Let’s get together and make change: Towards a Child-Focused Cities Analytical Framework

Children live in cities and local communities, implying that they have proximity to the local government rather than the national government. The interaction of children with their governments happens at the local level. And, children experience the realisation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the local sphere of government. Yet, children are relegated to the margins of local governance and implementation of SDGs and are not given the space and voice to shape how their cities should be or look like. In this project, we investigated through literature review and case studies in ICLD partnering municipalities (Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Livingstone, Zambia) to gain critical insights and a context-based understanding to local governments to enhance informed and child-focused decision-making around local governance and SDGs implementation.

Note: This publication is the result of a Local Democracy Lab and the Local Democracy Academy, both held in 2022. The study was conducted with an Impact research grant: small-scale, action-oriented projects conducted in close collaboration with local governments.