International events

NOE has a new president

On 31 August 2024, the National Association of Large Families in Hungary (NOE) held its renewal general assembly in Budapest, where Gábor Herbert was elected as the new president by the members of the association.
Gábor Herbert, a father of three and a civil engineer, has been actively involved in the leadership of the association since 2020 as a member of the NOE Board.
Katalin Kardosné Gyurkó, the outgoing president, has taken on a new role as Ministerial Commissioner for Intergenerational Cooperation, joining Balázs Hankó, Minister of Culture and Innovation, and Zsófia Koncz, State Secretary.
We extend our best wishes to both Katalin and Gábor in their new positions.

NOE hosts Obitelji 3plus for a study tour

On 8 March 2024, the Board and Staff of the Croatian Association of Large Families (Obitelji 3plus), including newly elected President Kristian Jambrosic, visited our office. Katalin Kardosne Gyurko, President of the Association of Large Families in Hungary (NOE) and Kinga Joó, Advisor to the President, gave them a tour of the office and a short presentation on the history of NOE, how it operates and some good practices in the provision of services and advocacy work of the Association. We had an intensive discussion with the Croatian representatives, which we continued over lunch after the meeting. We are grateful for the visit and hope to hear more about the achievements of Obitelji 3plus.

NOE and two municipalities from Hungary – Budapest V. district and Paks – participated at the 4th Congress of Family Friendly Municipalities

The Congress was held at the European Committee of the Regions in the European capital on 7 February under the title “Digital Future: Family-friendly cities and the challenges of innovation”.

Academics, representatives of European institutions, politicians, technicians and administrators from municipalities, invited by ELFAC, the European Large Families Confederation, attended the congress to discuss how digital innovation can make life easier for families, territories more welcoming and attractive, and businesses more competitive. Keeping in mind the perspective of family well-being, speakers emphasised the need to counter the demographic crisis in Europe with actions in favour of quality of life: access to services and training even in rural areas and creating conditions for smart and flexible work.

OPINION: Who cares? Achieving effective measures to support informal family carers

It could be a good brain-teaser to ask what is the occupation of the tens of millions of people in Europe, whose daily work time can span over 24 hours and is not only essential but also life-saving. We could not even say that this type of work is underpaid, as it is in many cases, not paid at all. And although it is not necessarily undervalued, it is clear that this essential work is taken for granted. For COFACE Families Europe, which represents the interests of families across Europe, the answer to this brainteaser is evident. But it might be less obvious to many people outside of our own bubble, that we are talking about informal family carers who look after relatives with long-term care needs or children outside of education and care institutional settings.

10th International Advocacy Workshop

31 AUGUST – 2 SEPTEMBER 2022

More than 500 students and young professionals from 39 countries and diverse cultural and academic backgrounds have attended the past editions of the IFFD International Advocacy Workshop, together with a group of senior observers. This 10th year is organized in a hybrid mode, with a limit of 100 active participants and no cost involved.

The course intends to critically assess the field of international human rights and development advocacy, its institutions, strategies, and key actors. It explores how domestic, regional, and global policy strategies are set. Also, it promotes discussion on various challenges that family-responsive advocates face together with a range of stakeholders, including academics, international institutions and the private sector.

The topics for this year deal with the megatrends proposed by the United Nations for the preparations and celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the International Year of the Family in 2024 not included in last year’s edition and from a global perspective, so that the topics related to family advocacy during this troubled times and beyond them are fully covered.

More information: https://familyperspective.org/2022/06/22/iaw-2022/

National Association of Large Families in Hungary helping refugees from Ukraine

Hungary has received the second largest number of refugees from Ukraine in the EU after Poland.
Majority of those fleeing are women and children.
Civil society across the country has mobilized itself basically overnight.
State actors, including local governments, were also fast to act.
The National Charity Council now is the platform for structured help and cooperation.
NOE has collected and distributed donations at the border but also on Ukrainian ground, in the Transcarpathian region.
Families are helping families, hosting those who had to leave their home.
Volunteers are key in the present emergency response.

See the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzY_7QsTWr0

Subsidies instead of austerity – in the interest of families as well

There has been no precedent earlier to introduce subsidies instead of austerity measures following a serious economic crisis. The National Association of Large Families (NOE) welcomes the economy relaunching measures announced on Wednesday as they aim to support families while all the previous subsidies and allowances are also maintained.

