News

Eurochild is delighted to announce the election of Norah Gibbons as its new President. Eurochild is a network of 176 members advocating for children’s rights and well-being. Norah has served several executive and non-executive roles in Ireland in the field of children’s rights, most recently being appointed as the first Chair of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency of Ireland.

Newly elected President of Eurochild and Honorary Member, Norah Gibbons spoke on how critical it is to address child poverty swiftly: “Child poverty isn’t just deprivation in the now, it prevents children from fully participating in society. Europe can’t afford not to invest in enabling all children become active citizens.” More than one in four children are at risk of living in poverty or social exclusion in the EU.

On the role of the European Union institutions, she said, “The EU has an important role to play in collection of data to see where countries stand in relative terms. It also has to show the way forward, knowing that all countries won’t work in the exact same way. It needs to uphold and promote the principles of non-discrimination and equality. We can’t dumb down those essential rights.”

Eurochild’s outgoing president Maria Herczog served six years as Chair of the Management Board. She is expected to move to the United States of America later this year, while she continues to guide Eurochild as Chief Scientific Advisor on Childonomics, a project aimed to measure long term social and economic value of investing in children.

Other newly elected members of the Management Board include Ljiljana Vasic of Pomoc Deci, Serbia; Dana Rusinova of Coalition for Children Slovakia; Geert Jorgensen from Denmark; and Otto Sestak of Hope and Homes for Children Romania (reelection).

George Bogdanov of National Network for Children, Bulgaria and Hannah Heinonen of Central Union for Child Welfare, will continue their roles in the Management Board until 2017 when they complete their 3-years tenure.