A. A Child Friendly City is a local system of good governance committed to fulfilling
child rights for all its young citizens. A CFC involves children and youth in initiatives
concerning their lives; fosters participative planning, implementation and good
governance processes; encourages child participation in family, community and social
life; extends basic services such as health care, education, shelter, safe water and
proper sanitation to all; protects children from exploitation, violence, trafficking and
abuse; maintains safe streets and places for socialization and play; provides green
spaces and playgrounds; controls pollution and traffic; supports cultural and social
events; and ensures that all children live as equal citizens with access to every
service, without discrimination related to age, gender, income, race, ethnicity,
cultural origin, religion and/or disability.
Q. What are the Child Friendly Cities Initiative and the Child Friendly Cities
Secretariat?
A. The CFC Initiative is a global movement of cities and, in some cases,
countries that are committed to developing local-level agendas for children within the
framework of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The movement is widespread
and embraces low-, medium- and high-income countries. The CFC Secretariat functions as a
common reference point for Child Friendly Cities around the world, collecting and
processing data, providing information and tools to CFC builders, and supporting
networks of cities committed to children.
Q. How can my city get involved?
A. The CFC Initiative is first and foremost a collaborative initiative of
municipal governments, communities and children working together. Plans and projects are
developed locally with the participation of communities, non-government and
community-based organizations and children themselves. Innovative ideas and actions are
generated through networking and the exchange of information. The CFC Secretariat
collects, analyzes and standardizes CFC experiences and initiatives, information and
practices, and makes this knowledge available to policy makers and communities.
Resources are normally mobilized at the local or national level.
Q. Is CFC a municipal level initiative only?
A. Normally, the ideal implementation level for CFC projects is the city or town.
In some cases (e.g., in Spain, in the Philippines), central governments have also set up
a national programme in order to promote CFC among all municipalities.
Q. What process do municipal governments follow to become Child Friendly Cities?
A. The process of building a CFC is synonymous with implementation of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child in a local governance setting. It includes these
concrete Building Blocks:
Children's participation: promoting children's active involvement in issues that
affect them; listening to their views and taking them into consideration in
decision-making processes
A child friendly legal framework: ensuring legislation, regulatory frameworks
and procedures which consistently promote and protect the rights of all children
A city-wide Children's Rights Strategy: developing a detailed, comprehensive strategy or
agenda for building a Child Friendly City, based on the Convention
A Children's Rights Unit or coordinating mechanism: developing permanent
structures in local government to ensure priority consideration of children's
perspective
Child impact assessment and evaluation: ensuring that there is a systematic
process to assess the impact of law, policy and practice on children - in
advance, during and after implementation
A children's budget: ensuring adequate resource commitment and budget analysis
for children
A regular State of the City's Children Report: ensuring sufficient monitoring
and data collection on the state of children and their rights
Making children's rights known: ensuring awareness of children's rights among
adults and children
Independent advocacy for children: supporting non-governmantal organisations and
developing independent human rights institutions - children's ombudspeople or
commissioner for children - to promote children's rights.
Q. Do all CFC projects conform to the same pattern?
A. Cities of the world differ in their problems, needs and opportunities, and so
do the ways they plan for and with their children. Cities aspiring to become
child-friendly normally do so by adopting city-specific methods and objectives.
Some focus on social sector goals, others on environmental ones; others simply on
improving their physical infrastructures according to a more traditional urban planning
approach. Whatever the approach, the aim to respond to the needs of children and the
fulfilment of their rights. Normally, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is
adopted as the framework for a CFC Initiative and children's participation a key element
of the process.
Q. What information is available for developing a CFC initiative in our city?
A. The CFC Secretariat documents examples of successful CFC innovations and
practices on this website. Data is processed and catalogued in the CFC Database which has
a search engine that allows CFC builders to cross-search all available resources as a
single database (e.g., publications, projects, key references, links, good practices,
news, events, list of CFCs, tools).
Q. How can I contribute?
A. The CFC resource base relies upon on contributions from the field, so please
forward any information about CFC-oriented efforts that you are involved with or aware
of-e.g. special events, projects, initiatives, data, reports. You can also become an
active member of the CFC movement, available for networking and partnering. JOIN US by
filling out our entry form
For every child
