Mozambique

The Sustainable Child Friendly Cities Initiative (Cidades Sustentáveis Amigas das Crianças) in Mozambique was launched in June 2017 in seven municipalities: Maganja da Costa, Manjacaze, Maputo (capital city), Montepuez, Quelimane,, Ribaué and Pemba.

The initiative is run by a coordinating group that includes UNICEF, UN-Habitat and ANAMM (National Association of Municipalities of Mozambique) and two municipalities in Italy (Milan and Reggio Emilia).

The overall goal of the initiative is to support municipalities in developing local policies that promote the wellbeing of all its citizens, especially children, as well as develop communities. The initiative also aims to strengthen the understanding and recognition of child rights in the organizational culture of municipalities and other entities responsible for the wellbeing of children.

The initiative has three focus areas: 1) early childhood education, 2) nutrition, and 3) participation and governance. It supports municipalities in identifying what needs to be done within each of these focus areas to improve the wellbeing of children and helps them develop an action plan to do this, keeping in mind the local context and resources of each municipality. Suggested actions are defined in a methodological guide.

At the end of the project cycle, the participating municipalities are evaluated on progress made against criteria defined in the action plan. This includes:

• A social impact assessment, carried out by UNICEF, that measures whether progress has been made in each of the three focus areas.
• An evaluation looking at the degree to which strategic actions related to public policies and social participation have been implemented.

Municipalities that implement a minimum of two actions under each of the three focus areas are recognized as Sustainable Child Friendly Cities.

The current project cycle will run until August 2018.