On December 4, 2021, the Guangzhou Women’s Federation held an event at Guangzhou Children’s Park titled “Building a Child-Friendly City—Establishment of the Guangzhou ‘Little Feet’ Family Volunteer Service Team and Release of Public Mother-Infant Room Construction Achievements.”

The event began with the release of the “2016-2021 Guangzhou Public Mother-Infant Room Construction Achievements,” highlighting the progress and accomplishments made in building mother-infant rooms across public spaces in Guangzhou over the past few years.

Li Yanlin, Vice Chairwoman of the Guangzhou Women’s Federation, noted that Guangzhou is the first city in the country to implement the “Three-Year Action Plan for the Construction of Mother-Infant Rooms,” introduce the “Regulations on Promoting Breastfeeding,” and achieve full coverage of mother-infant rooms in key public areas. Currently, more than 1,300 mother-infant rooms have been established across the city. Today, these warm and welcoming facilities can be found in parks, subways, train stations, airports, shopping malls, hospitals, and even government service centers.

Since the second half of 2016, the Breastfeeding Support Volunteer Team has been actively involved in the Guangzhou Women’s Federation’s initiative to build mother-infant rooms in public areas. As a third-party public welfare organization, they participated in setting standards for these facilities, developed service management and supervision guidelines, and formed China’s first volunteer team dedicated to monitoring public mother-infant rooms. They regularly submit evaluation reports to the Women’s Federation, providing key insights for the government and offering guidance to other cities on constructing and managing these facilities.

To further the development of a child-friendly city, the Breastfeeding Support Volunteer Team launched the “Little Feet” Family Volunteer Service Team during the event. By having children engage in activities like daily “Little Feet” check-ins, step measurement, and firsthand experiences, the team uses the children as “Little Loudspeakers” to explore and share Guangzhou’s achievements in building a child-friendly city. Through their observations, children identify real needs and act as “Little Hosts,” contributing suggestions and ideas to ensure that Guangzhou’s child-friendly city initiative takes root, grows, and flourishes.

As early as 1996, Guangzhou launched the “Little Mayor of Guangzhou” initiative, pioneering children’s participation in urban development. The first “Little Mayor,” Su Yun, shared her handwritten notes from 25 years ago, which contained suggestions for the city of Guangzhou, and told stories from her generation. Back then, in an effort to reduce carbon emissions from vehicles, she and her teacher stood on an overpass counting passing cars and observing whether their emissions were white, black, or yellow.

Today, many of the suggestions from the Little Mayors have become reality, and Su Yun’s own children have now joined Guangzhou’s “Little Feet” Family Volunteer Service Team.

The event celebrating the launch of the “Little Feet” Family Volunteer Service Team featured various young participants, including 5-year-old Zhang Shenyu, from one of the “Top 10 Civilized Families of Guangzhou 2021,” Congcong, a 9-year-old who has evaluated public mother-infant rooms for three consecutive years, Luna, a child from a long-term foreign resident family in Guangzhou, and Cai Xianyou, a child with a disability who uses a wheelchair. During the event, Cai Xianyou suggested, “In the future, buses could have a motorized device that would allow me to operate it myself, without needing to trouble the bus driver!” This thoughtful suggestion resonated with many in attendance.

At the same time, the young volunteers collectively launched the “Little Feet Popcorn Index,” a measure of Guangzhou’s child-friendliness. Organized and evaluated by the children themselves, this “Popcorn Index” will track the progress of the child-friendly city initiative, showcasing Guangzhou’s strengths and areas for improvement through the eyes of its youngest residents. By voicing their opinions through this “index,” the children can applaud the city’s child-friendly features and provide constructive ideas for enhancing its environment.

The inaugural activity for the “Little Feet” Family Volunteer Service Team in Guangzhou, led by senior volunteers from the Breastfeeding Support Team, involved the young volunteers conducting a comprehensive assessment of the mother-infant room at Guangzhou Children’s Park. They based their evaluation on the “Regulations on Promoting Breastfeeding in Guangzhou,” resulting in their first “Popcorn Index” score.

The aim of this event is to mobilize families across the city to participate in the creation of a child-friendly Guangzhou. To achieve this, the Guangzhou Women’s Federation has called on all families—adults and children alike—to take part, making the city more child-friendly and creating a brighter future for Guangzhou. Volunteer work reflects both the warmth and the strength of a city.