Some additional background

Some additional background

Child and Youth Friendly Communities (CYFC) is a community mobilization process that is gaining recognition locally, nationally and internationally. CYFC principles stress the importance of community engagement – for all members of the community – children and youth, adults and seniors, of all backgrounds and abilities.  When communities are secure and stimulating places for children and youth to develop, they are the finest expression of human culture, encouraging a quality of interaction that fosters creativity and civilization in its best sense. In order for this to occur, communities must address both the developmental needs of children and youth, and their role as members of the community.

All too often community structures, programs and services are planned and developed without considering children’s rights collectively, and without applying a child/youth ‘lens’ in the policy making process. There is growing complexity in children’s experience of their local environments which call for increasingly sophisticated skills of understanding and choice-making by all concerned. For example, there is a need to understand better, in the local community setting, the balance between access to challenging experiences that help build competence, personal independence and resilience, and the need for protection from harm. A crucial part of this knowledge expansion must involve communities themselves, and particularly children and youth.

Another key component of child and youth friendliness is its contribution towards goals of social inclusion.  Rather than being targeted to specific populations, the CYFC principles encourage access and inclusion, and the breaking down of barriers to full participation for all children and youth, including those who are most disadvantaged, such as aboriginal children, children with disabilities, poor children, and immigrant and refugee children. 

The main purpose of the Network, therefore, is to promote the concept of child and youth friendliness on a national scale, to encourage networking, resource and information sharing among community groups, including children and youth themselves, to assess their neighbourhoods through the eyes of young people and engage in activities that will improve the well-being of children and youth in their local communities.

Internationally, UNICEF has recognized the value of the concept of Child Friendly Cities, and in 2001 formed the Child Friendly Cities Secretariat, based in Florence, Italy.  Canada’s governments must also recognize that, based on Canada’s acceptance of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the development of communities that are child and youth friendly is an inherent right.

As signatory to the Convention, Canada’s governments are committed to creating child and youth friendly communities.  The Convention as a whole reinforces rights to participation, protection, and provision of services – all key principles in achieving child and youth friendliness.

Recently, Health Canada has demonstrated its support for the concept of child-friendly communities.  Its April 2004 National Action Plan for Children, A Canada Fit for Children states that Canada’s governments recognize that:

“Policies within the workplace, the community and the larger social environment structure our daily lives as citizens. Understanding the way in which children and families are affected by the policies we design and implement is crucial. Policies that are child- and family-friendly are defined by their ability to support children and families where they live, learn, play and work. Such policies provide opportunities for social inclusion and participation in community life.[1]

A Canada Fit for Children goes on to highlight the importance of establishing meaningful partnerships as a means of promoting a ‘child friendly and family enabling society  “

In our actions, we will foster and promote the capacity of children and adults to work together in meaningful partnerships. Child-friendly policies will recognize the expertise and unique understanding that children have, about both their local environments and global issues. We will strive to ensure the effectiveness of awareness campaigns directed at girls, boys and adolescents by ensuring that they are accessible, inclusive, age appropriate and made available in child-friendly format. As part of our shared responsibility to raise healthy children and promote and support families, we will continue to work together to build a child-friendly and family-enabling society by developing policy initiatives that are culturally rooted, collaborative and accountable.”[2]

The concept of child and youth friendliness has a significant history in Canada.  It was identified  concurrently by partner organizations in Calgary and Vancouver as a concept worth developing.  In Calgary, its roots were in the tourism industry with the objective of making Calgary an attractive place for visitors.  It soon broadened from tourism to look at the child friendliness of all aspects of the city’s operation.  In Vancouver, Society for Children and Youth of BC began by examining Child Friendly Housing, and then moved on to a broader look at how all communities could be made more child friendly.  In doing so SCY developed a range of community planning and assessment tools and programs to support communities in this process.  In Ottawa, the focus was on improving the image of children and youth through showcasing their talents and good works.  In all cases, particular focus went to the process of youth participation in decision-making. Child Friendly Saskatoon was established in 2002.  The City of Edmonton adopted the ‘child friendly’ slogan in 2005.

The need for a network is well documented. From 1999 to 2002, Society for Children and Youth of BC received Health Canada funding for a national conference held in Vancouver in May 2002.  This conference provided a focus on child and youth friendliness, and over 200 people (representing over 100 organizations) attended.  A commitment was made by participants at this conference to form a Network, and the lead in this was accepted by the representatives from the Canadian Centre for Excellence for Child Centred Prairie Communities.  Unfortunately, no action followed this commitment, and that Centre for Excellence was terminated by Health Canada in late 2003.  Over the past two years SCY has delivered many workshops on child and youth friendly community planning processes involving over 100 individuals throughout BC. When asked as part of an evaluation process whether participants felt a Canada wide network would be valuable we received a unanimous ‘yes’.  In addition, all participants were interested in joining the network.