Center for Research and Public Education, The National Council for the Child, Israel
The Israeli National Council for the Child (NCC), active since 1980, stands as Israel's foremost advocate for all children's rights and well-being. An independent, NGO, the NCC is positioned to achieve maximum social and political leverage as we do not, in principle, accept any government funding. The NCC operates on several complementary fronts as it seeks change in legislation, policy, and practice. We monitor the quality of services for children; gather data on Israeli children in general and children at risk in particular; serve as a nationwide address for anyone wishing to report violations of children's rights; aim to raise public awareness and initiate innovative projects.
The NCC's goals are put into action through the many diverse and innovative projects in operation. We see ourselves in the forefront of championing the rights of children and yet, at the same time, flexible enough as an independent non-bureaucratic body to tackle disturbing phenomena when we encounter them.
During late 1991, the NCC created the Center for Research and Public Education. The focus of the center is to improve and utilize the collection of data on Israeli children as a tool for advancing policy for the well-being of children and the protection of their rights. The aims of the Center are to advance applied research; to collect and disseminate information; to issue policy position papers; to publish publications aimed at professionals and the general public; to promote public policy making and to aid in its execution. The CRPE works on an interactive and cooperative basis with the already existing offices and institutions, which act on behalf of Israeli children, thus utilizing a collective pool of experience and expertise. The CRPE's publications include much data on the status of children and youth, their living conditions, leisure habits, career opportunities, drug use, and so on. Data is gathered on the entire population of children in Israel as well as on special sectors within the population.
The Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago
The Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago was established in 1985 as a research and development center dedicated to bringing sound information, rigorous analyses, innovative ideas, and an independent perspective to the ongoing public debate about the needs of children and the ways in which those needs can best be met.
We start from the position that society has a responsibility to children and that attending to the needs of children serves the interest of the larger society as well. Chapin Hall's primary work is research that addresses two questions: (1) What does our society now do for children? and (2) What other approaches might we as a society take to meet our responsibility to children?
The Center devotes special attention to children facing significant problems, including abuse or neglect, poverty, and mental or physical illness, and to the service systems designed to address these problems. But Chapin Hall's focus takes in all children and a broad view of their needs. This includes children's potential as well as their problems, and the public and private services and supports aimed at fostering child and youth development.
National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University
http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nccp/main1.html
Situated within the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) has as his mission to identify and promote strategies that prevent child poverty in the United States and that improve the lives of low-income children and their families.
The NCCP places a special emphasis on preventing or alleviating poverty among children under age six because young child poverty poses particularly serious risks to children's healthy growth and development. It conducts and synthesizes relevant research to meet the needs of key audiences that work on issues affecting low-income families. The NCCP uses sound research to identify and promote wise investments in low-income families that have important long-term benefits for children, families, their communities, their states, and the nation as a whole. The center employs a multi-disciplinary approach to build bridges between academic research, field-based knowledge of the experiences of low-income families raising children, attitudinal research, and the development of public and private sector initiatives for low-income families with children. NCCP works to accurately, effectively, clearly, and broadly communicate its research in compelling ways, emphasizes providing useful information to state and local policymakers as they establish goals and objectives and allocate resources for efforts to prevent or alleviate child poverty. And helps key stakeholders and the general public understand and effectively respond to the constantly changing face of child poverty. NCCP does this by assessing and tracking: the definition and measurement of child poverty; the impact of child poverty on various sub-populations; the effects of particular policies on low-income families and children; and public attitudes and awareness regarding child poverty, low-income families, and related issues.
German Youth Institute - Deutsche Jugendinstitut (DJI)
The German Youth Institute is an independent social science research institute. Its tasks comprise application-oriented basic research on issues related and welfare services for children, youth, women and families. Moreover, the Institute scientifically accompanies and evaluates practical work and provides services for the academic community, politicians and practitioners.
In the area of research on the above-mentioned target groups, the German Youth Institute is the largest non-university research institute in the Federal Republic of Germany. Its staff currently comprises 125 social scientists. The head office of the German Youth Institute is in Munich with a regional branch in Leipzig. The Institute was founded in 1963 as a non-profit association made up of representatives from the political, scientific, and non-governmental communities. Most of its budget comes from federal funds. Moreover, the Laender, the European Commission, and institutions interested in promoting science also contribute to the Institute's budget.
The German Youth Institute studies the life situations and attitudes of children, adolescents, women and families in Germany. In response to these situations, it focuses on the activities and services schemes of welfare organisations that cater to these groups. The Institute collects information and research findings on social developments and problems. It provides data of sociopolitical relevance and guidelines based on such data to politicians and practitioners. It develops and scientifically accompanies model projects.