During the pandemic, many families faced not only physical and psychical hardship but even had to use up their savings. Family friendly measures introduced during the pandemic including expanding family subsidies, suspending repayments of Baby Welcome Loan and Housing Loan for Families (CSOK in Hungarian), general credit moratorium, home renovation support program, suspending evictions and seizures of properties all meant possible way-out from economic crisis for many families.

Sharing the results of a strengthening economy with families has an important message.

The possibility of the refund of personal income tax of parents raising children and the lengthening of credit moratorium can both contribute to the strengthening of families. As the largest family organization of Hungary, we welcome and support this aim. Subsidies for families attached to the economic growth in the last ten years have met our expectations so we hope that these measures will again be successful.

NOE has been active in contributing to the solution of the crisis, too. We organized charities to help families in need in 70 municipalities and informed stakeholders about hardships of families.

The success of relaunching the Hungarian economy can be best measured by the improvement in the quality of life of families. We appreciate that despite the challenges of the pandemic Hungary is on its way to continued support for families.

Budapest, 10/06/2021

ELFAC starts a European survey on Family and Environmental Protection

For many years now, correlations have been made between large families and pollution, so much so that they are not considered ecological.

Precisely for this reason the Hungarian Kopp Mária Institute for Demography and Families (KINCS), on the initiative of European Large Families Confederation (ELFAC), has prepared a survey which aim is to collect feedback from large families on environmental protection and environmental awareness.

The results will be presented in the summer of 2021 at the 10th European Large Families Conference, in Hungary.

We ask as many families as possible, from the most different states to participate in this survey, so that we can collect as much data as possible!

In this regard, we have translated the questionnaire into several languages.

You can access it by clicking on the language name in this page: https://www.elfac.org/elfac-starts-a-european-survey-on-family-and-enviromental-protection/

Child Guarantee initiative of the European Commission

The European Commission has launched a consultation on the European Child Guarantee proposal, an initiative to fight child poverty in Europe. NOE formulated key messages to tackle child poverty and suggested to include CHILDREN RAISED IN LARGE FAMILIES among other groups of children who should benefit from the scheme.

The Child Guarantee is meant to ensure that all children in Europe who are at risk of poverty, social exclusion, or are otherwise disadvantaged, have access to essential services of good quality.

International Advocacy Online Workshop

15 speakers, 24 experts and 118 participants from 34 countries have been part of the 8th Edition of the International Advocacy Workshop (IAW) on 9th, 10th, 11th September, 2020. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, it was held online by the International Federation for Family Development in collaboration with Instituto de la Familia (Universidad de La Sabana, Colombia). The Workshop had no cost for participants and was conducted in English. The participants attended individually and in small local groups, to facilitate personal interaction and team work. Details

Kinga Joo, member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Vice President of NOE and member of the board of the National Cooperation Fund (NEA) was one of the speakers of Day3. Her presentation covered Demographic Challenges in the EU. Young attendees from NOE also participated in the successful event.

Family is the immune system of society

Families based on love and caring are able to help each other respect the rules intended to protect their health. The integrity and wellbeing of these communities guarantee that once the crisis is over, society and the economy can recover as rapidly as possible. The primary objective of the economy is none other than to ensure the welfare and proper functioning of families and thus society. This is why we must do everything we can now to enable fam-ilies to concentrate on the new chal-lenges and to protect them in these difficult times. Read more

by Kinga Joó, Member of the European Economic and Social Committee, Vice-president of the National Association of Large Families in Hungary (NOE)

Conference on Youth Transition

The National Association of Large Families in Hungary (NOE), MEP György Hölvényi and the International Federation for Family Development (IFFD) organise a Conference on Youth Transition.

Venue: European Parliament, JAN 6Q1
(Rue Wiertz 60, 1047 Bruxelles, Belgium)

Date: 18th February 2020, 15.00-18.30

Gallery

Youth Transition invites young professionals to Brussels to address and discuss youth transition from several perspectives (education, employment, housing, founding a family, etc.) through the eyes of MEP’s, decision makers, young professionals and representatives of international NGO’s.

First European Convention of Family-Friendly Municipalities, Brussels

On Tuesday, November 19, 2019, the European Network of Family-Friendly Municipalities held its first Convention in Brussels at the headquarters of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).

The act was chaired by Regina Maroncelli president of European Confederation of Large Families (ELFAC) and moderated by Raul Sanchez general secretary.

The project of the European Network of Family-Friendly Municipalities was presented in September 2018 in Brussels and since then it has been working with twenty pilot municipalities in seven European countries in order to define a common standard and the definition and program of activities of the Network.

