Summary

The Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) was launched by UNICEF and UN-Habitat in 1996 to act on the resolutions passed during the second UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), which declared that the well-being of children is the ultimate indicator of a healthy habitat, a democratic society and good governance. Recent years have shown a significant growth in the CFCI.

This is a positive testimony to the relevance of the initiative for municipalities and other local actors. Today, the CFCI reaches up to 30 million children in 38 countries. In line with this growing interest, requests for support, guidance, knowledge sharing and innovative approaches to engaging with children are increasing.

As a step towards meeting these emerging requests for guidance and support, UNICEF launched the Child Friendly Cities and Communities Initiative Toolkit for National Committees in 2017. The Toolkit offers tested tools and good practices from high income countries. Building on the Toolkit, the CFCI Handbook presents streamlined guidance for the CFCI globally, including step-by-step guidance on establishing a CFCI, a Framework for Action and minimum criteria for recognition by UNICEF as Child Friendly City aimed at professionalising and streamlining the CFCI, while leaving ample flexibility for contextualisation.