Vice Chairman of the Da Nang People’s Committee Le Trung Chinh addresses the workshop on January 16 (Photo: VNA) Da Nang (VNA) – A workshop was heldin Da Nang on January 16 to discuss the roadmap for building the centrallocality of Vietnam into a child-friendly city in the future.
It was attended by representatives of theDepartment of Child Affairs at the Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and SocialAffairs; the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UNWomen); World Bank; and Vietnamese and foreign non-profit organisations.
The Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI),launched in 1996 by UNICEF, has been carried out in 31 countries to addresschallenges to the implementation of children’s rights. It promotes relevantsides’ efforts to build child-friendly communities.
Da Nang authorities reported that with theassistance of international organisations, the city has invested resources inchild affairs. With all communes, wards, and districts in Da Nang now assignedworkers in charge of child affairs, there is a total of 1,000 child carecoordinators across the city. All local schools have student support teams. Thecity has also provided monthly financial aid for nearly 2,000 children withdisadvantages.
However, it also admitted that child supportservices remain modest, and the number of underprivileged children and those atrisk of suffering from disadvantages is on the rise. Meanwhile, violence in schools,child neglect, and problems in ensuring safety for children in cyber spacestill persist.
Vice Chairman of the municipal People’sCommittee Le Trung Chinh said Da Nang will push ahead with programmes andaction plans to turn it into a child-friendly city recognised by UNICEF.
It hopes to receive assistance frominternational organisations to attract resources and the participation ofrelevant sides to this work, he noted, adding that the city will work closerwith UNICEF to build a cooperation framework, with the CFCI serving as thebasis for the following steps.
Lesley Miller, UNICEF Acting Representative inVietnam, spoke highly of what Da Nang has attained in child care, voicing herhope that the city will continue realising the child-friendly city criteria,while implementing its sustainable development strategy in the time ahead. –VNA
VNA
