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Building a child-friendly community is a public undertaking—an interview with Zhou Weiyan from Community World

December 21, 2017

"Community World" reporter (hereinafter referred to as "reporter"): From the founding of Beijing Yongzhen Public Welfare Foundation, incubating the billion future charity brand, to serving as the director of the China Community Development Association's Child Friendly Community Working Committee (hereinafter referred to as the working committee) Say, you have been promoting the inclusive child service cause. What are the significance of these different working stages, or different working platforms, for the inclusive child service cause and child-friendly community cause, and what results have you achieved? 

Zhou Weiyan: The billion future charity brand is aimed at preschool children. It is an attempt to build a preschool parent-child service platform for community inclusive. In the child-friendly community, it targets all minors aged 0-18. Although there are many mentions of early childhood comprehensive development, most of them are through the civil administration system, women's federations, family planning committees and other work portals. In social organizations, our team is the earliest to focus on early childhood comprehensive development. It mainly provides inclusive community services for the comprehensive development of early childhood, and integrates with community governance to improve the comprehensive community service system. We have also hatched many excellent social organizations with professional skills, which have settled in all parts of the country and served millions of households. It is gratifying to note that the Yifu Community Parent-Child Charity Alliance has been booming, especially in East China, to play a role in promoting children's public welfare.

In 2016, I started to serve as the director of the Child-Friendly Community Working Committee. The China Community Development Association and the China Children and Teenagers' Fund jointly launched a child-friendly community promotion plan. Beijing Yongzhen Public Welfare Foundation is the executive party of this plan. The resources of the association and the China Children and Teenagers' Fund have received positive responses from many parts of the country. The plan has been going on smoothly for more than a year now, which coincides with the current national trend. There is a lively discussion of child-friendly cities and child-friendly communities in many places. Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Changsha, Chengdu, Hebei and many other provinces and cities want to Piloting child-friendly communities locally. The concept of "child-friendly" has been valued by the government and has begun to enter the public's perspective. Currently in Beijing and Shanghai, we have started the pilot work of child-friendly communities, received strong support from local governments, and received recognition and deep participation from all walks of life. .

Reporter: Now that child-friendly communities have become your focus, what natural advantages do you think communities have as carriers of inclusive children's services? 

Zhou Weiyan: Pratt and Whitney means that every child must benefit, and the services need to be delivered to the children in need in the fastest way to make it easy for children to get services. The main environment for children's growth is to provide universal A great carrier for benefit children.

First of all, for minors, the first social interface outside the family is the community. As a platform with social attributes, children's social activities such as school, medical treatment and daily life are carried out in the community. Yes, the community is the first stop for children to grow from "natural people" to "social people."  

Secondly, there are many indoor or outdoor public spaces in the community. These public spaces can be used to provide services and welfare spaces for children. The space for children does not necessarily need to be large in area, and it is not necessary to create an exclusive space independently. More important is the use of streets, parks, schools, hospitals and other community public places that are closely related to children's daily life. These places are equipped with services and facilities that provide basic support for children, such as community parks. In addition to greening, you can also Build some facilities for children to play, and the space for children to play is also a space for parents to relax and communicate. A truly child-friendly space is not an independent space that is separate from the adult world. A very important characteristic of a child-friendly community is that it uses the community as a platform to introduce child-friendly projects and provide child-friendly services. , While driving the improvement of hardware space equipment and service system, strengthen the communication between children and children, and then strengthen the communication between children and adults, adults and adults, from this perspective, indoor and outdoor in the community Public space can become a good platform and carrier for providing basic services for children.

Reporter: In 2016, you promoted and co-sponsored the Child-Friendly Community Promotion Plan (hereinafter referred to as the "Promotion Plan") with the China Children and Teenagers' Fund and the China Community Development Association. What has been the progress of the promotion plan for more than a year? ? 

Zhou Weiyan: There are several aspects to the progress of the promotion plan: first, policy advocacy, local government action is very important, and only with government support can it be possible to promote the establishment of child-friendly community construction standards, so that child-friendly communities can be physically represented Only when they come out can they summarize and replicate the experience of building child-friendly communities, so that more communities can have a reference and benefit more families. Policy advocacy is not only the support of laws and regulations at the central level, but also the formulation of local standards, the local government's attention to the construction of child-friendly communities, and the innovation in participating in child-friendly community construction models.

