A Child Friendly City is a local system of good governance
committed to fulfilling children's rights
| Ciudades Amigas de la Infancia |
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The Spanish Committee of UNICEF is made up of 18 Regional Committees, 38 Provincial Delegations and 32 Local Delegations, all of which are governed by a board of director of approximately 700 volunteers. The functions of the Spanish Committee focus primarily on the promotion and enforcement of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as on fund-raising in order to meet the basic needs of the world's children and youth in accordance with the programs of UNICEF. The Committee also works to foster these objectives by means of education at all levels and by striving to mobilize public institutions and civilians to exercise individual and collective solidarity. The "Ciudades Amigas de la Infancia" (Child-Friendly Cities Program) is an initiative of the Spanish Committee, whose main objective is to encourage mayors to adopt a variety of policies to promote the rights of children within a local context. The first meeting was in Pamplona in 1994, followed by meetings in Aragón, Pais Vasco and Lerida. At this time the program was called "Mayors, Defenders of Children" and its purpose was symbolic. From the year 2000 onwards, the program changed its name to "Ciudades Amigas de la Infancia" (Child-Friendly Cities Program) and started working with a transparent, logical and administrative framework and had clear objectives which are still in the process of refinement. The main objective is to encourage Mayors to be politically aware and introduce political initiatives into their town council policies to promote childhood rights. The Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias - FEMP) and the Spanish Committee for UNICEF signed an agreement on 13 February 2001 in which they expressed their will to collaborate within the framework of the Child Friendly Cities Programme. The main objective of this agreement is to enhance children’s participation and promote solidarity. Moreover, the two partners established the First Award for Children’s Rights and Local Governance to identify and promote the good practices carried out by Spanish local authorities in this field. The jury selected seven municipalities and a local network (Red Local a Favor de los Derechos de la Infancia y la Adolescencia) that were recognized as having applied best practices on the basis of eight indicators established by the jury itself. Cities awarded: Caldas de Reis (Pontevedra), Getafe (Madrid), Lleida, Malaga, Puerto Real (Cadiz), Valencia, Vitoria. On 16 November, 2004 in the City Council of Getafe, twenty-six (26) municipalities were recognized as Child Friendly Cities: Three of them: Alzira (Valencia), Lleida, Puerto Real (Cadiz) were recognized as CFC and the others 23 municipalities belong to the local network Red Local a Favor de los Derechos de la Infancia y la Adolescencia: Alcázar de San Juan (Ciudad Real), Alcobendas (Madrid), Alcorcón (Madrid), Algete (Madrid), Andújar (Jaén), Arganda del Rey (Madrid), Collado Villalba (Madrid), Coslada (Madrid), Daimiel (Ciudad Real), Fuenlabrada (Madrid), Getafe (Madrid), Lasarte Oria (Guipúzcoa), Leganés (Madrid), Marmolejo (Jaén), Mejorada del Campo (Madrid), Móstoles (Madrid), Parla (Madrid), Pinto (Madrid), Rivas Vaciamadrid (Madrid), San Fernando de Henares (Madrid), San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid), Valdepeñas (Ciudad Real), Velilla de San Antonio (Madrid).
For further information check out the Ciudades Amigas de la Infancia website.
Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias – FEMP
