Child Friendly Cities Initiative: FAQs
What is the UNICEF Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI)?
What is the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)?
What is a child rights approach?
What is a Child Friendly City?
How is the CFCI being implemented in the United States?
Why is CFCI in the United States?
How does CFCI help address issues of social justice and equity?
What is the CFCI framework for action?
What are the steps for UNICEF Child Friendly City recognition in the United States?
How will UNICEF USA support CFCI partner cities?
How can I get involved if my city is a current partner?
My city is not a CFCI partner. How can I get involved?
What is the UNICEF Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI)?
The Child Friendly Cities Initiative is UNICEF’s road map for building safe, equitable, just, inclusive and child-responsive cities and communities around the world. The initiative uses the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as a framework to help local governments prioritize the needs of children and elevate the voices of youth in local governance and decision making.
As part of the "Communities for Every Child" effort, municipal governments collaborate across sectors and with children, youth, and families to create safer, more equitable, and child-responsive communities, ensuring children's voices are central to local governance decisions.
Implementation varies based on each country’s child rights situation and local context. Learn more on UNICEF USA's Child Friendly Cities Initiative web page.
What is the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)?
CFCI is rooted in the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The CRC is the most widely supported and comprehensive international human rights treaty. It outlines the full range of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights to which every human is entitled and recognizes the essential role and importance of parents and families.
The Convention refers to the family as the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of its members, particularly children. Under the Convention, governments are obliged to respect parents' primary responsibility for providing care and guidance for their children.
Even though the United States is the only country in the world not to ratify the Convention, the Convention remains a powerful tool not only for advocacy and programming but also for guiding our everyday behavior with children. This treaty provides a framework to help governments ensure that children and families have certain rights and protections: children should be free from discrimination, government policies should be based on the best interest of the child, children should survive and develop to their full potential and children's views and perspectives are important.
Child Friendly Cities Initiative efforts from around the world over the past 25 years have demonstrated that weaving children’s rights into systems, structures and practice has the potential to bring about fundamental, systemic change in real and tangible ways.
What is a child rights approach?
A child rights approach is a framework that can be used by planners, decision makers and frontline professionals working with children and young people. It can be used when designing, delivering, monitoring and evaluating local services for children. The approach brings together the vision of childhood set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the core tenets of a human rights-based approach.
A child rights approach empowers children to be active citizens, capable of bringing about lasting and positive change for themselves, their communities and the environment. Applying a child rights approach is one of the most sustainable ways to identify and implement long-term solutions with and for children. Interventions benefit children most when children are actively involved in assessing needs, shaping strategies and executing solutions.
A child rights approach is guided by the following overarching CRC principles:
Non-discrimination: Every child and young person should be treated fairly and protected from discrimination, whatever their age, gender, ethnicity, religion, language, family background or any other status. Having access to equal opportunities and best possible outcomes doesn’t mean being treated identically; some children and young people need more support than others to overcome barriers and difficulties.
Best interests of the child: The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children and young people. Decisions can relate to individual children — for example, about adoption — or groups of children and young people — for instance, when designing play spaces. In all cases, children and young people should be involved in deciding what is best for them.
- Survival and development: Every child and young person should enjoy the same opportunities to safety, health, growth and development. Throughout their life, children and young people develop in many different ways — physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually and intellectually — and different professionals should work together to ensure that children survive and develop to their full potential.
Respect for the view of the child: All children and young people have the right to have a say in matters that affect them and to have their views taken seriously. In order to participate meaningfully in the lives of their family, community and the wider society, children and young people need support and opportunities for involvement. They need information, a space to express their views and feelings, and opportunities to ask questions.
Children also have the right to be directed and guided in the exercise of their rights by caregivers, parents and community members, in line with children’s evolving capacities.
What is a Child Friendly City?
UNICEF defines a child-friendly city as one that is committed to adopting a child rights approach to local governance. A child-friendly city ensures that the voices, needs and priorities of children are an integral part of public policies, programs and decisions. Thus, a “child-friendly city” is a city that is fit for all.
