The Child Friendly Cities Initiative was set up in 1999 with the aim of motivating adults in cities and communes so that the rights and needs of the children contained in the Convention on the Rights of the Child are fully realised. The City of Rijeka decided to join the Child Friendly Cities initiative in 2000, and five years later it gained the honorary title of the Child Friendly City. As the goals of the initiative include the exchange of experience about various programmes and projects aimed at child care, annual conferences are organised.

"The Child Friendly Cities Initiative does not exist so that a city or a commune may gain the title of child friendly communities, but to understand and listen to children and maximally meet their needs," said mayor Obersnel, emphasising that Rijeka proudly bears the title of the child friendly city, and that the city is also proud of the fact that in the kindergartens in Rijeka for a couple of decades already a programme of healthy nutrition has been in place.

Within the Conference a routable was held called "Healthy Nutrition from the Very Beginning", where the representatives of child friendly cities and communes presented programmes and projects tied to healthy and correct eating habits in children. On that occasion the guests were presented the systematic approach of the City in the promotion of good eating habits in children from the very beginning until the adult age, presenting the most significant programmes and projects supported by the City.
Moreover, the conference participants could see for themselves that healthy and tasty meals are eaten at the entity "Dječji vrtići" Rijeka, since they were served refreshments prepared by the kindergarten's kitchen.