Project goals: - What are the most important trends and causes of risk of poverty among children in Croatia? - How do public policies, including income support programmes, impact on rates of child poverty in different types of households in Croatia? How important are the discretionary practices of social workers and other professionals - What are the most common coping strategies, use of assets, and intra- and inter-household distributional strategies used by different types of households in Croatia? - Which public policies should be advocated to support positive coping strategies and contribute to the reduction of the risk of child poverty in Croatia? Expected results/outputs: - Final research report, - Summary policy paper, - Advocacy activities. Activities: - Consultative round table, - Conference, - Empirical research. Methodology: The research involves a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methods, including: Review of existing studies on child poverty in Croatia, in a European comparative perspective; Quantitative analysis of trends in child poverty in Croatia over time, and correlations between rates of child poverty and diverse causal factors; Quantitative study of the impact of income transfers on a number of ‘model’ household types in Croatia; Survey of a number (n=c.200) of model household types in Croatia examining in broad terms coping strategies, use of assets, and intra- and inter-household distributional patterns. The survey will be administered face to face amongst households across Croatia and will gather information from all adult household members and from dependent children aged 13 and over; In-depth interviews and/or focus groups and diary completion by a small number (up to 15) of households with children at risk of poverty; Semi-structured interviews with policy makers, professionals and advocates concerned with issues relating to child poverty.