The City of Vantaa to receive the UNICEF Child Friendly Cities recognition
Finnish Committee for UNICEF grants the City of Vantaa the Child Friendly Cities recognition. “In two years, Vantaa has succeeded in making permanent changes in the city’s operations, as well as significant changes for children and the young,” UNICEF acknowledges.
To celebrate the recognition, Vantaa city councilors will be given child glasses made by preschoolers. The glasses remind the city’s decision-makers of accounting for the perspective of children and the young in decision-making.
What is the Child Friendly Cities model
Child Friendly Cities is a model, devised by UNICEF, to develop municipalities and cities into more child friendly organs. It is based on the United Nations’(UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child and UNICEF’s global Child Friendly Cities model. The model helps cities to secure a good childhood, especially to those children who are in the most vulnerable position. Child Friendly Cities recognition is temporarily granted to cities meeting the criteria set.
UNICEF praises Vantaa for excellent work
In its estimate, the Finnish Committee for UNICEF paid special attention to Vantaa’s ambitious approach to its Child Friendly Cities work. Vantaa has participated in the model for three years, during which the city has managed to introduce permanent changes in the city's operations as well as significant changes for children and the young.
Among other things, Vantaa has prevented harassment and violence toward children and the young by designing and adopting safer space principles. The city's officials have been given instructions for assessing the child's benefit as an individual in all administrative decisions concerning them. All the city’s employees and trustees are obliged to complete the children’s rights training program.
“Vantaa has vigorously carried out Child Friendly Cities work as a commitment involving the city as a whole. Children and the young have been strongly involved, and the development work has resulted in permanent changes in the city's operations. The city shows a fine arc of development of children's rights, even though there is yet room for more work to be done,” says Sanna Koskinen, senior specialist of Finnish Committee for UNICEF.
Members of the city council to receive child glasses made by preschoolers
To celebrate the recognition, Vantaa city councilors will be given child glasses made by Martinlaakson päiväkoti and Tähdenlennon päiväkoti preschoolers in their meeting on January 29. The glasses remind the city’s decision-makers of accounting for the perspective of children and the young in decision-making.
Besides working on the glasses, preschoolers in Martinlaakso were considering what kind of greetings they would like to send to Vantaa's decision-makers: For example, one wish was to change the daycare center into an indoor playground; other issues important to the children were hobbies and the health of pets. The preschoolers also remembered the way they agreed with grownups on how to spend rest periods -deemed boring- in a meeting between themselves and adults.
Work continues
Vantaa is committed to continuing to further develop its Child Friendly Cities concept.
“We are proud of the work carried out in Vantaa, as well as of the recognition, which we conveniently received at the beginning of Vantaa’s 50th anniversary. The recognition does not, however, mean that our work for children’s rights in Vantaa is ready,” deputy mayor Katri Kalske sums up.
At the same time, the Child Friendly Cities recognition was also granted to the City of Joensuu.
“Congratulations for the recognition to Joensuu!” wishes deputy mayor Kalske.
The Child Friendly City Initiative
Safer space
Lapsiystävällinen kunta (Unicef)
