HCM CITY — The HCM City Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and UNICEF Việt Nam yesterday launched a technical assistance programme called “Child Friendly City Initiative Project in HCM City for 2017-2021”.

The project will cost US$6.32 million, of which US$6.02 million will come from a non-refundable grant from UNICEF and the rest from the city.

Its goal is to make HCM City the first Child-friendly city in Việt Nam where each child gets a fair chance at a start in life and opportunities to live, thrive, develop and grow in a safe, responsive and resilient environment, according to Friday Nwaigwe, UNICEF Việt Nam’s head of Child Survival and Development.

Through the programme, the city joins a global community of more than 200 child-friendly cities in 52 countries across the world.

“The city will demonstrate good practices and interesting experiences with a dynamic and fast changing urban context to share with other cities in the global network," he said.

“It is valuable for the city to document interventions and lessons learnt along the project implementation for future sharing with other cities in Việt Nam and around the world.”

He reaffirmed the commitment of UNICEF to supporting HCM City in global networking, learning from and exchanging with other cities for effective implementation of the programme in HCM City and Việt Nam in general.

The programme focuses on guiding the participating cities and other systems of local governance in the inclusion of children’s rights in their policies, programmes and structures.

"In a child-friendly city, children and young people are active agents, their voices and opinions are taken into consideration," he said.

"They influence decision-making processes and take action in their communities to improve their situation."

According to Lê Minh Tấn, director of the municipal Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the city is the country’s economic hub with a population of more than 10 million people and children accounting for 26.5 per cent of the population.

Migrants with temporary residence permits account for 31.9 per cent of the population, posing a huge challenge to the city in providing basic services and social protection systems that guarantee a healthy, safe and secure environment for children to grow to their full potential.

The city is committed to implementing the project’s nine pillars, which include a child-friendly legal framework, a citywide children’s rights strategy, a children’s rights co-ordination mechanism, child impact assessment and evaluation, and communication and advocacy for children’s rights. —VNS