“Children Innovate” project won UNICEF CFCI Inspire Award October 17, 2019
Arkki’s project in Vietnam won the UNICEF CFCI 2019 Inspire Award in the category “Meaningful Child Participation”. Children Innovate project was one of the 6 chosen initiatives out of 226 social innovation projects submitted worldwide. 300 children participated in an urban planning project carried out with Arkki Vietnam, in collaboration with Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Architecture and Saigon Innovation Hub (part of HCMC Department of Science & Technology).
From 226 submissions from all over the world, the project “Children Innovate” successfully became a Category Champion of “Meaningful Child Participation” – and was honored in CFCI Inspire Awards at the Unicef Child-Friendly Cities Summit in Cologne, Germany on 17th October 2019. The project was reviewed by 25 experts and voted by the worldwide community to rank first in the category of Meaningful Child Participation.
“With this program, UNICEF is proud to demonstrate the importance of children’s participation and their ability to inform us, adults, what a smart and child-friendly city could look like when children are encouraged to express themselves,” Ms. Marianne Oehlers, Chief of Programme Partnerships Office UNICEF Viet Nam.
“Children Innovate” was a participation program co-organized by Arkki Finland, Arkki Vietnam, UNICEF Vietnam, Saigon Innovation Hub, and the Department of Planning and Architecture of Ho Chi Minh City. The aim of the project was to provide children with knowledge and understanding about urban planning as well as tools to express their ideas. The aim was also to promote more inclusive and participatory decision making and planning processes.
“We highly appreciate this program, as it has educated on space awareness and urban planning, and supports children to experience the role and responsibility of urban planning experts through drawing and the model’ development. This creative and educational program is suitable for the Ho Chi Minh City context and should be replicated in other urban settings in Viet Nam” Mr. Nguyen Hong Van, Chief of Office, HCM City’s Department of Planning and Architecture.
In the summer of 2018, 300 young people between ages 8-14 joined the 5-day summer courses with the guidance from Arkki teachers, to work in a collaboration project developing ideas, making 3D prototypes & 3D designs for a VR -Virtual Reality-platform. The participants then presented their ideas of the smart & child-friendly city model to city leaders and the public. The enthusiastic presentation of the team of Vietnamese children demonstrated their creativity and deep understanding of global problems. This achievement reminds us that children have huge potential.
“This is an amazing project for children. It gives the participating children an important experience and understanding of a real-world design process, a unique experience of involvement, and inspires them to look at the built environment in a new way.” Ms. Pihla Meskanen, CEO of Arkki International.
Arkki and its partners in Southeast Asia continue to expand the program and provide further opportunities for children to have their voices heard and implement their innovative and sustainable ideas for new products, services, schools, and cities
Elena Pinero Martinez| Head of Marketing and Communications of Arkki International Ltd.
elena@arkki.net / +358456460300 / Kalevankatu 31 a 14, 00100 Helsinki
CFCI Inspire Awards – (Child-friendly City Initiatives Inspire Awards): The CFCI Inspire Awards celebrate good, innovative and inspiring solutions or projects that foster child rights at the local level and improve the daily lives of children and young people in the cities and communities where they live. All entries submitted to the CFCI Inspire Awards 2019 will be globally published in an electronic booklet. The winning cities will be additionally featured in a dedicated article on the global CFCI website.
Creating the Future III International conference, Helsinki 10-11.11.2019
Arkki, School of Architecture for Children and Youth in Finland and Arkki International organize in collaboration with Archinfo, Architecture Information Centre Finland the 3rd edition of the international conference Creating the Future in Helsinki. The conference is organized every five years. Previous editions were celebrated in 2009 and 2014 and gathered hundreds of experts and participants around the world. Creating the Future III is the leading event on Creative education via Architecture and design and will bring together international experts in the sector for two days with a program that will include workshops, lectures, keynote speeches and talks.
For more information please contact:
Elena Pinero Martinez| Head of Marketing and Communications of Arkki International Ltd.
elena@arkki.net / +358456460300 / Kalevankatu 31 a 14, 00100 Helsinki
PRESS PICTURES AND VIDEOS
Video: Arkki Children Innovate CFCI video https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cQV34yUtVvUn9D_RnZjYPNHmLoBRsvDv/view?usp=sharing–
Pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nUfvbnObJRWLKKJzaHNlE_mOLxiy6Awi?usp=sharing
