Within the framework of the First International Forum for the Developing Countries Think Tanks, the United Nations Children’s Fund in Egypt (UNICEF) is sponsoring an international conference on “Child Poverty and Disparities: Public Policies for Social Justice”. The conference serves as a platform for innovative thinking on social policy and child rights that will bring together academics, policy makers, practitioners as well as university students to exchange experiences and discuss proposals for inclusive and child-sensitive public social and economic policies that aim to reduce child poverty and are based on scientific evidence. The conference organizers welcome proposals for presentations from academics, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners. University students and recent graduates are particularly encouraged to respond to the call for papers. The presentations at the conference can be any of the following formats:

1) Individual paper presentations of applied research or documented experiences;
2) Poster presentations on research findings or successful experiences; and
3) Post-graduate feedback sessions on ongoing research projects.

Papers and presentations submitted should focus either on Egypt specifically or should discuss relevant applied research and experiences reporting on policy proposals that could possibly be transposed to the Egyptian context. They should 1) have a solid methodological approach, be it quantitative or qualitative; 2) have a strong evidence base and 3) discuss implications for inclusive public policies that advance children’s rights and reduce their vulnerability to the multidimensional notion of poverty.

Focus on disparities between boys and girls, and/or between other groups or geographical regions within a country, is highly encouraged.

Selected papers, presentations and research projects will address at least one of the following themes:

1) Policy implications of child poverty from a child rights perspective with a focus on:
a) education deprivation and/or
b) health deprivation and/or
c) nutrition deprivation and/or
d) deprivation of social protection and/or
e) deprivation of social support systems for children at risk of violence, abuse and exploitation

2) Child and adolescent participation in research and development to achieve child rights