Child Friendly Cities and Communities Initiative
The Child Friendly Cities and Communities Initiative , shortly Child-Friendly Cities Initiative ( CFCI ) in German-speaking also for children municipalities or child-friendly communities , is at the 1996 UN conference on human settlements (Habitat II) launched an international initiative for child-friendly Communities. At the conference it was stated that the child's best interests must be the decisive indicator for a healthy living environment, a democratic society and good governance . The aim is the local implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN-CRC) and the principles included in it, to ensure and enable children and young people to participate in society, their special protection and special support.
International initiative
National CFCIs worldwide pursue the same goal by realizing the UN CRC in their respective country. There are initiatives in Germany , the UK , Spain , Finland , France , Israel , Morocco , Austria of Switzerland , South Korea , the Turkey , China and many other countries. An initiative is also to be launched in the United Arab Emirates . The actors, programs and priorities involved can vary greatly from region to region. Internationally, UNICEF , the United Nations Children's Fund, plays the central role in communicating and implementing the CFCI. As a rule, the national UNICEF committees take on the support and, if necessary, the awarding of the participating cities and municipalities.
The initiative offers the possibility of adapting the implementation of the UN CRC to regional conditions and requirements. It may be that the initiatives on the basis of formulated goals of the national committees (if one exists), the respective case law or the respective availability of resources differ greatly from one another.
In Germany, the German Committee for UNICEF and the Deutsche Kinderhilfswerk eV founded the association “Child-friendly Communities” in 2012. While the “child-friendly communities” project in Germany is an independent and specially developed certification process , the “child-friendly community” award in Austria is given as an additional certificate for the “family-friendly community” audit by Familie & Beruf Management GmbH. After all, the initiatives in German-speaking countries also differ in their naming. In Switzerland and Austria the project is called “child-friendly municipality”, while in Germany it is called “child-friendly municipalities”.
Morocco and Turkey are further examples of the diversity of the initiatives. For a pilot project in Ouisselsate, UNICEF Morocco worked with the Ministry of Youth and Sport and the Ministry of the Interior, among others. In Turkey, the CFCI is supported by the furniture company IKEA .
The responsibilities can also differ within a country. For example, in Germany the city of Potsdam has outsourced a large part of the youth welfare work to a private agency. In other municipalities, youth welfare is only part of the administration. The formats of children's and youth interest groups can be just as different. Some municipalities already have interest groups, other municipalities have not established interest groups in terms of children's rights.
Overall, the initiatives are diverse, and the international experience offers a basis for potential exchange and learning from one another.
"Child-friendly municipalities" project in Germany
The project "Child-friendly municipalities" is a joint initiative of the German Committee for UNICEF eV and the German Children's Fund. The association "Child-friendly municipalities eV" awards cities and municipalities that are responsible for the local implementation of children's rights - with the participation of children living in the municipality and young people - develop binding goals and an action plan. In Germany, the award of the “child-friendly municipality” seal marks the adoption of this action plan, which aims to improve the living conditions of children and young people in the municipality in accordance with the UN CRC. The seal is awarded by the association “child-friendly municipalities”. A three-year implementation phase of the action plan begins with the award. After the implementation phase, another action plan will be decided based on the current situation in the municipality. The municipality alone determines the financial expenditure for the implementation of the measures from the action plan.
Characteristics of a child-friendly community
The creation of the action plan is based on the “characteristics of a child-friendly municipality”, which have been formulated by the association child-friendly municipalities for Germany in order to ensure that the municipalities are more child-friendly. The best interests of the child come first. The association is referring to Article 3, Paragraph 1 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that adults must always keep an eye on what is best for them when making decisions that affect children. Second is the child-friendly framework. What is meant here is that the resources for child and youth interest groups are provided. Finally, the participation of children and young people follows . The municipality should convey that the opinion of children and young people is heard and valued. Children and young people are to be involved in all decisions that affect them. Finally, there is provision of information on children's rights . In addition to providing information material, this also includes a regular report on the situation of children and young people in the community.
procedure
The path to becoming a “child-friendly municipality” in Germany is defined by the following steps: After the municipality has decided to participate, the location is determined with the help of an administrative questionnaire and a children's questionnaire. An action plan is determined and approved on the basis of the results and the recommendations made by experts from the “Child-friendly municipalities” association. The implementation of this action plan begins with the award of a seal. Halfway through the implementation phase, a mid-term meeting takes place, during which the experts and members of the “Child-friendly Communities” association exchange ideas with children and young people and those responsible from the local administration. The implementation of the action plan should be followed by a future workshop in which a new action plan will be determined if necessary. It is crucial that the participation of children and young people is taken into account in all steps.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Toolkit for National Committees ( Memento of the original dated December 22, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . UNICEF Child Friendly Cities and Communities Initiative, February 2017 (PDF; 7 MB)
- ^ CFCI France. Retrieved October 31, 2017 (French).
- ^ Child Friendly Cities . The Iseaeli Fund for UNICEF, August 10, 2015.
- ↑ Aniss Maghri: First municipal council of children and young people elected in Morocco . UNICEF as of December 8, 2010.
- ↑ a b https://unicef.at/mitmachen/kinderfreund-gemeinden/
- ↑ Child-friendly community . unicef.ch, accessed on December 17, 2017.
- ↑ Weil am Rhein serves as a model . Weiler Zeitung, August 5, 2016.
- ↑ a b Child Friendly Cities . unicef.tr, accessed December 17, 2017.
- ↑ Shenzhen leads the way for China in the Child Friendly Cities Initiative . unicef.ch, July 11, 2016.
- ↑ http://reliefweb.int/job/1733876/technical-assistance-child-friendly-cities-initiative (broken link)
- ↑ The award "Child-friendly Commune" ( Memento of the original from November 7, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . kinderfreund-kommunen.de, accessed on December 17, 2017.
- ↑ https://www.familieundberuf.at/audits/audit-familienfreundegemeinde/unicef-zusatzzertifikat-kinderfreund-gemeinde
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (broken link)
- ↑ Stadtjugendring Potsdam eV Stadtjugendring Potsdam eV, 2013. (PDF)
- ↑ Quality standards for municipal children's interest groups ( memento of the original from September 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Federal Working Group on Communal Child Interest Representations, accessed on December 17, 2017 (PDF)
- ↑ The association and its goals ( Memento of the original from November 7, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Child-friendly municipalities, accessed on December 17, 2017.