NOE Conference with a highlight on „Youth, Family and Europe”

On behalf of the National Association of Large Families in Hungary and MEP György Hölvényi we cordially invite You and your colleagues to our

CONFERENCE WITH A HIGHLIGHT

ON „YOUTH, FAMILY AND EUROPE”

18th February, 2020

Brussels, European Parliament

Follow at www.noe.hu/home

The audience mainly consists of young people from all over the world, while our lecturers are representatives of the European Union and esteemed young experts of international family and youth organisations.

You will be shortly provided with application requirements and the deadline for application.

For further information please write to noe@noe.hu.

Autumn Family Festival

The Autumn Family Festival is the most popular and well-known special event of our association that is a large get-together every year. In 2019 the Hungarian Open Air Museum in Szentendre hosts the event (http://skanzen.hu/en) expecting 3800 people who all live in large families.

Walking among the 100-200 year-old buildings is a special experience for the families who can encounter with the past and the traditions in Szentendre. Lifestyle of different regions of Hungary is presented in the museum.

Rich programmes and various exhibitions are organised for the altogether 700 pre-registered large families (thematic exhibitions, fun spots, handicraft programmes and workshops).

One of the main ambitions of NOE is the propagation of marriage, so five couples will have the exceptional opportunity to get married during the Autumn Family Festival. NOE has the pleasure to welcome Katalin Novák, Minister of State for Family and Youth Affairs at the event.

Event brochure

Programme and Invitation letter to media

Family-friendly Municipality Award 2019

The National Association of Large Families has published its call for proposals on the ‘Family-friendly Municipality Award’ in 2019 again. The award has been presented to dedicated municipalities excelling in their services in favour of families since 2005.

Proposals were evaluated in three categories regarding the number of residents of each municipality (Cat1. municipalities with more than 5000 residents; Cat2. municipalities with less than 5000 residents; Cat3. municipalities of the capital, Budapest).

Altogether 16 municipalities had the honour to receive the ‘Family-friendly Municipality Award’ of NOE in 2019. The presentation ceremony took place in the Houses of Parliament on 4th September. Each awarded municipality has now the possibility to join the European Network of Family-friendly Municipalities of ELFAC, the European Large Families Confederation.

Gallery

International Advocacy Workshop 2019 on Human Rights and Development from a Family Perspective

PHOTO GALLERY

02 September

03 September

If you are interested in family issues and want to gain experience in the work of International Organizations, join us in our International Advocacy Workshop, held in Budapest (Hungary), 2nd to 4th September 2019 (9:00 am to 4:00 pm). It will consist of an intensive three-day alternative educational program with diverse lectures, workshops and good practices.

European Citizen’s Prize in Brussels

Each year, the European Parliament awards „The European Citizen’s Prize”. This prize is intended to be an award for exceptional achievements in the following areas: Activities or actions by citizens, groups, associations or organisations having displayed an outstanding commitment to promoting better mutual understanding and closer integration between citizens of the Member States; or to facilitating cross-border or transnational cooperation within the European Union. This could also include activities or actions by citizens engaged in long-term, cross-border or transnational cultural cooperation contributing to the strengthening of a European spirit. Preference is given to projects linked to the current European Year.

EYIFF PLUS

The National Association of Large Families (NOE) organised the first so-called “EYIFF Plus” Youth Workshop between 20 to 23 September 2018 in Budapest, Hungary. This EYIFF PLUS meeting was the first advanced level of the “European Youth Initiative for Future Families” series. Following in the footsteps of previous workshops, the first EYIFF PLUS workshop took the program to a more professional level. The series of the European pro-family youth workshops were launched in February 2016, supported by the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities, and has been organized five times in three years: twice in Budapest, once in Brussels, Warsaw and Lisbon each.

EYIFF Plus

The National Association of Large Families organises the first so-called „EYIFF Plus” Youth Workshop from 20 to 23 September 2018 in Budapest. This EYIFF PLUS meeting will be the first advanced level of the „European Youth Initiative for Future Families” series. The series of the European pro-family youth workshops were launched in February 2016, supported by the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities, and has already been organized five times in three years: twice in Budapest, once in Brussels, Warsaw and Lisbon.

