Donate and Volunteer

‹‹ Back to Archieve
30 Jun 13

Child Friendly City Asia Pacific International Conference, 27-28 June 2013, Park Village, Kathmandu, Nepal

English

Addressing today’s urban growth, which is predicted by 2050, 7 in 1 people will live in urban area, chances are more people worldwide will live in slums. Unfortunately, about 600 million of these are children living in slums. The children may live in place that far from unmitigated good such as crime concentration, pollution, disease, injustice as much as business, innovation, education, and entertainment. These lead to put sustainable development at the core as one of universal agenda post 2015 (UN report 2013, a New Global Partnership Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development). Karen Malone, one of the key note speakers at the conference, says that City Government and local authorities have an essential role to play in the urban management and ultimately sustainable development in the city. Architects, urban designers, and urban planners play important role to integrated design of cities and municipalities, with a more consciousness on Children’s Right provision.

 

Moreover, discussing about children and sustainable development, sustainable development must balance the scales of equity on all fronts to break cycle of poverty and ensure of the children of today and tomorrow are able to have and inherit a liveable safe world (a post-2015 world fit for Children UNICEF report May 2013). Children Right Convention had already offered the blue print of a child centered development policy and the implementation of rights and sustainability. Karen also said that sustainable development starts with safe, healthy, and well educated children.

 

Several discussions were held under topics including Child Friendly Local Governance, Child Protection and Accreditation, Child Friendly Learning Framework, Child Health well-being and sustainability. A workshop addressing Child Friendly City based on Appreciative Inquiry Approach was held by Nepal School of Social Network. The workshop encouraged active participation in formulating collective dream to be implemented in participant area systematically starting from Valuing – Dream – Design – Action process.

 

Child Friendly City through Corporate Social Responsibility was presented at day two under the theme of Child Friendly Local Governance. Started by a reminder on how human being had been appointed as “Vicegerent of Earth” so that it is our responsibility to create transformation for the betterment of the environment, five clusters of Child Friendly Citywas elaborated unto children space to grow up and develop their full potential. Ars86care foundation aimed to enhance quality of these Children Influential Spaces, as the presentation showed early childhood education facilities that had been developed by the group. 

 

The school buildings were philanthropic based action combined with Corporate Social Responsibility as a way to Children Influential Space quality enhancement under the framework of Child friendly City initiative, located at peri-urban area of one populous district in Central Java. Ars86care foundation has accomplished three kindergarten renovations during the year of 2012-2013, while two more schools are on-going process. Children Participation is embedded in the process started from assessment, design-construction-delivery, and monitoring – evaluation, to build Child Friendly Schools. Child Friendly Building concept is also developed in-synchronize with green building concept such as implementing maximum crossed air circulation and natural light in the design, use as much as local sources as possible, using recycle old material without abandoning safety and security for children. Questions came up regarding to the construction process up to the involvement of local government in this Early Childhood Facilities Quality Enhancement. India Local NGO’s campaigning Children’s Right were also asking for Early Childhood Facilities Development Planning Standard to be duplicated in their place. Participant fromMalaysia shared that quality enhancement of Children Space were necessary in term of communities need from the perspective of educators and early childhood principal most government didn’t see.

30 Jun 2013