KUCHING: Sarawak has got going on the Child Friendly Cities Initiatives (CFCI) in response to the challenge of realising the rights of children in an increasingly urbanised and decentralised world.
According to Women, Early Childhood and Community Well-being Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah the Unicef Child Friendly Cities: East Asia – Europe Interregional Exchange programme held from Sept 4 to 9 has given the ministry invaluable insights on the course of actions and approaches to setting up CFCI Sarawak.
She added that the guiding principles of building a child friendly city mirror the overarching principles of the convention, that are non-discrimination; best interests of the child; the inherent right to life, survival, and development; and respect for the views of the child.
“Therefore, during our first CFCI Sarawak’s meeting here, we brainstormed on our approach, strategies, and focus areas to achieve our goals and results under the CFCI.
“One approach is for us to set up CFCI Sarawak, with a central agency to provide the coordination and stewardship for an integrated, comprehensive, balanced, coordinated, and evidenced-based child friendly cities initiatives for Sarawak,” she said.
She said this during the CFCI & Way Forward Implementation Meeting at Baitulmakmur Building II here Tuesday.
She believed that through a coordinated governance, the CFCI Sarawak could be able to drive effective strategies that include collecting data and monitoring progress; advocacy and awareness-raising; child friendly laws and policies; local development plan; budgeting; coordination and partnerships; and children and young people participation.
Moreover, she stated that good practices and lived experiences shared at the exchange in Madrid and Helsinki suggest that participation of children and young people is a critical success factor.
“We will start by setting up children or young people councils or commissions for Sarawak to facilitate their participation and respect for their views.
“We need to view children and young people’s participation as a fundamental right that lies at the heart of building a child-friendly city or community.”
Fatimah also pointed out that children’s active engagement is essential to reflect and address their concerns, ideas and priorities in the policies, services and facilities that are used or that affect them.
Having that in mind, she said children can be involved in many ways.
“It could be through informal mechanisms, such as social media, surveys, petitions, focus groups, youth groups or local meetings, or through more formal systems, such as children councils.
“One recommendation is to set up our own Majlis Perwakilan Kanak-kanak Sarawak (MPPKS).
“Regardless of the format, our participatory mechanisms must be age-appropriate, ethical and adhere to basic quality standards and accessible to all children including the most marginalised,” she said.
