UNICEF Child Friendly Cities

UNICEF’s Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) is a long-running programme that works with local governments to make urban environments healthier and more enriching for children and young people. Their 2019 summit in Cologne, Germany, brought together more than 600 participants from 180 cities all around the world: including mayors and other  local leaders, technical experts, private sector partners, civil society organizations, academia, and, most importantly, children and youth activists. The goal was to advance the rights and well-being of children and young people through local commitment and action in the cities where they live, by giving children a voice beyond the CFCI and the Summit, ensuring commitments from local leaders and sharing good and innovative practices on local child rights action.

With RedZebra facilitating the packed schedule of plenaries, workshops, action groups and activities, our role was to capture the energy and ideas of this vibrant event in videos that would share and promote the work being done by CFCI and the achievements of the summit. Grabbing interviews with mayors, young activists and other delegates in between their many other commitments kept our small crew on its toes, but the passion, insight and drive of the young people and their allies was energising and inspiring, with their hope and strength shining through every shot.