230292 PR Research Lab: Applied Poverty and Social Reporting (2007W)

Periodic reporting and monitoring are key elements for European Social Policy. At the Nice European Council it was agreed to fight poverty and social exclusion within the open method of co-ordination.The Laeken Indicators are a set of common statistical indicators for social inclusion which allow monitoring in a comparable way of Member States progress towards the agreed objectives. Member States have translated these objectives into national policies through National Action Plans for poverty and social exclusion (NAPs/Inclusion). The process has led to the identification of a number of key policy priorities. For example, fighting poverty among children is seen as a key priority, both because they face a higher poverty risk and because policies in their favour can help to break the cycle of intergenerational perpetuation of poverty.
However national perspectives and regional aspects are often ignored. Therefore the course tries to enhance understanding and perception and introduces into techniques of social reporting. Focus of the annual research labaratory is to develop a social report on child poverty in Austria.