Children in poverty under the spotlight at World Urban Forum

Children in cities – and in particular those living in poverty – has been a hot topic at this week’s World Urban Forum, the bi-annual United Nations gathering on urbanisation.

The Egyptian capital Cairo is hosting what is the 12th session of this event, which brings together global experts to discuss the key urban challenges facing society.

Co-organised by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the Government of Egypt, this year’s event has featured a dedicated section with particular relevance to the lives of young people in urban environments.

‘Safe, Inclusive and Sustainable cities for children’ tackled head-on some of the key challenges facing policymakers worldwide, most notably poverty and climate action.

Delegates heard that populations of children living in urban slum areas and informal settlements will likely triple by 2050, which will mean there will be anywhere between 1.2 billion and 1.5 billion children living in these densely populated and poor urban settings.

‘These children live in overcrowded neighbourhoods’

The proportion will range from a low of around 20 per cent in countries like Cambodia and Armenia, to over 90 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. These children live in overcrowded neighbourhoods and households with increased risk to injuries, with limited access to quality essential services. Even when such services are available, they may be unaffordable and inaccessible to poor urban children and families. These challenges are further exacerbated for some inhabitants, due to their gender, disability, refugee, or migrant status.

Children living in urban slums are often engaged in dangerous and exploitative work also increasing their risk to injury deaths and disabilities. Many urban families work in the informal economy, without access to social protection mechanisms. There are still gaps in ensuring effective reach and adequate design of cash transfer programmes to meet multiple vulnerabilities of children and families in urban slums and informal settlements.

Organisers of this year’s event say they hope to bring stakeholders together discuss the challenges faced by children living in slums, share data and ideas, and promote action toward building urban resilience.

The result of these discussions, they hope, will be a ‘call for action’, focusing on the mobilising of all concerned to commit to supporting urban resilience efforts in slums, particularly for children.

Click here for a special UN-produced video of this ‘Safe, Inclusive and Sustainable cities for children’, courtesy of UN Web TV.

Click here for more information on the World Urban Forum, and here to follow the latest debates on X from @WUF_UNHabitat.