In partnership with the Instituto Cidades Sustentáveis (Sustainable Cities Institute), the Bernard van Leer Foundation today launched a new Urban95 network in Brazil. Alongside our three pioneering partner cities – São Paulo, Recife and Boa Vista – the network includes Aracaju, Brasileia, Campinas, Crato, Caruaru, Fortaleza, Ilheus, Jundiaí, Niterói, Pelotas and Ubiratã. The mayors of the cities participated in an online launch.
Each member city is committed to incorporating a stronger focus on babies, children and toddlers in their decision making. As well as providing opportunities for peer-to-peer exchange, the new network will support them with technical expertise in areas including urban mobility, data management, behavioural science, communication focused on young children and caregivers, and improving policies and programmes.
Each city will receive a toolkit for promoting positive parenting behaviours. The network will support each city to conduct a detailed diagnosis of how babies, toddlers and caregivers experience urban life, generating data that can be used to make municipal plans for early childhood. It will then support cities to implement and monitor those plans, and devise mechanisms – such as engagement with civil society and media – to maintain early childhood as a priority.
The launch of the network was covered in local media.
