In March 2019, Liverpool City Council began working towards becoming a UNICEF Child Friendly City.

This involves undertaking and implementing a number of commitments to ensure that children’s rights are reflected in laws, policies, programmes and budgets at the local level. This is a major opportunity to improve the life chances, health and well-being of children across the city, and involves partners from a range of public services, civil society organisations, businesses, transport as well as further and higher education institutions.

To celebrate World Children’s Day 2021, researchers have produced a series of briefings that summarise some of the child-focussed research being done.

These highlight many policy recommendations that can inform efforts to transform Liverpool into a Child Friendly City.

Read short summaries of some of the child-focussed research being done across Liverpool’s universities, highlighting policy recommendations for creating a child-friendly Liverpool:

• The urgent need for better protection of children of offenders when reporting a parent’s crime, Dr Lorna Brookes, Liverpool John Moores University.
• Children and young people with SEND: experiences from Liverpool, Professor Amel Alghrani, School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool & Dr Seamus Byrne, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission
• Children’s mental health, wellbeing and the built environment, Professor Rhiannon Corcoran, Department of Primary Care and Mental Health, University of Liverpool
• Childhood obesity and the impact of cuts to local government spending on Sure Start children’s centres, Dr Kate Mason, Department of Public Health, Policy & Systems, University of Liverpool
• Is walking to school enough to prevent childhood obesity? Dr Rob Noonan, Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool
• How to build a child-friendly city: lessons for Liverpool, Dr Pallavi Patel, University of Liverpool
• Challenges associated with working towards child-friendly city status in Liverpool, Professor Carol Robinson, Edge Hill University

Many of these research projects were presented at the 2020 Shaping Liverpool as a Child Friendly City: Research Showcase Event. More will be added over time.

Find out more about how the University of Liverpool is helping the city of Liverpool on its journey to become a UNICEF Child Friendly City here.