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Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, governments have the obligation to protect children from all forms of abuse and neglect. Meeting this responsibility requires a coordinated set of laws, policies, regulations and services.
At local level, these systems often fall short in ensuring that every child is safeguarded. One of the main challenges is the lack, or insufficient implementation, of child safeguarding policies in public institutions, the private sector and community-based organisations.
The Safe in Town project, co-financed by the European Commission, was created to address this gap. Coordinated by Defence for Children International Italy, in partnership with Defence for Children International Greece, CESIS – Centro de Estudos para a Intervenção Social (Portugal), and Hope for Children (Cyprus), the project brings together municipalities in Italy, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus to develop and implement comprehensive, city-level child safeguarding policies.
One of the central parts of the project is about fostering a strong culture of child safeguarding to reduce the risks of violation of rights of the child in selected municipalities. Additionally, the partners are committed to developing innovative policies.
KCS contributed to this initiative by providing consultancy, orientation and technical expertise, drawing on two decades of international experience in child safeguarding. Together with the other project partners – including the Municipality of Ferrara, Municipality of Matosinhos, Municipality of Chania and Municipality of Strovolos – we have supported the development of a new child safeguarding framework designed to strengthen child safeguarding at the municipal level.
‘Creating safer cities for children and future generations requires fostering wellbeing among all inhabitants. Safe Town is a pilot project through which we will develop tools to help cities become more child friendly. We are delighted to have the support of Keeping Children Safe in addressing this significant challenge’ explained Pippo Costella, Director of Defence for Children International Italy.
The framework brings together practical guidance across four key pillars: policy, responsibilities, procedures and monitoring. It is designed to help those working towards setting up intersectoral child safeguarding policies and practices in their municipalities.
KCS is proud to work collaboratively with organisations and municipalities across Europe to reduce risks and empower children. We hope that these efforts will help shape a coordinated system that can ensure effective responses when risks arise.