The stakeholders of children stressed the importance of promoting the Child Friendly Local Governance (CFLG) agenda in the country for attaining the goals of child rights, in the National Consultation on progress, challenges, and way forward on CFLG, conducted at Kathmandu on 12 September 2022. The program was jointly organized by National Child Friendly Local Governance Forum (NCFLGF) and Jagriti Child and Youth Concern Nepal (Jcycn) with the support of World Vision International Nepal, and presence of 70 participants representing various government bodies, development partners, Civil Society Organizations, Campaigners, Child Club members/ graduates, and so on.
Nepal ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child on September 14, 1990, and celebrates National Children’s Day on 14 September every year, commemorating the day of the formal initiation of the child rights campaign in the country. This year, National Children’s Day is going to be celebrated nationwide with the slogan ” The foundation of Child-Friendly Society is the responsible family, Accountable Government”, which has escalated the importance of the CFLG framework for the realization of child rights in the country. The program was organized to bring the agenda of CFLG to the limelight, and pave the way forward by discussing the current situation, progress, and constraints.
The program was chaired by Mr. Tilottam Paudel, Coordinator of the Forum and president of Jcycn, and hosted by Mr. Haribol Acharya, member of the Forum.
Mr. Gauri Pradhan, former Commissioner, and Spokesperson of the National Human Rights Commission emphasized that a safe environment for children is comfortable for all age groups, but an environment focused on other age groups is not suitable for children, with which it is necessary to increase investment on children.
Mr. Krishna Thapa, Under Secretary of the Child Protection and Development section of the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens, Mr. Reshmi Raj Pandey, former Secretary of Nepal Government, Dr. Devaki Acharya from the National Child Rights Council, Mr. Milan Raj Dharel, former Executive Director of the National Child Rights Council, Ms. Benu Maya Gurung, chairperson of National Action and Coordination Group, Mr. Anubhav Adhikari, People and Culture Coordinator of World Vision International Nepal. Toya Nath Subedi, representative of UNICEF, and Regina Gharti Magar, vice president of Jagriti Child club representing the children in the program, stressed the importance of intervening in making the CFLG campaign effective and accountable and provided a commitment to enhancing their involvement in the campaign.
Prakash Khadka, National Director, Justice Venture International emphasized the need of CFLG for tackling sensitive issues like trafficking, abuse, unsafe migration and so on. Mr. Khil Nath Niraula of Forum for Human Rights and Environment said that CFLG is a cross-cutting agenda and core of the child rights campaign.
In the program, the Under Secretary of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, Mr. Resham Kadel and Mr. Janak Raj Sharma, respectively provided a presentation on the concept of CFLG and the state of implementation of the Child-Friendly Local Government Implementation Guideline and Declaration Procedure and expressed their commitment on behalf of the Ministry to intervene effectively to promote the Child-Friendly Campaign.