Vancouver Working Group Discussion Paper

The Youth Friendly City

II Background

This section details the current research supporting children and youth participation in cities and sets the rights-based and policy conventions of child and youth participation within an international context.

Demographic shifts: The movement of children and youth in the urban context
Setting the stage: Children and youth on the international agenda
Principles and dimensions of participation: Defining the meaningful participation of children and youth in their cities
Participation and sustainable development: Children, youth and the development of more vibrant, sustainable cities

Demographic shifts: The movement of children and youth in the urban context

Current demographic profiles suggest that close to half of the world's population is now living in, or moving to, urban areas. In many cities of the world more than 50% of the urban population is under the age of 19. According to UNICEF, by 2025, 6 out of 10 children in developing countries will live in urban areas. In the Middle East and North America, already 60% of the population living in urban areas is under the age of 25. Families are moving to urban centres in search of education, employment, and a better quality of life.

"Cities are the physical expression of societies which build them and the political, social and economic interactions of their inhabitants."

As a consequence of these demographic trends, greater numbers of children and youth are experiencing higher levels of poverty and social exclusion as they suffer disproportionately from the conditions associated with urban poverty. This increased vulnerability has made them victims of substance abuse, juvenile delinquency, youth crime, sexual exploitation, HIV-AIDS, environmental contamination and economic exploitation.

Girls and boys are also affected differently by poverty and exclusion, with girls suffering from greater discrimination. In addition to the lack of services, many cultural beliefs, practices and attitudes contribute to gender roles that result in girls' receiving fewer and poorer quality services than boys. Policy makers and urban planners need to recognize the enormous gender divide in municipal policy and programming that marginalizes girls and fails to access their untapped wealth of social capital.

How local governments impact the health and development of children and youth

It is important to recognize the great extent to which local governments impact the healthy development and life-supportive opportunities for children and young people. A child and youth friendly city is one that encompasses all aspects of a child and youth's healthy development including opportunities for connection, self-efficacy, and engagement.

As this document will demonstrate, child and youth friendly policies are an effective tool to meeting the needs of ever-changing urban communities. Local governments that research, adapt, and utilize child and youth friendly policies invest in the long-term health and sustainability of their cities.

Setting the stage: Children and youth on the international agenda

A child and youth's right to participate has been endorsed internationally in unprecedented ways. The adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989 and its subsequent near universal ratification stands as a landmark. Significant in the CRC is the level of international dialogue and commitment that has taken place following its ratification.

Article 12 of the CRC states that:

"States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely on all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child."

In 2002, State Parties agreed on a Declaration and Plan of Action, A World Fit for Children, pledging to put children (0- 18) at the heart of their development priorities, and commit ting to implementing National Plans of Action. Listening to children and youth and ensuring their participation stands as one of the 10 agreed upon objectives and commitments by the international community.

Other significant UN summits and conferences have reconfirmed a commitment to the perspectives and involvement of children and youth. In 1996, the Habitat Agenda asserts in its preamble the special needs of children and youth in being involved in their living environment. Another key UN event supporting youth participation was the first World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth held in Lisbon, Portugal in 1998, marking culmination of more than a decade-long process undertaken to turn the attention of national and global leaders to matters of importance to young people. The Braga Youth Declaration was adopted in Lisbon as a blueprint for greater youth participation in governance.

A significant example of how children and youth can be meaningful involved in global processes is that of the United Nations environment and development process started at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. Youth were represented at the conference by a process co-sponsored by youth in Canada and Costa Rica called Youth '92. Youth spoke to the gathered world leaders demanding environmental justice for peoples globally. Children were represented in Rio through a historic speech made by Severn Suzuki who moved the world by stating: “My father always says "You are what you do, not what you say". Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown-ups say you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words.” Suzuki's statement was mirrored by another generation of children 10 years later at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesberg, South Africa, where 3 children representing Ecuador, China and Canada again challenged “all of us to ensure that through our action we will inherit a world free of the indignity and indecency occasioned by poverty, environmental degradation and patterns of unsustainable development”. The sentiment of these children was enshrined in the final political declaration of WSSD, a phenomenal accomplishment for children and youth world-wide.

International models of participation initiated by children and youth

Nations across the world now recognize the urgent need to have children and youth actively engaged in urban governance. In many countries, the implementation of these rights, conventions and the development of emerging models of participation have come from young people themselves, as well as from nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) and international agencies such as UNICEF, UN Habitat, and UNESCO.

Unfortunately, all countries have not uniformly applied models of child and youth participation. This is especially so in the case of municipal governance, which takes many forms internationally. Promising practices such as the Malindi Youth Consultative Council in Kenya, and the Civic Youth Strategy in Canada (discussed in The Capable City Chapter), are the exceptions rather than the rule.

As discussed in this paper, these and other successful models of participation and rights-based practices need to be adapted to the local context, as well as strengthened and integrated more thoroughly into programming and policy-making. The engagement of children and youth will thus be included as a distinct yet vital part of city governance and operations.