To receive official recognition by UNICEF as a Child Friendly City in the United States, a city or system of local governance must enter into a partnership with UNICEF USA by signing a Memorandum of Understanding. The city or county must undergo the CFCI Framework for Action as outlined by UNICEF USA and demonstrate that it has met UNICEF’s global minimum criteria. That means the city or county has:
demonstrated results for children within the scope of several CFCI goal areas to ensure a comprehensive child rights-based approach
meaningful and inclusive child participation
demonstrated dedication to eliminating discrimination against children and young people in policies and actions by the local government, including in the CFCI
Cities will demonstrate realization of this criteria by undergoing an independent implementation evaluation of their CFCI Local Action Plan.
Learn more on UNICEF USA's Child Friendly Cities Initiative web page.
How is the CFCI being implemented in the United States?
On August 12, 2020, International Youth Day — an annual observance to celebrate young people's voices, actions and meaningful, equitable engagement — UNICEF USA announced the launch of the Child Friendly Cities Initiative in the United States. As part of the "Communities for Every Child" effort, municipal governments collaborate across sectors and with children, youth and families to create safeer, more equitable, and child-responsive communities, ensuring children's voices are central to local governance decisions. UNICEF USA is currently partnering with Alton, IL; Boulder, CO; Decatur, GA; Houston, TX; Minneapolis, MN, and Prince George's County, MD as the first cohort of cities and county in the United States to implement an ambitious multi-year process toward recognition as a UNICEF Child Friend City or County. The City of Houston became the first officially recognized UNICEF Child Friendly City in the United States on Aug. 12, 2023, followed by the City of Minneapolis on Feb 14, 2024.
While CFCI is relatively new to the United States as a formal model supported by UNICEF, UNICEF USA builds upon over 20 years of global CFCI experience. Established by UNICEF in 1996, CFCI has been adopted in more than 3,500 municipalities across 40 countries, impacting an estimated 30 million children and young people.
Learn more on UNICEF USA's Child Friendly Cities Initiative web page.
Why is CFCI in the United States?
The United States is one of the world’s wealthiest nations. According to research conducted by Brandeis University, however, severe racial and ethnicity inequities in child opportunity exist across U.S. metropolitan areas. Living in low-opportunity neighborhoods with limited access to good schools, parks and healthy food adversely affects children's development and future success.[i]
Research shows that involving children and young people in local decision-making processes not only increases their commitment to civic participation but also helps push cities to create greener, healthier living spaces for all.[ii]
Through a nationally representative survey of children and young people ages 14 to 20 conducted online by The Harris Poll, 81 percent of young respondents said they feel that people in positions of power don't really care about what young people have to say. Yet, a majority (80%) agree that they think people their age can make a difference and that they wish there were more young people in positions of power.[iii]
Drawing on the strengths of existing local efforts across the country to holistically improve child well-being, CFCI will provide local governments with a unique, tested opportunity to positively move the needle for America’s children, addressing systemic inequities and amplifying youth voices.
Learn more on UNICEF USA's Child Friendly Cities Initiative web page.
How does CFCI help address issues of social justice and equity?
One of the five CFCI goals around which Child Friendly Cities organize their work is safety and inclusion. This is to ensure that every child and young person is valued, respected and treated fairly within their communities and by local authorities. CFCI provides meaningful opportunities for cities to collaborate with child and youth-led social justice initiatives and to amplify existing efforts in realizing children’s rights, especially for children and young people of color and other historically marginalized groups.
This initiative empowers and challenges cities to eliminate all forms of discrimination against children and young people and elevate their voices in local governance and decision-making throughout the CFCI process and from a child rights approach. It requires young people to be at the table with decision makers to address matters that affect their rights and to work to infuse child rights and equity across policies and programs.
Learn more on UNICEF USA's Child Friendly Cities Initiative web page.
What is the CFCI framework for action?
The framework consists of two pillars: goals and results to be achieved and strategies for achieving these goals and results.
Inspired by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UNICEF USA CFCI Framework for Action provides the following goals and strategies to protect the safety, health and happiness of every child and young person ages 0 to 18:
UNICEF USA CFCI goals
Local governments strive to achieve and measure their success as a child-friendly community in five priority areas:
Safety and inclusion: Every child and young person is valued, respected and treated fairly within their communities and by local authorities.
