Surya Binayak Municipality Launches Campaign to Declare Entire City Child-Friendly Local Governance

Bhaktapur. A campaign to declare Surya Binayak Municipality as child-friendly local governance has begun. Today, Surya Binayak Municipality Chief Basudev Thapa informed that the campaign to declare the entire municipality as child-friendly local governance has started today by declaring Suryabinayak-7 Gundhu as a child-friendly local governance ward and providing a certificate.

The municipality has started the campaign to declare each ward here as a child-friendly local governance ward after fulfilling the 51 indicators set by the 'Child-Friendly Local Governance Implementation Directive, 2078' prepared by the government, said Mayor Thapa.

Informing that the campaign to declare all 10 wards of the municipality as child-friendly local governance wards will be completed within this week, he mentioned that the municipality has formed child networks in each ward and fulfilled 51 indicators.

Mayor Thapa stated that after completing the declaration of all wards in Surya Binayak and completing the monitoring and inspection of Bagmati Province, the municipality will be declared as a child-friendly local governance municipality by next August.

Ravindra Sapkota, Chairman of the Social Development Committee of the municipality and Ward Chairman of Ward No. 7, said that Ward No. 7 Gundhu was declared a child-friendly local governance ward today and mentioned that various presentations were also made by children.

He informed that among the indicators required to declare this governance campaign, child marriage, child labor, and violence must be completely prohibited, and all children must have access to birth registration, school enrollment, and quality health services, which all wards must fulfill.

He informed that among the 14 indicators to be fulfilled under the title 'Save the Children', pregnant women must have had seven health check-ups, received tetanus vaccination and iron tablets, delivered safely by skilled health workers, and children must have received full immunization.

Sapkota, who is also the spokesperson of the municipality, said that among the 10 indicators for 'Child Protection', child marriage must be completely prohibited, the ward must be child labor-free, physical, mental, or sexual violence and abuse against children must be completely stopped, and provisions such as the protection and rehabilitation of street children or abandoned children must be met.

He said that all wards have also fulfilled the provisions regarding child development, which include birth registration for all newborn children, enrollment in school for all children of school age, provision of child-friendly and gender-friendly (separate for girls) toilets and clean drinking water in schools and communities, formation and active participation of child clubs and child networks at the ward, school, and community levels, and meaningful participation of children in the local level planning process.

Budget allocated for children, all offices being child-friendly and disability-friendly, and prioritizing the safety and needs of children in disaster management plans. At the program, Acting Chairperson of the District Coordination Committee Sujata Bade and Ward Chairman of Ward No. 2 Pradip Karki said that the municipality has fulfilled the government's campaign.

In the program, appreciation letters were presented to the ward child network, municipal child network, schools, health institutions, volunteers, drinking water committees, Red Cross, cooperative organizations, and cultural groups that supported the child-friendly local governance ward declaration campaign.

With progress of 95 to 100 percent in most of the indicators, the 10 wards of Surya Binayak have been formally declared as 'Child-Friendly Local Governance Wards'. Surya Binayak Municipality has started the declaration campaign by arranging a budget of Rs 1 crore at the rate of Rs 10 lakh for each ward and Rs 70 lakh for the municipality, totaling Rs 1 crore 70 lakh, from last year until now.