Surya Vinayak Municipality Declares Two Wards Child-Friendly

Bhaktapur. Under the campaign to declare Suryavinayak Municipality as child-friendly local governance, Suryavinayak Municipality-1 Sirutar and Ward No. 2 Balkot have been declared child-friendly local governance today.

Today, the Mayor of Suryavinayak Municipality, Basudev Thapa, declared Suryavinayak Municipality-1 Sirutar and Ward No. 2 Balkot as child-friendly local governance wards and provided certificates.

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

He said that the municipality has completed the campaign to declare all 10 wards of the municipality as child-friendly local governance wards by June 17, and that the municipality has succeeded in forming child networks in each ward and fulfilling the 51 indicators.

Ward Chairman of Ward No. 1, Rabindra Sapkota, said that Ward No. 1 Sirutar was declared child-friendly local governance today, and various presentations by children were also completed.

He said that all wards have fulfilled the provisions that child marriage, child labor, and violence must be completely prohibited among the indicators to be fulfilled, and that all children must have access to birth registration, school enrollment, and quality health services.

He said that the indicators to be fulfilled under the title 'Child Survival', such as pregnant women having had seven health check-ups, receiving tetanus vaccination and iron tablets, safe delivery by skilled health workers, and children being fully vaccinated, have been fulfilled.

In the declaration program of Ward No. 2, Ward Chairman of Ward No. 2, Pradip Karki, said that the 10 indicators of child protection, including complete prohibition of child marriage, being a child labor-free ward, complete cessation of physical, mental, or sexual violence and abuse against children, and protection and rehabilitation of street children or abandoned children, have been fulfilled.

Regarding child development, he said that all wards have fulfilled the provisions such as birth registration for all born children, school enrollment for all children of school-going age, child-friendly and gender-friendly (separate for girls) toilets and clean drinking water arrangements in schools and communities, meaningful participation of children in the local level's plan formulation process, and active child clubs and child networks formed at the neighborhood, school, and ward levels.

At the program, the Deputy Mayor of the municipality, Sarita Timsina Bhattarai, said that a targeted budget has been allocated for children, all offices have been made child-friendly and disability-friendly, and a budget has been allocated prioritizing the safety and needs of children in the disaster management plan.

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

Since most of the indicators have achieved 95 to 100 percent progress, all 10 wards of Surya Vinayak have been formally declared 'Child-Friendly Local Governance Wards'. Suryavinayak Municipality has started the declaration campaign by arranging a budget of 10 million rupees at the rate of 1 million rupees per ward and 7 million rupees from the municipality, totaling 17 million rupees, from last year to date.