The EYIFF PLUS aims to supply participants with professional factual knowledge regarding family matters, which helps them to work effectively for the benefit of families in their home country and/or at European level either in the civil society, in politics or in any other field. The target audience of the upcoming EYIFF PLUS workshop is a result of careful selection. As this time, participation is based on invitation, instead of application. We have invited a total of 25 people (from 11 countries over Europe, aged between 20 and 35) of former EYW/EYIFF participants who want to work for families and the establishment of a more family-friendly Europe within their professional or social career, and who proved to be the most devoted, committed and talented participants during our previous workshops.

Family Congress 11-15th July, 2018 Veszprém, Hungary

The most awaited event of 2018 for the National Association of Large Families (NOE) in Hungary was the 11th Family Congress with the theme Family Friendly Europe. The conference with a motto ’Family is our treasure’ was organised in the town of Veszprém from 11th-15th July.

Katalin Novák, minister of state for family and youth affairs, Gyula Porga, mayor of Veszprém and Katalin Kardosné Gyurkó, president of NOE opened the grand event at the Pannon University with 1200 participants.

At the international session on 12th July numerous presentations, speeches and talks were held with international experts about the situation of families in Europe. Renata Kachmarska (UN) detailed the topic of a Family Friendly Europe in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, while Ignacio Socias (IFFD) described the value of unpaid work and the three dimensions of poverty. Further significant topics were the role of parents and grandparents (Marina Robben – IFFD), the importance of the family – a mother’s perspective (Madeleine Wallin – FEFAF) and the heritage of Mária Kopp in current Hungarian family policy (Tünde Fűrész – Institute of Mária Kopp for Demography and Families in Hungary). Our international partners from ELFAC (European Large Families Conferderation) arrived from 5 countries to take part at the Congress.

The study sessions of the Family Congress unfolded privacy in a large family (on 13th July) and what children teach us (on 14th July). At the popular study sessions families had the opportunity to meet experts and professionals, raise questions and discuss specific issues face to face with them.

A further aim of organising the event was to provide physical and mental recreation for our member families. Following the study sessions in the morning, families had the possibility to visit the famous Veszprém Zoo, to see the sights of the town, and also to make excursions to the hills of Bakony and to Lake Balaton. The event also gave place to the final of the so-called Large Family Football Cup where each player did his or her best during the friendly championship.

European Youth Initiative for Future Families

The National Association of Large Families of Hungary (commonly referred to as NOE in Hungarian) is pleased to announce the fifth workshop of the EUROPEAN YOUTH INITIATIVE FOR FUTURE FAMILIES, which will take place in Lisbon, Portugal between 28 June – 1 July 2018. This will be the fifth edition of the European Youth Workshops series (after Budapest, February 2016; Brussels, October 2016; Budapest, May 2017; and Warsaw, October 2017), under the new name “European Youth Initiative for Future Families” (EYIFF). The workshop is being organised in cooperation with the Associação Portuguesa de Famílias Numerosas (APFN), the Portuguese Association of Large Families. The participants of the first workshop declared that “Families are Europe’s treasure, and are the future in a country”. Since then, this statement has become the motto of our work. Our workshops are centered around the values, challenges, psychological aspects, policy-making and career-related issues of family as seen today and visioned for the future. The workshop gives a forum to young participants to speak about their thoughts regarding family and their future, and to express how they would like to accomplish their hopes concerning their own family lives. They have the opportunity to discuss what family policies are needed on the political side to develop a positive view of the role of the family as one of the best investments of society into the future. The event also gives a great opportunity for networking and making friends all over Europe. This time the program will have a special focus on the role of digitalization and media, as well as their impact on families. A proactive attitude, willingness to work hard, and open-mindedness are essential to the success of the event. The working language of the EYIFF is English, thus a high command of English is required.

IFFD Award 2018

Ignacio Socias, director of International Relations at IFFD, expalined that NOE has been able to reach many achievements in numerous fields and they work together with the government in the design and implementation of public policies to help families. All these policies contribute to the establishment of a familyoriented society, raising social awareness with a view to ensuring a better quality of life for older persons.

The IFFD Family Awards Ceremony has been celebrated for the last six years to recognize persons or entities who have shown the best appreciation and promotion of family values around the world. Previous awardees were, among others, the governments of Malta and Malaysia, and the United Nations High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations. This year, the Awards have been presented on special events during the 56th Commission for Social Development at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Summer University

FAMILY MATTERS!

Summer University for young people aged 20-30

Budapest, 10-14 July 2017

The National Association of Large Families (commonly referred to as NOE in Hungarian) proudly presents its first Summer University on family issues in Budapest between 10-14 July 2017.