Blog

Read the selected insights, thoughts and experiences of our staff and partners.

Coaching and connecting – how we’re getting cities interested in Urban95

Published October 9, 2017
Coaching and connecting – how we’re getting cities interested in Urban95 - Bernard van Leer Foundation

I started working with the Bernard van Leer Foundation’s Urban95 initiative earlier this year after leaving KaBOOM!, the US-based non-profit I had run for 20 years. KaBOOM! began with a… Read more

Why Walking Is So Good for Parents, Toddlers, and the Cities Where They Live

Published October 2, 2017

Planning and managing cities has become one of humanity’s defining challenges, yet it is hard to know how to plan for what a city needs now and in the future… Read more

Building together an action plan in São Paulo

Published September 17, 2017

After an intensive six-month process, the Reference Centre for Early Childhood – a project funded by BvLF as part of its Urban95 work in Sao Paulo – has prepared a… Read more

How the Bogotá Urban95 team chose where to pilot their work

Published September 17, 2017

In which area of Bogotá should we pilot our Urban95 intervention? We spent four months gathering and analysing data to choose first an area of the city, then a central… Read more

Empowering the last mile workers - Scaling up early learning programme through workforce development

Published July 3, 2017

Seven thousand people to be trained in three months? Are you crazy? This is what I was told by Professor Mukti Kanta Mishra, President of Centurion University of Technology and… Read more

Moving Forwards by Reflecting Back: Early Childhood Matters 2017

Published June 26, 2017

With the publication of Early Childhood Matters this week, we once again shine a spotlight on the earliest years of life. We look back at advances made for young children… Read more

Speaking for the evidence: Dart's early childhood course for journalists

Published March 30, 2017

What if I told you about an exposure that scientists have determined makes you three times more likely to develop lung disease and cancers, four times more likely to experience… Read more

Habitat III: outcomes and future opportunities for children

Published November 22, 2016

Launched at Habitat III, the New Urban Agenda – an inclusive, action-oriented, and concise policy document intended to guide the next twenty years of sustainable urban development – holds significant… Read more

Helping parents in the Netherlands to keep all their plates spinning

Published November 17, 2016

With only a simple technique using a small stick, Chinese acrobats have been performing the tradition of “plate spinning”. Acrobats are challenged to hold up as many spinning plates as… Read more

"Smiley Brick": an initiative to brand child-friendly brick kilns

Published November 7, 2016

A smiley is a symbol that represents a smiling face, typically used to indicate emotion. As per Smithsonian, the smiley face as we know it today was created by Harvey… Read more