Ensuring good living conditions for children in low-income families

In September, a first meeting of the steering group for the new Nordic cooperation project on children growing up in persistently low-income families in the Nordic region was held. The steering group consists of key actors and experts at the national level in the Nordic countries. Their task is to exchange knowledge on promising practices aiming to ensure that all children and young people in the Nordic region enjoy a favourable upbringing and good living conditions. 

– We aim to collect and disseminate new knowledge on how the Nordic countries apply measures that aim to give the children the opportunity to develop their abilities and skills regardless of parent’s social and economic situation, says Merethe Løberg, senior adviser at Nordic Welfare Centre and in lead of the project.  

Free school meals are a matter of justice.

Preventing poverty itself and the effects of poverty 

The members of the steering group reported many similarities when describing the situation in their countries, but there are different approaches to meet some of the challenges. All countries work with both universal and targeted measures, some of them aiming to prevent poverty and other aiming to ease the adverse effects for the children growing up in these families. Some countries emphasize measures targeting the parents, defining employment as the key and advocates a work-first principle. Other countries focus on measures targeting children, such as education, free meals in schools and leisure cards. Iceland is one of the countries that recently launched a free school meals initiative. School meals in all elementary schools will be free from 1. January 2025 as a result of a new law. 

– Free school meals are a matter of justice. With historic consensus on collective agreements, we create a more equal and better society for our children and thus for all of us, Minister of Infrastructure, Svandís Svavarsdóttir commented in a press release when the law was accepted by parliament this summer.  

Best practice, evaluation and research 

Sharing examples of best practices are necessary steps towards increased knowledge. But for the bigger leaps forward, more evaluations and research on effective methods are called for. A network of Nordic researchers is invited to contribute to the project. Nordregio will develop maps and analyse indicators on child poverty and social exclusion risk in the Nordic region. 

The evaluation shows that the citizens were heard, seen and shown trust in a way they had not experienced before.

One of the interventions presented at the steering group meeting was the Citizens model from Trondheim municipality in Norway, a pilot conducted in 2020-2023. The pilot was followed and evaluated by researchers and the results are published in a report. Citizens model was an innovation project to promote quality of life and participation in the community among children, young people and their families in vulnerable life situations. The model is based on financial support directly to citizens, and cross sectoral cooperation. No new hires were made in the project. The target group for the support were 12-24 year-olds and low-income families with small children. The target groups themselves were directly influencing what kind of support they would receive, based on their needs. Examples of expenditures funded were furniture, leisure activities, drivers’ licences and educational expenses.  

– The evaluation shows that the citizens were heard, seen and shown trust in a way they had not experienced before, which increased their hope and quality of life. It also showed that employees were encouraged to think and act in radically new ways, which led to new solutions, says Kristin Tveranger Alfer, Trondheim municipality. 

At risk of poverty or social exclusion  

The autonomous region Faroe Islands is among the most equal countries in the world when it comes to income differences and the differences in the other Nordic countries are also small. Although the gap between the highest and lowest earners seems to be widening in some countries, the probability of experiencing absolute poverty is minimal or non-existent for families in the Nordic region. Welfare systems guarantee a minimum standard of living, but there is a risk of families experiencing what is defined as relative poverty and some groups are more vulnerable than others. An extensive comparison of the Nordic welfare systems based on expert knowledge and statistical data is available at the Nomesco-Nososco website.

Source: The EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC)

Immigrants and other vulnerable groups 

Single parents, people with disabilities and immigrants are overrepresented in the Nordic countries when it comes to living with a persistently low income. That makes children in these families even more vulnerable. Kaisa Kepsu is senior adviser on integration at the Nordic Welfare Centre and part of the project lead. 

– We have great potential to learn from each other in our efforts to secure children’s rights and opportunities in the Nordic region. To prevent marginalisation and exclusion we must ensure that all children are able to participate in society regardless of their background, says Kaisa Kepsu. 

Upcoming activities 

The members of the steering group are now submitting their recommendations for measures and policies currently in use in their respective country. The steering group will also identify researchers to invite to participate in the Nordic research network. The research network will conduct an evaluation to determine which measures are the most promising in preventing intergenerational transmission of poverty and social exclusion.  

–  The Nordic council of ministers aim for the Nordic being the best place to grow up. Therefore, the objective is to collate the knowledge that the Nordic countries have about the conditions of children in families that have been living in relative poverty for a long time, with a view to developing better policies to improve their opportunities. It is also of great importance to highlight the perspectives of children and young people themselves, in order to ascertain the most effective means of enhancing their opportunities, Merethe Løberg concludes.