Abstract:

At present, there is no equivalent data source available to researchers to comparatively analyse the well-being of children as they grow up and therefore to develop policies to improve their well-being. The H2020 programme project “The European Cohort Development Project” (ECDP) will create the specification for a European Research Infrastructure that will provide, over the next 25 years, comparative longitudinal survey data on child and young people well-being. The project will build on work carried out in the FP7 project MYWeB which has provided the proof of concept for the development of a Europe wide longitudinal survey of child and youth well-being in regard to:
(1) desirability among stakeholder groups;
(2) technical do-ability in relation to questionnaire surveys of children as young as seven years old;
(3) policy relevance in regard to the evidence needs for policy development in the area of children, families and education;
(4) policy benefits weighed against the infrastructural costs.

The longitudinal research will enable the identification of transition periods and turning points relevant to policy and will help to detect important periods for policy intervention. Moreover, it will help to identify important issues in high impact policy areas, including, school, education and learning. To address child well-being in an EU context, firstly, education and training policies (in particular in relation to early school leaving, early childhood education) should be examined. The presentation attempts to explore the general nature of the national child and young people policy in Latvia. It has a twofold aim, namely, to explore the institutional coverage for children and youth policy, and to analyse the main obstacles to implement child and youth policy at national and municipal level.

According to the interviews with experts, the main obstacles to implement child and youth policy at national and municipal level in Latvia are:
(1) attitude of politicians towards youth policy that is not one of the priorities and important points in national policy;
(2) lack of sufficient financial resources in state budget;
(3) lack of sustainability and continuity of child and youth policy;
(4) lack of administrative capacity and human resources;
(5) lack of focus within political documents aimed to improve quality of child and youth well-being;
(6) diverse approach to the youth policy in the regions;
(7) symbiosis between lack of finances and lack of public awareness regards youth policy – one of the biggest challenges in youth policy implication.

Society believes that work with young people is something that can be realized without finances.

Keywords:

Child and youth well-being, children and young people policy, longitudinal research, survey.