Wednesday, 21 February 2024, 14:00–15:30 (UTC/GMT+1 or CET)

Languages: Simultaneous interpretation in English, French and Spanish (Simultaneous interpretation – Frequently asked questions)

Pregnancy, childbirth and parenting are time consuming activities that distort career paths of women, resulting in gender inequalities in income and access to social security protection. To address these inequalities governments have adopted measures aimed at enhancing the employability and productive employment for women. This has been complemented by parental leave policies geared towards improving the involvement of men in parental responsibilities.

Balancing career development objectives and parenthood has favoured the deferral of childbirth, resulting in an increased average age of the first birth and declining fertility rates. Additionally, an increase in single parent families, coupled with the need for single parents to provide for their families, creates a “parental vacuum” for children during the early stages of development with life-long impacts.

Some well-to-do families make use of caregivers to fill the parental vacuum. With the recognition that the protection of pregnancy and children is the shared responsibility of government and society, countries are increasingly adopting measures to guarantee basic income security for working mothers and to provide social services to ease their return to regular employment.

Join this ISSA webinar highlighting approaches to parental support, with a focus on selected countries in the Indian Ocean Region. The webinar is organized in collaboration with the ISSA Technical Commission on Family Benefits and the Parenthood Observatory – Indian Ocean region.

Speakers

	Thierry Malbert, President, Parenthood Observatory – Indian Ocean (OPOI), La Réunion, France
	Isabelle Sancerni, President, Board of Directors, National Family Allowance Fund (CNAF), France, Chair of the ISSA Technical Commission on Family Benefits (TC Family)
	Alain Muneean, Director, Foundation for Childhood – Land of Peace, Mauritius
	Olivier Randrianarivelo, National Coordinator, SISAL – Sambatra Izay Salama foundation, Madagascar

This webinar will examine the following questions:

• What is the institutional framework and operational dynamics of the Parenthood Observatory – Indian Ocean?
• What are the points of convergence between the activities of the ISSA Technical Commission on Family Benefits and those of the Parenthood Observatory of the Indian Ocean Region?
• What is the state and challenges of alternative support practices to parenting?
• What are the structures and mechanisms in place to improve access to parenthood support?

Agenda

• Welcome by Marcelo Abi-Ramia Caetano, Secretary General, ISSA
• Technical introduction by the ISSA
• Institutional framework and operational dynamics of the Parenthood Observatory – Indian Ocean
• Functioning and the activities of TC Family
• Parenthood in Mauritius: The findings and challenges of alternative support practices
• Supporting parenthood in Madagascar
• Q&A – Discussion
• Conclusions

Moderated by Paul Mondoa Ngomba, Technical Specialist in Social Security, ISSA

Practical information

The webinar is open to delegates of ISSA member organizations and invited institutions without registration fee.