KATHMANDU, AUGUST 5

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration has developed necessary resources and materials to facilitate the implementation of child-friendly local governance so as to ensure that children's rights are protected and promoted at the grassroots level.

The MoFAGA said resource materials were developed inline with the existing Child-friendly Local Governance Implementation Guideline.

The core basis of the guideline revolves around four aspects of children's rights - save the child, child protection, child development and child participation - to address various legal and policy provisions enshrined in the Constitution, Children Act, Criminal and Civil Code Act, Local Government Operation Act, Fifteen Plan, Child Labour(Prohibition and Regulation) Act and various national and international instruments related to children.

The MoFAGA said the resource materials would help declare all 753 local levels 'child-friendly zone' by 2030 and adopt strategies like mainstreaming, policy advocacy and awareness, institutional development, capacity development, promotion of collaboration and partnership, community mobilisation, social accountability and transparency, equitable programmes, behaviour change and monitoring and evaluation, among others.

The government has set various indicators for the local level to be eligible to be declared as a child-friendly zone. Some of them include prenatal and postpartum care of women, access to anti-tetanus vaccine and iron pills for pregnant women, exclusive breastfeeding for six months, full immunisation of children, ARV prophyaixis for children born from HIV-infected mothers, use of iodised salt, significant drop in the number of stunted and underweight children, end of acute malnutrition, access to basic drinking water to all households, use of toilet by each household, among others.

Similarly, the local levels should ensure birth registration of children below five years, end worst form of child labour, reduce cases of child marriage to zero, reduce cases of violence against children and trafficking, establish community-based child protection network, eliminate social practices like chhaupadi and kamlari, rescue street-dependent children, make the school free of corporal punishment, reduce dropout rate, equip schools with necessary infrastructure and form child clubs.

The government aims to mainstream the issues of children into governance and improve indicators of health sector, guarantee fundamental rights of children and help maintain coordination among government agencies. It is mandatory for each local level to spend certain amount for construction and management of child-friendly infrastructure out of the budget allocated for children.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 6, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.