Partnerships for Collective Action to Contribute to Inclusive and Just Cities for Children

In today’s largely urban and still rapidly urbanising world, hundreds of millions of children and youth live and work in deprived conditions in cities. It is estimated that approximately 60% of all urban dwellers will be under the age of 18 years by 2030. The scale and speed of this trend poses serious risks and challenges to the health, safety and well-being of children, especially the most vulnerable. Trapped in fragile pockets of cities across the world, children suffer terrible violations of their basic human rights; living in overcrowded spaces, often on streets contaminated with garbage and dangerous waste. They lack safe public spaces to play, and are vulnerable to crime and violence, prostitution, abuse and exploitation. This event will provide a platform for leading global and local child-focused agencies and other key partners to share their urban evidence base and innovative strategies on effective and sustainable development that contribute to children’s well-being and the fulfilment of their rights. To contribute to inclusive and just cities for children, the event will provide a platform to discuss concrete partnership proposals that can be scaled up, in collaboration with other stakeholders, to support the implementation of The New Urban Agenda. Multi-sectoral strategic partnerships are required to be effective in dealing with complex urban issues, and advocating for sustained change through policy reform. This event will propose an architecture of a global partnership and action plans for collaboration post Habitat III.