A group of people at a conference table. — In addition to the city, several representatives of the third sector who work for children and young people participated in the initial survey of the current situation. The cooperation still continues.

UNICEF Finland approved Imatra's Child-Friendly Municipality action plan

The plan contains five goals and measures to achieve them.

If Imatra achieves the goals according to the plan, it will be granted the status of a child-friendly municipality. In general, recognition can be granted no earlier than about two years after the municipality has been accepted into the model.

After the recognition, the municipality will continue to develop child-friendliness according to the model together with UNICEF.

- Now the city has "officially" reached the fourth stage of the Child-friendly municipality model, and the implementation of the measures as a whole can begin. The fifth and final stage of the model is the Child-friendly municipality recognition, coordinator Kirsi Mäyrä says.

The coordination group decided on Imatra's goals based on the initial survey of the current state in December 2022

- Getting the final recognition requires all of us to commit to the jointly agreed goals and measures. It's not just about status, it's about remembering to take children's rights into account in all daily life, work and decision-making, acting as the chairman of the coordination group Arja Kujala from the city mentions.

The goals of Imatra's Child-friendly municipality model

the municipality's office holders, employees, trustees and key stakeholders have been familiarized with the rights of the child. The rights of the child are part of the municipality's orientation programs.
The municipality has clear guidelines in place to support the implementation and systematic implementation of child impact assessment (LAVA). The assessment of child effects is done together by a group of qualified professionals.
the municipality ensures that there is at least one safe adult in every child's life, whom the child can trust and who supports the child in growth and development.
services aimed at children prevent bullying and promote community. In addition, children's emotional and interaction skills are promoted in children's growth environments. This is the goal set by the children of Imatra in the plan.
in the planning of the urban environment, children's experiences and views are explored and taken into account. This is how it works in different stages of the process and in different planning tasks, such as land use planning and zoning and otherwise when planning public spaces.