It has a busy 2011 with a number of activities going on around the region, the most significant being the 2nd International Conference of Child Friendly Asia Pacific conducted in Solo-Surakarta Indonesia from 30 June to 2 July. The conference was funded by the Department of Woman’s Empowerment and Children’s Protection (within which the child friendly cities initiative is embedded) with the Minister attending the entire conference and illustrating and extraordinary commitment to the child friendly cities and communities initiative in Indonesia. Over 500 delegates came to the conference with 14 countries represented. For those who attended and those who may have heard about this amazing conference from delegates, I would like to add that over my life I have attended many conferences and this would have to be the most intensely embedded conference in the life and heart of a city I have ever experienced. The Mayor of Solo embraced the conference and the delegates like we were old friends and treated us with a superb array of delightful cultural events, banquets and intimate movements where we were allowed to see inside the life of children and the role of the city in supporting those children. The Mayor shared with us his role as a child ambassador and his achievements in his three years in office in making Solo a child friendly city. This is a mayor who has never taken a wage, who increased the education budget from around 1 Billion rupiah to over 60 Billion rupiah in three years, who has provided free education and health services for children of the poor and who diverted funding for a large city regional park to building 15 free to all children’s centres for play and education in the most needy parts of the city. He has provided free helmets for children to try and stop the impact of child motorbike fatalities and made it a rule that no television can be watched in the city between 6-7 pm as this is homework hour – parents are asked to support and nurture their children’s education. While we often hear stories of the challenges and difficulties for Indonesia to embrace children’s rights in a densely populated country with large sectors of low income and poor families, it was an astonishing opportunity during the conference to see children being celebrated, loved and their rights being exercised by a whole community. The Mayor is certainly a driving force, yet a man with great humility and devotion to the importance and value of children. I certainly tip my hat to him and thank him warmly for taking us into the heart of his city and sharing that with us. A full conference report is available online here and in the resources area of this website I urge you to take the time and share some of the stories and intellectual presentations that were provided by delegates. Also attached is a copy of the SOLO declaration on children's participation.
