Mozambique

[Past initiative]

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

The initiative is led by UNICEF in collaboration with ANAMM (National Association of Municipalities of Mozambique) and the technical collaboration of two municipalities in Italy (Milan and Reggio Emilia) as well as the support of UN-Habitat on some activities.

The overall goal of the initiative is to support municipalities in developing local policies that promote the wellbeing of all citizens, especially children. 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, developing and implementing an action plan, and assessing the results.

To strengthen the sustainability of the initiative and reinforce the message that children should be a policy priority, each action plan is designed with the existing resources (financial, human, institutional) in mind. Suggested actions are defined in a Methodological Guide.

At the end of the project cycle, the participating municipalities are assessed 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.