Menu Close

The Latin American network

The Latin American Network "La ciudad de niñas y de los niños" was born in Santa Fe, Argentina, in May 2009.

That year, the province of Santa Fe, at the behest of Governor Hermes Binner, opened a Latin American Laboratory of the project "City of Children" which, using the skills developed within the Rosario experience, promoted knowledge of the contents and the development of the project in the cities of the Province of Santa Fe, as well as in other Argentine cities and in some cities of the Latin American states.

Currently the network consists of 40 cities and 15 institutions from 8 Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and soon also Costa Rica, and is in a situation of growth and of planning new strategies for the functioning of provincial and local networks.

Between the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, the locality of Boyá (Dominican Republic) joined the Network, Jundiaí (Brasil), Colón and Salta (Argentina).  The Province of Neuquén in the Patagonia of Argentina and that of Lima in Peru have also joined.

In the last few years, the following institutions have joined the: the University of Comahue in Neuquén, the University of Belgrano and that of Buenos Aires, the Office for the defence of children in the city of La Plata, the School "Al aire libre" of La Plata, the Association "Arquitectitos" of Buenos Aires, the Children's Hospital-Company in Lima, and the Museum of Modern Art of Buenos Aires.

An Argentine commission was set up (a country with the largest number of cities and which has the leadership of the project in the Latin American region) made up of people who are particularly active and involved in the project, which provides guidelines for organising and conducting network meetings Argentine.

The first meeting of the Argentine network took place successfully in La Plata on 5 May.

During the assembly held in October 2018 at the Rosario meeting, it was decided that the city that will host the national network meeting during 2020 will be Neuquén, the same one that takes on the coordination of the Argentina Network.

The result of the first Argentine meeting was the production of a joint work plan involving all the cities of the network in the same activities during the year: Game Day, Children's night, Joke Day, etc.

Currently, both in Lima and in Neuquén, a new local network management scheme is being tested, in which:

  • the municipal or provincial government calls the interested parties (municipalities, universities, institutions) to develop the project proposals jointly to transform the cities with children's ideas;
  • an annual work plan is prepared, subject to monitoring and evaluation of network members;
  • the local network prepares a training programme using the resources of both the international laboratory and those of the Latin American network.

Future commitments

  • In 2020, Lima will host the third meeting of the Latin American Network.
  • In May 2020 there will be the second meeting of the Argentina Network in Neuquén.
  • It is possible that the City of Children project will start for the third quarter of 2019 in Costa Rica and in other cities of Mexico.
  • Membership of two other Brazilian cities and possible training programme in Brazil.
  • First reconnaissance and research on the experiences of the project in Lima and Neuquén.
  • Evaluation of local and provincial network work strategy with university support.

Useful Links

BUENOS AIRES (Argentina) - https://www.museomoderno.org/es/la-voz-de-la-infancia-en-la-ciudad

LIMA (Peru) - http://www.munlima.gob.pe/noticias/item/37560-mml-trabajara-por-las-ninas-y-los-ninos

JUNDIAÍ (Brazil) https://cultura.jundiai.sp.gov.br/2018/12/cidade-das-criancas-jundiai-e-pioneira-no-estado-a-aderir-ao-projeto/