Child in the City Conference Florence, Italy
During this conference we brought together participants from 38 countries to discuss various aspects of cities’ child friendliness.This edition has built on the ideas of the former events and addressed the themes; assessment tools, participation, poverty and right to play.
On the last day of the conference, the participants have formulated conclusions on the themes as listed below:
Assessing the degree of “child friendliness” of cities and communities is a key element in Child Friendly Cities efforts. To respond to this need, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (in partnership with Childwatch International) has developed and tested assessment tools in 11 countries. In addition to this international approach, some national networks and a lot of cities have developed their own assessment tools.
Read the conclusions on assessment tools >>
Participation means being part of society. Children and young people don’t have to wait until they are adults to be real citizens, to be active members of the community. Almost all local authorities are developing initiatives to promote citizenship of children and youngsters. How far are they going with participation and how do they put participation into practice?
Read the conclusions on participation >>
Child poverty is not only a problem for the southern countries: much poverty hits children in the Northern part of the world as well. At all political levels, including the local level, authorities should be aware of this problem and take appropriate measures. We are looking for good practices on this theme.
Read the conclusions on poverty >>
Right to play
No behavior is more characteristic of children than playing. For that reason the right to play means the right to be a child. It has to do with space, but also with the time to be allowed to play and thus with tolerance. Concrete local initiatives will inspire other local partners.