Want to build a Cities4Children Alliance in your city or country? Come find out how

We want to expand from an alliance of global organisations, into building city and country-level alliances. This networking event will be the first step we take in this direction. We aim to bring together organisations that might be interested to get this started in their cities/countries. We will briefly explain why we want to do this, discuss with you how we can make this happen.

Sarah Sabry

Moderator

June 27, 2022 | 13:30 - 15:00

Multifunction Hall Room 19

Global Alliance - Cities4Children

Switzerland

English

Equitable urban futures

WUF11

Networking Events

Summary

At the last WUF in Abu Dhabi, 5 organisations joined forces at a networking event to propose the idea of building the Global Alliance – Cities4Children. The networking event was a springboard to get started. We presented the idea of the alliance and brainstormed with participants what a global alliance could/should do. Many organisations signed up to join and today, thanks to this event and the commitment of a growing number of organisations, we are now 27 organisations working together to tackle the challenges and issues faced by children living in urban areas, especially in the most vulnerable contexts. We want urban areas that are better for children and young people and we believe that together we can achieve greater impact and influence, enhance coordination and integrated action, have a louder voice through joint advocacy and communications, and encourage country and city level collaboration. The encouraging activity of our alliance can be seen on our website www.cities4children.org where you will find our research series, a knowledge hub and an active blog. During this upcoming WUF, we want to take the next step: to expand from an alliance of global organisations, into also building city and country level alliances. This networking event will be the first step we take in this direction. We aim to bring together organisations that might be interested to get this started in their cities/countries. We will briefly explain why we want to do this and discuss how we can make this happen. The planned agenda is:

What is the Cities4Children? what we want to achieve, and what we have done so far
Overview of issues faced by children in cities
Moving to country and city level action. The new shape of the Alliance, what we want to do, what organisations we are looking for and our expectations
How Cities4Children and its members can support country and city level organisations/what we expect
Practical actions towards Cities for Children and Youth: what can a city-wide/national alliance do: present tangible ideas for action
Dialogue with Occupa tu Calle about alliances in Peru.
An interactive workshop will engage participants through co-creation activities to discuss how we can make city/national alliances work. It will be structured around 4 discussions questions
Closing remarks will summarize the discussions and outline next steps for interested organisations.

Objectives

Share work done so far by Cities4Children – The Global Alliance and present the new structure, aiming at involving organisations operating at country and city levels.
Bring a diverse range of interested stakeholders together in the context of the WUF, including NGOs, local government, youth-led organisations, think tanks, mayors, research centres, universities, etc. who might be keen to build alliances for child rights, health, and well-being in different cities and countries.
Introduce the idea and rationale for a city/national alliance for ‘cities for children and youth’ and a collective impact approach to addressing child and youth issues in cities. Key areas of work could relate to child health, safety, public space, basic services, slum upgrading, the environment, road safety, etc...
Co-create with the audience what, why, and how an alliance would work in different contexts
Explain the application process and next steps and how the alliance would support such an alliance