About FaS
FamiliesAndSocieties (FaS) is a major European research project that investigated the diversity of family forms, relationships and life courses in Europe. It explored the growing complexity of family configurations and transitions across and within European societies and examined their implications for children, women and men with respect to inequalities in life chances, intergenerational relations and care arrangements. The consortium involved 25 research partners and 3 transnational civil society actor partners, including IFFD.
Launched in February 1st 2013, the project lasted until 2017 with the objectives of investigating the diversity of family forms, relationships and life courses in Europe. A second aim was to assess the compatibility of existing policies with families’ changes while contributing to evidence-based policy-making. In a nutshell, the project extended the knowledge on how policies promote wellbeing, inclusion and sustainable societal development among families.
The scope of the project was reflected by FaS coordinator, Livia Oláh , in her message on the occasion of the launch of the project, as she explained that: “to carry out the project, a large consortium of partners has been formed on the basis of scientific excellence covering a wide range of disciplinary expertise in family-related research, located in key regions of Europe, and also based on the active involvement of civil society actors”.
The academic partners were universities (16 partners), research institutes (8 partners), and an international organisation, the European University Institute (EUI). In addition, the consortium also included three civil society actors, including IFFD as the federation that gathers 242 family associations from 66 countries all over the world.
IFFD contribution to FaS
As a non-governmental organization, IFFD was actively involved in matters related to foresight activities, synthesis as well as policy implications and dissemination of the project’s research results.
1. Foresight activities. The main objective was to inform policy makers about the impact that family-related policies have in the long run on the family wellbeing and on the fulfilment of family needs. The foresight approach aimed at collecting forward-looking tools designed to inform and influence management, planning and policymaking and it used qualitative and quantitative methods. Our aims were therefore to draw policy implications and to outline future major trends in family configurations.
2. Synthesis and policy implications. The objective involved here two synthesis tasks. The first one was to produce a synthesis of the state-of-the-art, identifying gaps in the research areas and guidelines for research directions. And the second one consisted of producing a synthesis of findings that have emerged from the work packages and to formulate policy recommendations based upon this research and the dissemination meetings among civil society actors and stakeholders.
3. Dissemination of research results, dialogue with stakeholder audiences and family advocacy. The general objective was to disseminate the project findings to the academic community, policy makers, stakeholders, the media and the general public. It was also about enhancing the dialogue between policy makers and civil society actors as well as researchers.