The second is subject research. In the process of promoting child-friendly community promotion programs, we have communicated with experts in various fields such as child welfare, social work, social governance, child rights, child education, child psychology, and spatial design planning. Explore, from a cross-professional and cross-field perspective, carry out subject research supporting the plan, demonstrate scientific action plans, and fill some of the gaps in child-friendly community research in China.

The third is the training of talents. In the field of children's education, China's primary and secondary education resources are abundant, but the talents for early childhood education are scarce, the number of teachers is insufficient, the number of kindergartens is not enough, and the number of social workers, especially the highly professional It's not enough. Talent training must not only maintain the stock, but also increase it. The most effective increment is actually the community, community residents, community volunteers, community parents, and full-time moms in the community ... if they have a certain Professional skills will be a very large and powerful talent team. In the implementation of the promotion plan, we have continuously explored how to develop professional talents in the field of professional community children's work, with children's professional institutions such as China Children's Center, and institutions with social work majors such as East China University of Science and Technology. A series of cooperation was developed to develop a team of professionals.

The fourth is the innovation of the operating mode of non-profit organizations. We encourage more non-profit organizations to develop their own ability to create blood, and they can still maintain the social goals without changing donations and government purchase services. For this purpose, we have borrowed business models for the development of child-friendly communities, encouraged social organizations to use professional services, combined unpaid and paid service models, and cultivated the ability of social organizations to circulate and develop sustainably. The promotion plan has been implemented for more than a year. Although not a long time, thanks to the precipitation of the previous billion future projects, we have made many breakthroughs in this area.

Reporter: What is the significance of the "Child-Friendly Community Construction Guide" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guide"), which will be formally released by the Working Committee, to the child-friendly community promotion plan in China? 

Zhou Weiyan: The "Guide" is of great significance to the child-friendly community promotion plan, because the construction of child-friendly communities is still at the stage of trial and error. After the official release of the "Guide", it will allow everyone to The concept has a clearer understanding and provides a relatively clear direction of work to help all staff, institutions and departments who want to engage in child-friendly community construction better grasp the working principles, while focusing on three aspects: policy-friendly, space-friendly, and service-friendly , Provides a highly operable work reference basis, the "Guide" is not only a guide to the direction of work, but also a heuristic document to provide specific work methods. 

Reporter: Excuse me, why did the Guide choose the three criteria of "policy-friendly", "space-friendly" and "service-friendly" to guide the construction of child-friendly communities? 

Zhou Weiyan: The reason for choosing policy-friendly is very clear, because the concept of child-friendly community does not belong to any society, any foundation, any legal entity, it is a public enterprise. Therefore, if the child-friendly community project is to be implemented, the first step is to get the government's participation and cooperation, and it must get the approval of the local grass-roots government.

We develop inclusive child services through child-friendly communities. The focus is on services. After receiving government policy support, the next consideration is where to provide services, what services to provide, to define the space of services, The content of the service, the attributes and characteristics of the service, the importance of space-friendly and service-friendly nature naturally emerges.

Reporter: The "Guide" is about to be officially released. The child-friendly community in Meilong Town, Shanghai, built in accordance with the "Guide" is the first national demonstration site for the child-friendly community promotion plan. Why did you choose Meilong Town as the first demonstration site? Where? 

Zhou Weiyan: The Meilong Town Demonstration Point Project is currently in the process of preparation and planning. It will start comprehensive construction next year. The reason why Shanghai Meilong Town was chosen as the first demonstration point is that The "Guide" talked about: policy-friendly, that is, the local government's understanding and support and participation is first. The construction of child-friendly communities does not belong to any associations, institutions, and interest groups. It belongs to the public utilities. Shanghai Meilong Town Government The determination and participation in this cause are great; at the same time, the level of social development and community governance in Shanghai is very high, and there are many professional social organizations and executive teams; many universities in Shanghai can provide rich academic resources and experts Resources; Shanghai also plans to build a "public welfare city" by 2020, taking into account the strong support of local governments, a good urban background, suitable policy orientation, a large number of mature social organizations, and the ability to form outstanding expert teams. After many favorable conditions, we decided to implement a pilot project that truly meets the characteristics of child-friendly communities. In Meilong Town, Shanghai.

Reporter: As a child-friendly community's first step in conceiving an entity, what role did the children-friendly community demonstration site in Meilong Town play in promoting the child-friendly community promotion plan, and will it have a landmark significance? If the demonstration sites are effective in the future, will there be a replicable model for promotion across the country? 

