Healthy Spaces, Co-creating Child-friendly Towns and Villages

The Commissioner for Children held a National Conference on Healthy Spaces, Co-creating childfriendly Towns and Villages.

In 2019, the office had embarked on a research project to investigate how Maltese towns and villages may become more child-friendly and to encourage key stakeholders to create appropriate spaces in collaboration with children and young people themselves.

In her speech, Commissioner Antoinette Vassallo emphasised that even though children have a right to a positive upbringing within the home, this is not enough. Children have a right to grow up within a community and have access to appropriate public spaces which are adequate for their needs.

In his addrerss, Michael Falzon, Minister for Social Policy and Children’s Rights stressed the importance of the environment for our families. “We need to create a balance between infrastructural development and the natural environment. While we need to acknowledge the fact that we have made great strides in terms of infrastructure, we also need to ensure that this does not have a negative impact on our environment and beauty of our island. It is for this reason that the Government will realise the biggest ever environmental project for Malta with a massive investment of €700m”, said the Minister.

During the conference, the main findings of the Research Study, entitled Healthy Spaces, Cocreating Child-friendly Towns and Villages were presented. The study was a joint collaboration between the Centre for Resilience and Socio-Emotional Health within the University of Malta, the Office of the Commissioner for Children and the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA).

The research study sought to explore the views of children, parents/carers and community stakeholders on how Maltese towns and villages may provide more child-friendly spaces for children and the whole community.

A survey was carried out with over 1,000 children and over 1,500 parents as well as 170 stakeholders. The study focused on areas such as safety and security; recreation and play; social spaces for children and young people; nature; cleanliness; child participation and inclusive spaces.

A presentation on Understanding Urbanism from a Child Perspective was also delivered by Dr Rachael Scicluna from the Faculty for the Built Environment. Mr Kevin Mercieca, Acting CEO of the Environment and Resources Authority as well as Prof. Alfred J Vella, Rector within the University of Malta also addressed the conference. Three young advisors of the Office of the Commissioner for Children also shared their ideas and recommendations. They greatly emphasised the need for the creation of safe spaces within the community as well as the realisation of children’s right to participate in the implementation of projects as well as policy development within the community.