‘Estimat diari’, a virtual space for children to express themselves

Barcelona has launched a new website offering children’s perspectives on the current days spent at home. The new initiative encourages youngsters to collectively build a city diary based on their creations, the idea being to gather children’s points of view during the Covid-19 crisis.

30/03/2020 17:49 h

Ajuntament de Barcelona

‘Estimat diari’ is a creative tool which enables creative expressions of all types to be shared, from poems to stories, reflections, paintings, sculptures and visuals. The initiative has been conceived as a large blank page: children can join in by drawing something there directly or posting a photo of an artistic or literary piece they’ve created.

The space will also include different questions for children to use as a guide for reflection, to explore everyday aspects, emotions, how we look after ourselves, our friends and neighbours, what we’re learning, our grandparents, death and illness, streets and neighbourhoods or how we see the future.

Children’s parents or legal guardians must register on the site to enable youngsters to publish their creations. They are also responsible for making sure that people appearing in photos cannot be identified, that no personal data is included and that all content is respectful towards others, with no insults, disparagement or opinions which are not related to the topic.

Testimony of a collective experience

Once the confinement period ends, the pieces of work from this collective diary will be treated as material documenting part of the city’s memory. Depending on the material, various formats will be used to display it in public spaces or as part of cultural programmes in the city.

Child-friendly city

There are 245,000 children and teenagers in Barcelona, who between them live with a total of 380,000 adults. That means four out of ten city residents are currently confined at home with children or see things through children’s eyes. Recognised by UNICEF as a child-friendly city, Barcelona has set out its municipal commitment to continue putting children’s rights at the heart of its policies, recognising them and helping them to be active citizens.

Support initiatives

‘Estimat diari’ comes in addition to other initiatives started in recent days, such as the website for people to share home initiatives, ‘Barcelona des de casa’, extra emotional support in relation to the negative effects of confinement and other support helplines for the general public. These include specific services for young children and teenagers, with the municipal initiatives ‘Aquí t’escoltem’ and Konsulta’m being bolstered.