New School University/Graduate Program in International Affairs

The New School University
UNICEF

Call for Papers

International Conference
"Promoting Human Rights and Social Policies for Children and Women: Monitoring
and Achieving the Millennium Development Goals"

UNICEF and The Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA) at the New
School would like to announce call for papers for an International Conference
that will promote Social Policies for Children, Women and Family. The three-
day Conference will be held from April 28th - 30th, 2004 (see time-line below)
at the New School in New York.

The papers at the Conference will present analytical and policy papers on the
progressive realization of human rights and children's, women's, and family
well-being issues based in the use of household data, especially Multiple
Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS).

A paper describing the methodology, goals and stakes in connection to MICS,
child well-being, and social policy has been prepared as background for the
Conference. The paper includes sections on statistical information and human
rights, statistical information and policy design, and participation and
information strategies. This paper is available upon request from:
[email protected] [2].

The Conference General Objectives

1. To promote the use of MICS data, and their use in social policy design
at country, regional and global level.

2. To develop benchmarks for monitoring the Millennium Development Goals
and World Fit for Children goals in a disaggregated way.

3. To promote and disseminate MICS results and methodology, and to obtain
analytical and policy results and visibility for the Global Movement for
Children, i.e. to gather evidence in favor of the actions needed to improve the
lives of children and adolescents.

The Conference Specific Objectives

1. Discussion of analytical and policy papers on children's, women's and
family issues based in the use of household data (especially MICS) will be in
the following subject areas:

· Educational attainment
· Child labor
· Maternal and child health
· Family and child care
· Birth registration, child protection, and orphans
· Poverty among women and children

2. Experts and researchers interested in these subjects will have the
opportunity through the MICS data to access new information; and to use and
present data in new ways. The Conference will focus on findings in the
selected papers. Based on empirical information, papers must address issues
related to:

· The situation of children, women and family, analyzing the underlying
causes and cross-relationship between the above categories (e.g. child labor
and education, health and education, etc)

· Policies and programs for family, women, and child welfare based on
Human Rights

· Methodological issues related to household surveys (MICS), sample
sizes, statistical validity of results, and capacity building

Structure of the Conference

a) Thematic papers on the situation of children and women (40%),
b) Policies for Children's and Women's rights (30%)
c) Methodological issues and dissemination strategies (30%).

Accessing MICS data

UNICEF will provide MICS data country through the WEB site: www.childinfo.org [3].
Data are available for almost 60 countries. Researchers will be fully
responsible for further analysis. The appropriate and meaningful data analysis
will require proficiency in using SPSS.

Calendar of Events - Time Line

1) One page proposal should be emailed or sent by regular mail by January
15, 2004, to:
Marina Komarecki,
Graduate Program in International Affairs,
The New School University, 9th Floor,
New York, NY 10011
E-mail address: [email protected] [2]

Receipt of submissions will be acknowledged via email within 48 hours.

2) Papers will be selected by February 15th, 2004. An Advisory Panel will
make selection of papers for the Conference. The AP will be composed of
members of UNICEF, GPIA, and external, well-known experts.

3) The deadline for submitting the final version of the papers is April
10th, 2004.

4) The Conference will be held between April 28th-30th, 2004 at the New
School in New York.

5) The organizers intend to publish the papers presented at the Conference
in July 2004.

Funding

Funds are available for travel expenses and subsistence for three days in New
York as required.