Principles and dimensions of participation: Defining the meaningful participation of children and youth in their cities

Child and youth participation is a quintessential component of creating child and youth-friendly cities.

A substantial body of research demonstrates that the benefits of child participation are multi-dimensional, essential to a child and young person's own development, and our society as a whole.
Overall, child and youth participation significantly improves the quality of the relationships between government institutions and civil society. Child and youth engagement in policy and program design helps initiate programming that encourage young people to realize their full and healthy human development.

It is easy to state that child and youth participation is a right, but what does such engagement actually mean at the policy and programmatic level, in field-level practices, or through on-the-ground projects and initiatives? While recognizing that forms of participation vary according to the circumstances, urban governments need to recognize that participation requires an equitable process that leads to sustainable outcomes. Further, in supporting the process of participation, children and young people must be active agents of change in the context of broader community development goals. According to research done by the Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement in Canada, this active engagement leads to positive health outcomes.

Through formal participation, children and youth are slowly becoming recognized by policy makers as part of the system, rather than as external players with no capacity to engage. Louis Chawla, lead researcher in UNESCO's Children Growing Up in the Cities project, states that: “Participation is a process in which children and youth engage with other people around issues that concern their individual and collective life conditions … Formal processes of participation deliberately create structures for children's engagement in constructing meaning and sharing decision making.”

Forms of young people's participation

In the context of the city, child and youth engagement in urban governance is their first civic experience. Too often, the experience is negative due to governments neither acknowledging young people as contributing citizens, nor recognizing children and youth as having legitimate knowledge concerning their communities. Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, states that: “No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifeline.”

Meaningful participation begins when the perceptions, ideas and actions of children and youth are taken seriously and recognized as equal to the formal knowledge of adults. Real participation requires both the recognition and redistribution of power. It requires taking actions through creating strong adult and child-youth partnerships that encourage equitable decision-making. A visual tool for evaluating efforts to engage children and youth in decision-making is David Driskell's “Dimensions of child and youth participation”[see fig 1].

This conceptual framework for participation is based on two primary dimensions. The first measures child and youth's power to make decisions and effect change. The second assesses young people's interaction and collaboration with other people in their community. This framework is particularly important for local governments in order to differentiate between token involvement and true engagement.

This paper does not suggest that children and youth should be given the same decision-making power as adults – they have different capacities, and bring different knowledge and experiences to governance. However, from a perspective of human rights and community development, it clear that children and youth benefit from having more direct influence over their living environments; this in turn enriches their lives and strengthens their communities.

Participation and sustainable development: Children, youth and the development of more vibrant, sustain able cities

Resiliency and the involvement of children and youth in their cities

The multiple benefits of child and youth-driven participation in cities include:

Participation itself is development and is both a means and an end in itself;
Young people can make a valuable contribution to society;
Participation builds effectiveness and sustainability;
Participation fosters learning; builds life skills and enables self protection;
Young people have strong networks amongst themselves; and
Young people's participation builds civil society and strengthens democracy.

Children's developmental potential can be supported or diminished by the care and attention they receive from parents, friends, relatives, neighbours, teachers and other caring adults. This nurturing component of individual well-being is so strong that evidence indicates that even under situations of extreme adversity children will often show incredible resilience, or the capacity to cope or “bounce back”, when relations with one caring person are sustained. This person can be an adult or another child or youth.

For example, studies show young people who are active in decision-making, who learn from their own experiences and who observe adults engaging in “causes” they believe in, are less prone to depression, hopelessness and suicide and thus are more “resilient”. In this document, resiliency is viewed as a key aspect of a healthy city, and a key determinant in ensuring children and youth are healthy.

Moreover, research shows that youth who are active in institutions and programs that directly affect them bring about positive outcomes for both the individual youth, as well as the community as a whole. Engaged youth are less likely to participate in activities that may harm themselves or negatively impact their communities (e.g. drug use, violent behaviour and school delinquency). They are also more likely to have higher levels of self-esteem, get higher grades in school, and show a greater commitment to friends, families and communities.

By establishing structures, policies and programs that support the meaningful participation of children and youth, cities benefit from a diversity of perspectives in building sustainable communities through strengthening individual and collective resiliency.

Conclusion

What distinguishes this document from other policy papers is a content grounded in the reality of young people's experience. The local projects described in these pages speak to the resources of children and youth while recognizing that there are significant gaps that need to be filled. What is common in child and youth practice at the local level, is neither necessarily recognized by government nor the research community. Conversely, what policy makers and researchers have proven effective is not necessarily known by children, youth and the agencies that represent them. This paper seeks to bridge this divide.

Cities as well exist structurally within the context of other levels of government, and as well within a global context that brings a range of other challenges. In the end, this paper is a call to those concerned about the health of children and youth and the communities they live in to forge new partnerships and equitable relationships, so that collectively cities can move forward to create communities that are child and youth friendly.

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