April 8, 2025 – Bashiru Turay, a Knowledge Fellow in the 2024 cohort, completed his project titled Young Children in Cities’ Climate Action Plans: An Examination of Plans from 12 Cities Projected to be Most Populated by 2100. This report aimed to assess how cities planned for children in light of climate change, with a focus on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), early environmental and climate change education, food security, nutrition, and healthy early childhood development (ECD). This study focuses on children aged 0 to 17, with an emphasis on those in the ECD stage of 0 to 8.
This report used a systematic review methodology, following the ready materials, extract data, analyze, and distil (READ) approach and thematic analysis, supported by MAXQDA software. The following cities’ plans were examined: Addis Ababa, Bengaluru, Dar es Salaam, Dhaka, Dakar, Khartoum, Lagos, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Nairobi, New York, and Tokyo.
The plans reviewed overall show they lack consideration of young children’s needs. Education for children was what was more often included, which was seen in the plans of five of the twelve cities. Food security and nutritional needs were not considered in any plans. Only Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro put WASH plans in place that referenced children specifically. These findings clearly indicate a planning gap that can limit the implementation of child-focused, climate-resilient city development. The report contains recommendations for city authorities should collaborate with ECD professionals to provide child-sensitive expertise throughout the planning process to address this gap.