Chandigarh
22 December 2018
DIVYA AZAD
Child friendly city initiative (CFCI) is a civil society movement for making Chandigarh more child friendly and also to make children aware of their rights in order to make them active partners in their own development. The logo of the initiative was launched by HE Sh. V. P. Singh Badnore, Governor of Punjab and Administrator of UT Chandigarh in March 2018.
The initiative has been currently functioning in Chandigarh successfully and the core areas selected are Education, Health, Safety, Play & leisure and Participation .These 5 goals are connected to Sustainable Development Goals embedded by United Nations Children’s Emergency Funds trying to help the children who live in difficult circumstances to find out the issues and also to solve them by themselves through children’s parliament modal which is again the part of Child Friendly City Initiative Chandigarh.
The methodology adopted for the initiative include
· Child coalition building and Capacity building
· Civil Society coalition building and Capacity building
· Health Camps
· Safety Nets for Children
· Caring Groups for Children
· Creating Platforms for children to raise issues of their concern in their own community to resolve their issues by collectively participating through children’s parliament .Children should realize their power and feel free to express their views whatsoever the issue would be.
Our motive is to bring various child rights driven agencies to one platform and to Encourage ,Empower and Equip children with right to education ,safety ,health ,participation and play & leisure so that these children would be good citizens in the future to help the community to grow healthy in all the above mentioned areas. Sensitization workshops for police and other personnel child protection agencies are being done so this initiative can be taken forward to many wards in Chandigarh.
Since it is a civil society movement its stakeholders play a vital role and these stakeholders will take this initiative forward. Children’s fare on the occasion of Christmas was organized by the stakeholders of Child friendly City Initiative at St. Stephen’s School. Objective behind this fare was to bring harmony,love and sense of brotherhood among children .Students from St.Stephen’s School,Chandigarh also took part in it along with the children from different centres of Don Bosco Navjeevan Society on behalf of child friendly city initiative. Fun games for children were organized by children themselves for their recreation along with this refreshment was also given to children which were sponsored by the Rotary Club, Chandigarh. Core committee team which is supporting the initiative for making Chandigarh child friendly was present at this occasion to support the children.
