Beijing Women's Federation

A child-friendly city publicity week titled "My City and I" was jointly launched by Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, the Office of Beijing Municipal Working Committee on Children and Women, Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources, and Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Management on November 20, World Children’s Day.

The publicity week, which was organized by Beijing Radio & Television Station, aimed to fully implement an action plan on building Beijing into a child-friendly city, foster a social environment that gives priority to children’s development and is friendly to children and forge a consensus in society on showing respect and care to children.

During the online theme activities of the publicity week, a collection of short videos reviewed the achievements made by the capital city concerning the building of a child-friendly city. In March, 23 municipal authorities in Beijing, which included Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform and the Office of Beijing Municipal Working Committee on Children and Women, jointly unveiled the Beijing Municipal Plan on the Building of a Child-friendly City that consisted of 137 specific targets. In September, a WeChat mini program titled "Beijing Children's Friendly Home" was inaugurated to build an online publicity and service platform that can showcase the efforts adopted by the capital city in the building of a child-friendly city. Eighteen schools in Beijing have made their plans in the building of safe schooling routes and opened 33 special schooling lines with 72 buses. Xicheng has become the second district-level area in the capital city to be formally recognized as one of national pilot child-friendly areas.

1.Foster Child-friendly Brand, Tell Child-friendly Stories

To guide children from Beijing to make local child-friendly stories better known, the Office of Beijing Municipal Working Committee on Children and Women in September kicked off a campaign titled "My City and I" to collect paintings by children. The event drew the attendance of over 3,300 children and selected 26 outstanding works. More than 300,000 netizens cast their votes for their favorite entries.

During the campaign, teen winners introduced their artistic creation and the stories behind their entries. They conveyed their sincere feelings and high expectation for a better life through beautiful words and paintings as well as touching videos.

It is the responsibility of the "My City and I" to make children's voices heard and show respect to their views. It has become a consensus of the society to put children first and promote the building of a child-friendly environment.

2. Draw a Map of Child-friendly Activity Venues to Further Enhance Children's Cultural Literacy

To promote a child-friendly philosophy which stresses rediscovering the city from the physical height of children and to create more space for them to take part in cultural activities, the Office of Beijing Municipal Working Committee on Children and Women has fully leveraged the capital city's rich public cultural and sports resources and pooled the strength of 100 children-oriented activity centers to produce an audio map and invite children to recommend their favorite destinations. During the selection event, a total of 570 children submitted their audio works. At last, 100 audio entries were added to the voice map and their owners were awarded honorary certificates.

The special audio map was formally launched on November 20. At the online theme activity, four children gave an introduction to the Temple of Heaven, the Water Cube, Olympic Forest Park and other popular scenic areas in the capital city.

3. Form a Child-friendly Alliance, Create a Resource-sharing Platform with Joint Efforts

Fourteen public and private institutions, research agencies and social organizations founded Beijing Child-friendly Joint-building Alliance. The newly-launched alliance was aimed at building a diverse, opening and dynamic platform that allows all social forces to get involved in the building of a child-friendly city.

As representatives of members of the alliance, Beijing Women and Children's Service Center, Radio Beijing Corporation and Beijing Women Architects’ Association jointly made an appeal to the public toward the building of a child-friendly city. They asked for efforts to fully act on the principle that children come first, promote the building of a child-friendly city from the perspective of children, get the public involved in the building of a child-friendly city and enable children and the city to embrace a bright future.

An appeal made by several group members of the Beijing Child-friendly Joint-building Alliance on the building of a child-friendly city

4. Build a Child-friendly Environment, Lighten the Future of Children

A choir from Peixin Primary School, in Dongcheng district, presented its show titled "Chinese Youths," which marked the opening of the child-friendly city publicity week.

On the night of November 20, all districts of the capital city simultaneously kicked off an action titled "Lighten the Future of Children." Many buildings in the capital city were covered with relevant slogans and light shows to support the child-friendly city publicity week.

Combo photo shows child-friendly publicity videos and posters for the publicity week

Child-friendly publicity videos and posters will be aired in outdoors LED screens, bus and subway stations, mobile and office-building televisions during the child-friendly publicity week. Moreover, innovative cases concerning the building of a child-friendly city and the practices of building child-friendly venues will be also promoted both online and offline in a drive to foster a positive social atmosphere that put children first.

The building of a child-friendly social environment is the best gift given by a city to children. A child-friendly city is a place for children to find warmth and happiness. Let's work together to create a better life for children and develop the city into a beautiful place.