Children’s participation: Every child and young person has their voice, needs and priorities heard and taken into account in public laws, policies, budgets, programs and decisions that affect them.
Equitable social services: Every child and young person has access to quality essential social services.
Safe living environments: Every child and young person lives in a safe, secure and clean environment.
Play and leisure: Every child and young person has opportunities to enjoy family life, play and leisure.
UNICEF USA CFCI strategies
Through CFCI and other municipal partnership approaches, UNICEF USA encourages cities and communities to achieve their goals and realize results for children through strategies that prioritize and integrate the best interests of children and integrate the best interests of children and amplifies their perspectives into decision making.
Based on UNICEF's global experience and research, UNICEF USA advocates for five strategies to integrate youth engagement into governance including:
Inclusive and child participatory mechanisms and processes (i.e., youth councils)
Child-friendly legal frameworks and policy making (i.e., child impact statements conducted during policy deliberation to estimate impact of a policy on a population)
Budget allocation for children (i.e., children’s budgets)
Cross-sectoral coordination and partnership for children (i.e., children’s cabinets)
Independent advocacy for children (i.e., child ombudsmen or commissions)
Community building strategies are also essential components of any child-friendly city effort, including:
- Increasing child rights awareness and capacity development
- Encouraging child and youth projects, campaigns and civic actions
Learn more on UNICEF USA's Child Friendly Cities Initiative web page.
What are the steps for UNICEF Child Friendly City recognition in the United States?
The process of becoming a UNICEF Child Friendly City (or County) is determined by local context, such as local readiness and available resources. Leaders across each city or county, including young leaders, work together through a CFCI task force to take the following six steps:
Joining CFCI: Engage in an exploratory conversation with UNICEF USA. Upon invitation, complete a Readiness Assessment in consultation with local stakeholders and UNICEF USA. Based upon readiness, organizational capacity and alignment with UNICEF USA’s strategic priorities, sign an MOU to officially become a CFCI partner community.
Engaging Community Stakeholders: Identify a CFCI Coordinator, establish a CFCI taskforce (internal city implementing team) and CFCI Leadership Team (executive committee of dedicated city-wide leaders) and determine how the city will ensure meaningful youth participation throughout the CFCI process.
Conducting a Situation Analysis: Gather quantitative and qualitative insights reflecting the state of children in the city by conducting community conversations and collecting city data across the 5 CFCI goal areas.
Building the Local Action Plan: Based on the results of the Situation Analysis, convene city leaders, children and youth to identify, analyze and identify practical solutions for at least one or more priority issue(s). Based on this input, draft a logic model and a one to two-year Local Action Plan (the former for pilot cities, the latter for post-pilot cities), along with metrics and data sources to monitor progress.
Implementing and Evaluating the Local Action Plan: Implement the Local Action Plan with city leaders as well as children and youth. Participate in regular progress check-ins with UNICEF USA to review the status of progress against commitments in the plan. Undergo an independent implementation evaluation .
Achieving Recognition: If UNICEF USA affirms that requirements are met, the city will receive official Recognition as a UNICEF Child Friendly City.
Renewing CFCI Partnership: Upon recognition as a UNICEF Child Friendly City, the city has the option renew their partnership with UNICEF USA by committing to undergo a renewal cycle, helping to ensure sustainability of the Initiative and deepening its commitments and positive impacts for children and young people.
While each community’s version of the initiative may look different, each city must meet the following global minimum criteria to be officially recognized as a UNICEF USA Child Friendly City:
results for children within the scope of several goal areas to ensure a comprehensive child rights approach
meaningful and inclusive child participation through established mechanisms, such as child and youth councils throughout all the phases of the CFCI process
demonstrated dedication to eliminating discrimination against children and young people in policies and actions by the local government, including in CFCI
UNICEF also offers a free self-led course describing the core components and steps that communities can take to become child friendly.
Being a Child Friendly City is not an end goal but rather a continuous practice. CFCI recognition in the United States is not an accreditation model. Rather, it is a transformative process through which local governments and stakeholders commit to advancing child rights and adopting sustainable child-centered local governance strategies.
