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Child and Youth Friendly Cities – Urban Explorers

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Services

Are you planning a conference? a community event? a panel? We want to be a part of it! In our long history of providing a voice for children and youth we have plenty of expertise to share.  If you are looking for a presentation topic that you don’t see here, contact us as we are happy to customize and develop a presentation for you. We offer our services on a sliding scale.

Workshops

Our team is available to deliver workshops related to a variety of issues concerning children and children’s rights. Our custom-designed workshops engage groups in thoughtful facilitation and an inquiry-based method. The subject matter may vary but we specialize in connecting people with topics through sharing knowledge and experiences and hands-on activities. Past workshops have been tailored to meet the needs of diverse stakeholders such as ECE teachers, Neighbourhood House staff, Youth Workers, Community Centre staff, and children and youth themselves. All workshops include a component focused on raising awareness of children’s rights and issues affecting young people, and seeking to motivate participants to take action to uphold children’s rights.

Child and Youth Friendly Communities Consulting

As part of our child and youth friendly communities work, SCY shares its knowledge around creating rights-respecting environments to promote the optimal health and wellbeing for our youngest citizens. SCY has consulted for a number of communities and municipalities and has developed child and youth friendly communities strategies, children’s charters, community engagement processes for young people, and tailor-made resources and toolkits.

If you are interested in learning more about how SCY can help your community become more child and youth friendly or you want to partner with SCY, please contact us.

Child and Youth Engagement

Having a say and being heard makes children and youth feel valuable, it increases their self-esteem and their motivation to succeed. Children and youth who participate in their family life grow to be confident, responsible, and good decision-makers. Young people who participate in their classrooms and schools are highly engaged in school, have good peer and teacher relationships, and high levels of achievement. Children and youth who participate in their communities have a sense of worth, belonging, and being respected. Without these positive developmental characteristics, children are more vulnerable to negative influences such as substance use and gang membership.

We can help you design processes and increase your ability to meaningfully engage different types of young people in a variety of contexts. Past SCY work has included surveys, mapping activities, photovoice, and PSAs.

Keynote Presentations

The focus of our work is creating a rights respecting society for children and youth so our keynote topics can relate to any of the articles in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In particular, we are able to contribute by speaking about issues around discrimination, right to life, survival and development, the best interests of children and youth, and respect for the views of children and youth.