Malaysia
Child Friendly Cities Initiative
UNICEF Malaysia started advocating for CFCI in 2018 and the initiative has gained a strong momentum in the past few years. Petaling Jaya was the first city in Malaysia to adopt the CFCI, and became the first Malaysian city to achieve the Candidate City status in 2022.
In October 2023, Petaling Jaya was recognized as the first UNICEF Child Friendly City in Malaysia. CFCI Memorandum of Understanding were signed with Miri, Kuching South and Kuching North, Sibu and Padawan. Other 24 local councils have announced their interest and commitment to CFCI.
UNICEF Malaysia recognizes CFCI as a framework for building partnerships between local governments, the private sector, civil society organizations and communities. CFCI offers an inclusive and comprehensive approach by using a proven methodology to identify and describe the challenges that involve all segments of the community. CFCI is also seen as a catalytic entry point in the following three key areas: data and evidence generation at sub-national level, supporting UNICEF’s fund raising and strengthen social policy advocacy. Moreover, the CFCI recognition can show the local authority’s extra commitment to social wellbeing and participatory governance.
CFCI was included in Malaysia’s Programme Strategy Note (PSN) 2022-2025, where it is stated that through the CFCI and in collaboration with wider UN engagements on sustainable urban planning and development, UNICEF will work with the Ministry of Federal Territories, the Ministry of Local Government & Housing, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and selected states and municipal authorities to strengthen the positioning of child outcomes within local government plans and budgets; to generate evidence and promote dialogue on appropriate institutional arrangements and capacity requirements for local level implementation of disability inclusive and gender transformative child friendly plans and budgets; provide feedback and advice to national authorities on policy implementation bottlenecks and increase effectiveness of policy reforms for children.
Press release: Petaling Jaya is First UNICEF Child Friendly City in Malaysia
COUNTRY FACTS
Population: 32,651.600
Pop. under 18: 9,191.400
CONTACT
Juanita VASQUEZ ESCALLON, Chief of Social Policy
UNICEF Malaysia
Level 10, Menara PJH, No. 2, Jalan Tun Abdul Razak, Precinct 2, 62100, Putrajaya, Malaysia
jvasquezescallon@unicef.org
LINKS
RESOURCES
List of child friendly cities in Malaysia
1 recognized Child Friendly City
- Petaling Jaya
5 cities with memorandum of understanding
- Miri
- Kuching South
- Kuching North
- Sibu
- Padawan