Learn more on UNICEF USA's Child Friendly Cities Initiative web page.
How will UNICEF USA support CFCI partner cities?
UNICEF has over 75 years of experience protecting children. Throughout the CFCI partnership, UNICEF USA provides participating cities with:
technical expertise, training and awareness raising on CFCI implementation
convening power
the equity of a global brand
global and national networking opportunities
UNICEF USA is also building a National Learning Community of policymakers, subject matter experts, advocates and researchers to foster greater collaboration, share impactful research, and connect our community of municipal partners and researchers.
One way to participate is by joining our Community Alliance for Child Rights: Bridging Research and Policy LinkedIn group. This space is designed to foster collaboration, share impactful research and connect our community of municipal partners and researchers.
UNICEF also offers a free self-led course describing the core components and steps that communities can take to become child friendly.
Learn more on UNICEF USA's Child Friendly Cities Initiative web page.
How can I get involved if my city is a current partner?
UNICEF USA’s CFCI offers the following opportunities for community members to work together to improve children's quality of life:
The local government — which is responsible for facilitating collaboration across sectors by forming a Taskforce which then oversees CFCI implementation — offers participatory processes for community members, which support local democracy while building pride and a feeling of ownership among a city’s constituents.
Children, young people, parents and service providers can participate in or help lead community assessments, contribute to community-led engagement projects and support activities outlined as part of a CFCI’s Local Action Plan. By getting involved in these opportunities, children and families can help ensure their needs are reflected in local policies, budgets and services.
Non-profit organizations or opinion leaders who advocate for children’s rights and well-being can work together with local authorities and help offer local service opportunities for volunteers.
Local businesses can play a critical role in helping to build strong communities, strengthen local development and governance processes and gain recognition for their work.
National Learning Community
UNICEF USA is building a National Learning Community of city officials, subject-matter experts and advocates to exchange resources and learning opportunities to put children first in local governance and decision making. To get involved, request to join our LinkedIn page: Community Alliance for Child Rights: Bridging Research and Practice. This space is designed to foster collaboration, share impactful research and connect our community of municipal partners and researchers.
UNICEF also offers a free self-led course describing the core components and steps that communities can take to become child friendly.
Learn more on UNICEF USA's Child Friendly Cities Initiative web page or contact the CFCI team at cfci@unicefusa.org.
As a city leader or subject-matter expert, how can I get involved if my city is not a current CFCI partner?
UNICEF USA is building a National Learning Community of city officials, subject-matter experts and advocates to exchange resources and learning opportunities to put children first in local governance and decision making. To get involved, request to join our our LinkedIn page: Community Alliance for Child Rights: Bridging Research and Practice or contact the CFCI team at cfci@unicefusa.org. This space is designed to foster collaboration, share impactful research and connect our community of municipal partners and researchers.
UNICEF also offers a free self-led course describing the core components and steps that communities can take to become child friendly.
Begin the CFCI process and learn more on UNICEF USA's Child Friendly Cities Initiative web page.
My city is not a CFCI partner. How can I get involved?
Urge your mayor to begin the CFCI process and keep children top of mind in every policy and funding decision at act.unicefusa.org/childhood.
UNICEF also offers a free self-led course describing the core components and steps that communities can take to become child friendly.
Learn more on UNICEF USA's Child Friendly Cities Initiative web page.
[i] Heller School. “New data shows severe racial and ethnic inequities in Child Opportunity Within and Between U.S. Metros.” https://www.axios.com/neighborhood-inequality-american-children-549d7ab… (accessed December 6, 2024)
[ii] Derr, Victoria and Ildikó G. Kovács. “How participatory processes impact children and contribute to planning: a case study of neighborhood design from Boulder, Colorado, USA” https://rsa.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17549175.2015.1111925#.W_Rs… (accessed July 3 2020)
[iii] “Are We On Mute? Youth Speak Out in New UNICEF USA/Harris Poll.” https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/are-we-mute-youth-speak-out-new-unice… (accessed December 6, 2024)