Zhou Weiyan: I think the demonstration point is indeed milestone. As the first step of the child-friendly community from the idea of the entity, this step will cause a series of chain reactions: as long as the first pilot, we have A model of a slowly growing and viable child-friendly community. People who want to learn about child-friendly communities across the country can regard this as a "living" school. Come and learn at any time. Based on your own needs, you can get what you want. Experience in child-friendly communities in their own cities and communities, and the experience of these experiments can be fed back to the demonstration sites, forming a situation of point-to-face, mutual inspiration, and common progress. I have repeatedly emphasized that child-friendly communities are a public undertaking and belong to the whole society and 280 million children nationwide. Only by making the first demonstration point can we better motivate the whole society to pay attention to the topic of child-friendly communities. Think about how to protect children's rights and improve children's well-being from all angles, especially to provide a test field for the promotion of children's public welfare.

Whether it can form a model that can be replicated is still not guaranteed. After all, whether a child-friendly community project can be implemented depends on the local government's attention and participation. It depends on whether the local government regards child-friendly communities as an effective task in society and community governance. Grab. But the demonstration site can provide a reference “coordinates”, a visualized finished product, and a “changing and upgrading” for local governments, social organizations, and business organizations who are interested in the cause of child-friendly communities. Works ". At present, many towns, streets, social organizations and institutions across the country want to participate in the construction of child-friendly communities. We have always maintained good interaction with them. It is better to teach people to fish than to teach them. In the future, not only It is our current team that is advancing. The social organizations we have hatched, the communication platforms we have established, and the talent team we have cultivated. Even the head of the town government of the Meilong Town Demonstration Point Project can become a child in the future. The Friendly Community Promotion Program promotes the pilot construction of child-friendly communities, promotes this cause from different perspectives, and attracts more like-minded partners.

Reporter: From the child-friendly community promotion plan co-sponsored by the China Children and Teenagers Fund last year, to the development of the Guide this year, and the construction of child-friendly community demonstration sites, the work committee has been solid and efficient for one year. We have witnessed the whole process from the concept of the child-friendly community to the actual landing. How do you continue to use this work platform to explore the innovative practice of child-friendly community work? 

Zhou Weiyan: Now the work of the working committee has been fully carried out, and a professional team has also been formed. My personal work is mainly to grasp the overall work direction. Now the ecological circle for the construction of child-friendly communities has begun to take shape. In addition to the working committee itself, local More and more partners (including local governments and social organizations and institutions that want to develop child-friendly communities), foundations, and universities have begun to participate. I think the working committee should have a bigger mind. It should not only consider how our family will do it, but also how everyone will do it in the future. It should brainstorm with the alliance partners in the ecosystem to form a joint force to jointly promote the cause of child-friendly communities and let more people. Focus on this cause.

Reporter: As a pioneer and practitioner of child-friendly community construction, please predict the development trend of child-friendly communities. 

Zhou Weiyan: First of all, the topic of child-friendly communities will become more and more hot, and everyone will gradually agree that child-friendly communities are an excellent idea and a big concept, and it will take a long time to implement various models. Trial and error and groping.

Second, in the field of child-friendly communities in the future, both the public welfare and commercial sectors will appear, showing different operating modes. The development of child-friendly communities is not only the need for the development of social undertakings and public welfare undertakings, but the market demand is also great. I am a mother myself, and I do n’t think my children have the necessary support and services in the community, they do n’t have enough contact with the community, and they have very little contact with the community. From the perspective of a parent, the existing services are not enough, and they are willing to purchase services for their children. Therefore, the emergence of commercial child-friendly community services is inevitable, and many commercial organizations will also participate in it. Bad thing.

Third, child-friendly communities need a long way to truly develop. At present, the most important thing is the change of consciousness and the changes in the concepts and thinking modes related to children's work. The attention of the whole society on the perspective of children needs to be strengthened. . Our country is large and faces many pressures. At the national level, we are currently focusing on vulnerable children groups such as left-behind children and children in distress. We mainly provide child-filling services, but the lack of inclusive child-services at the community level also exists. In my opinion, promoting the development of child-friendly communities with civilian or market forces is only a stage. With the promotion of the concept of child-friendly, it will eventually come down to the top from a large policy level to make child-friendly construction. The cause of the community has been greatly developed. 

· This article is reproduced from "Community World-Child Friendly Community Special 3" 

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