THE United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently expressed appreciation for the role played by local government units in promoting the welfare of children.
This occurred during an interception workshop on “Building Community Resilience and Delivery of Essential Services for Post-Conflict Recovery in Lanao del Sur.”
During the workshop, the UN agency highlighted the crucial role that local actors within government play in promoting and safeguarding children’s rights.
They work alongside various organizations and other levels of government to ensure that the rights of children are not only protected but also promoted.
UNICEF Social Policy Specialist Lea Marasigan emphasized the importance of the local governance approach.
She explained that it is through this approach that the needs and priorities of every community are addressed. This, in turn, helps reduce poverty and improve the well-being of children.
Explaining further, Marasigan said, “Local governance approach can significantly contribute to reducing child poverty and enhancing children’s well-being.
If the service of the local government unit is good, its planning, the RHU, good nutrition services, child protection services will help develop the well-being of the children.”
Marasigan also shared one of the objectives of their project in Lanao del Sur.
They aim to promote child-friendly local governance, which will result in local government units becoming more responsive to the needs of children and their communities.
The project, set to run until 2025, targets not just the Provincial Government but also the 39 municipalities of the province and Marawi City.
UNICEF’s aspiration is that these areas will not only become child-friendly but will also maintain this status even after the project has ended.
“We want to really capacitate the province, the provincial stakeholders, provincial government, and eventually they will be able to sustain it and translate it to providing more robust, technical assistance to the city and the municipalities in Lanao del Sur,” Marasigan said.
All these efforts underscore UNICEF’s trust in local government units as indispensable partners in advancing children’s welfare.
The agency believes that by empowering these units and enhancing their capacity to deliver essential services, the well-being of children in their jurisdictions can be significantly improved.
This development is a testament to the importance of local governance in community development and child protection.
The UNICEF initiative underscores the potential for local government units to make a substantial difference in the lives of children under their care, especially in post-conflict recovery settings like Lanao del Sur.
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