lays the foundation for a comprehensive approach of policies regarding children in the EU.
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5 July 2006 | Michiel Matthes participates in the meeting of the Intergroup on Family and the Protection of Childhood of the European Parliament, held in the building of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The theme of the meeting is: ‘reconciliation of family and professional life and recognition of informal / atypical work’.
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7 July 2006 | The European Foundation for Street Children Worldwide sponsors a Photo Exhibition in Brussels of Ton Hendricks (Netherlands), who has made photographs of street children in some Latin American and African countries. For more information see www.globalstreetchild.org. Ton Hendricks treats his models with respect as human beings and shows with that the dignity of these street children. Michiel Matthes attended the opening session.
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16 July 2006 | In the Netherlands the government just fell. The current cabinet less two D66 ministers will take care of the business until the new elections on 22 November 2006. For this reason all parties work very hard to draft their election manifestos. For this reason Michiel Matthes contacts all major parties and sends them the Communication of the European Commission entitled ‘Towards an EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child’ with the advice to take this note into account while writing the election manifestos.
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