Child and Adolescent Friendly City

A child-friendly city is a global initiative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), which calls on the governments to implement the rights of the child in each city.

Our initiative brings together governments, public and private organizations, educational institutions, the media, and most importantly, children and adolescents - all those who want to make cities the best environment for the younger generation. 

• Children are individuals

Every child has an opinion, desires, and needs, which they have the right to express as equally as adults.

• Children are our future

It is important to provide them with the opportunity to learn, develop and participate in the life of society already today, not in the future.

• Children want to be heard

The opinion of children and adolescents on important issues is often not taken seriously or not taken into account at all. However, any political or public decision affects the younger generation in one way or another.

Such cities provide conditions for the full, healthy and happy life of children and teenagers.

Children are able to:

• Influence decisions concerning their life in the city;
• Express opinion on how they would like to see their city;
• Participate in the family, social, cultural life of the city;
• Have access to healthcare, education, and housing;
• Be protected from violence and abuse;
• Walk and move within the city without risk to life;
• Play with friends, have space for games;
• Live in a city with an unpolluted environment;
• Have equal chances in life, regardless of nationality, religion, gender, health or other characteristics.

Following the accession of Belarus to the Global Sustainable Development Goals until 2030, today the initiative "Child friendly cities" is being transferred to the platform "Child and Adolescent Friendly Cities".
The concept of "platform" implies giving greater significance to actions for the development of cities friendly to children and adolescents in Belarus, and a deeper understanding of the goals of sustainable development through the prism of the interests of children and adolescents, as well as the full realization of their potential.

In child and adolescent cities, there are youth resource centers "Stupeni" and youth friendly health centers.
Resource centers "Stupeni" are unique sites created for the development of youth initiatives, support of existing projects, as well as the implementation of new ones. The center's activities are aimed at the diversified development of the young generation, broadening their horizons, identifying talents and abilities and ensuring effective, informed and equal participation of adolescents and youth in the city’s life.
In youth friendly health centers, adolescents can receive medical services on the principles of accessibility and friendliness. They are created on the basis of child or integrated clinics so that adolescents can receive competent advice from specialists on issues of concern:

• vocational guidance,
• the basics of a healthy lifestyle,
• building skills for safe and responsible sexual behavior,
• prevention of sexually transmitted diseases,
• problems of smoking, drug addiction, alcoholism.

• Ethical aspects of conducting surveys within calculation of the index of cities’ friendliness to children and adolescents (available in Russian)
• Index calculation methodology (available in Russian)
• Questionnaire for interviewing children aged 6-12 years
• Questionnaire for interviewing children aged 13-17 years
• Questionnaire for interviewing the parents of children aged 0-17 years
• Consent forms
• Methodological note
• Research Ethics Approval