Pamela Wridt, CERG – CUNY Graduate Center Roger Hart, CERG – CUNY Graduate Center

1. Building indicators for Child Friendly Cities and Communities and assessing local progress in child well-being through a participatory approach Pamela Wridt, CERG – CUNY Graduate Center Roger Hart, CERG – CUNY Graduate Center Dora Giusti, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre

2. Children’s Participation • Child friendly legal framework • City-wide children’s rights strategy • Children’s rights unit or coordinating mechanism • Child impact assessment and evaluation • Children’s budget • Regular “State of the City’s Children” report • Making children’s rights known • Independent advocacy for children Child Friendly Cities Movement 9 Building Blocks for Local Authorities

3. Goals: • Community data on children’s rights • Municipal data on children’s rights • Raising public awareness on children’s rights • Local plans of advocacy and action for children’s rights

4. Community Tools Children Parents Community Service Providers Governance Tools Local authorities NGOs

5. Parameters of Community Assessment • CRC as guiding framework • Comprehensive of all children’s rights • Cover all age groups (0-18) in the CRC • Ability to disaggregate data by gender and age • Adaptable to different cultural contexts • Suitable for interpretation and use by children, parents and community members • Ability to scale up to a national level • Asset based • Quantitative and qualitative

6. Child Friendly Community Domains Presence/Absence * Access * Opportunity * Quality * Engagement

8. Local NGOs Local CBOs

9. Sample of Children’s Tool

10. Sample of Children’s Tool The health clinic is not welcoming to children from certain tribes Girls do not feel safe using public toilets because they fear abuse Girls feel the community is clean; boys do not The smell is only bad for children living near the factories

11. Child Friendly Community Initiatives

12. Local Adaptation of Indicators • Rewording • Deletions • Additions Gender * Family Relations * Disaster Risk Reduction * Access to Condoms

14. Example: Priorities for Education • Children • equal treatment of boys and girls in schools • access to books/materials for learning • clean drinking water in schools • physical discipline in schools • Parents • affordable schools for parents with small children • informal school opportunities • parent participation in school decision making • Community Service Providers • children’s rights taught in school • informal school opportunities Community in: Dajabón, Dominican Republic

18. 95 Percentage of children who say the government does not ask them their opinions about the community

19. 76 Percentage of children who feel a stranger can take them away

20. 50 Percentage of children who feel safe walking or cycling in their community

21. Assessment Potential • Child Friendly Community Planning • Local Plans for Children • Creation of new schools • Safer routes to school • New programs for children • New community governance structures • Child friendly certification process • Awareness of Children’s Rights • Children • Parents • Community Service Providers • Local Authorities

22. www.childfriendlycities.org