CFLG in 50 % local bodies by 2020

The government has said that the child-friendly local governance (CFLG) would be implemented in 50 per cent local bodies by 2020.

According to a plan formulated by the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD), the government aims at announcing at least 15 per cent of the local bodies as ‘child-friendly’ in coming four years.

“As per the CFLG expansion plan, the ministry has been planning to give priority to the child-friendly local bodies, including school and health facilities,” said joint-secretary of the MoFALD Reshmi Raj Pandey.

The government had introduced the concept of CFLG about a decade ago to encourage the local bodies to institutionalise child protection, child development and child participation in local level policy making, structure, system and behaviour.

Five local bodies – Siddeshwor VDC of Baitadi, Bhingri VDC of Pyuthan, Tettariya VDC and Biratnagar sub-metropolitan city of Morang and Sunawal municipality of Nawalparasi – have been declared child-friendly so far.

Pragatinagar VDC of Nawalparasi was the first local body to be declared as child-friendly but it has been merged with Devchuli municipality later.

Pipra Paschim VDC of Saptari is on the final stage of CFLG declaration.

It has written a letter to the MoFALD asking to declare the village as the child friendly since it had met most of the indices of the CFLG.

Secretary of the VDC Tek Bahadur Khadka said that the village would be declared as the ‘child-friendly’ within a couple of months.

Pandey informed that the CFLG has been implemented in 58 municipalities and 1,070 VDCs of 75 districts across the country.

CFLG is being implemented through the Local Governance and Community Development Programme (LGCDP) across the country.

According to the statistics of MoFALD, there are 22,457 Child Clubs and Child Club Networks in Nepal, and 431,960 children are associated in those clubs and networks.

“About 230,659 boys and 201,031 girls are united in the clubs and networks. Approximately 63,000 children participate in Ward Citizen Forum and 3,591 in Integrated Plan Formulation Committee,” said Pandey.

With the implementation of the CFLG, children have begun to represent in School Management Committee and Health Management Committee at the local level.

CFLG is dedicated for the policy making, budget allocation and investment for the children, listening to their demands and inclusion in various decision making platform at the local level and ensure child protection and promotion.

Local bodies should allocate 10 per cent of their development budget for children and those that are implementing CFLG should pledge 15 per cent budget for the same.

The government has included the CFLG in the 14^th periodic national plan.

It has authorised Rs. 105 million for CFLG implementation in the current fiscal year which is higher by Rs. 35 million than the previous fiscal.

The budget will be used in CFLG orientation training, child meeting, CFLG resource centre management, child labour minimization programme, capacity building of Child Club Network and monitoring and evaluation.