The Middle East and North Africa Child Protection Initiative
Report on the achievements of the period covering 1st December 2003 to 10th December 2004, and future plans
Presented to the 1st meeting of the CPI’s Advisory Committee,
held in Amman, 18th December 2004.
The following report aims to provide an introduction about the MENA CPI - the Middle East and North African Child Protection Initiative – and an account of its major activities and achievements since its launching in September, 2003. It also intends to define the broad outlines of the Initiative’s plans for the future, notably the year 2005.
Introduction:
The CPI was launched as a response by the Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI) and the World Bank to the “Amman Declaration” issued in the “Children and the City” conference, organized by the Arab Urban Development Institute, the Greater Amman Municipality and the World Bank, held in Amman in December 2002. The participants in this conference ranged from city mayors and presidents of city councils to representative of international organizations, experts, and researchers. Mayors and other senior officials affirmed their commitments to promote their of cities to the advantage and welfare of children. The “Amman Declaration” also called for the establishment of a regional fund to finance projects to be undertaken by municipalities to the advantage of promoting the welfare of children in Arab cities.
The interest of AUDI and the World Bank in promoting the welfare of children stems from their conviction that statistically speaking, children represent a major potential in the present and future. For children below 18 years of age (as internationally defined) represent about 43% of the total population of the Middle East and North Africa region. The Middle East and North Africa region includes, for the purposes set by the initiative, all the Arab countries represented in the Arab League (22 Arab States) in addition to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Children, in fact, represent over half of the population in some Arab countries, for example, Yemen and Somalia. Interest in children in Arab cities derives from the following factors:
1. The MENA region is witnessing a high rate of urbanization, so much so that in the span of just a few decades, urban population in the region reached about 60% of the total population. This rate is expected to rise to 70% by the beginning of 2020.
2. Many cities in the MENA region are overburdened by problems of poverty, unemployment, inadequate services relating to health care, education and adequate housing. In addition, the region has been beset by disputes and armed conflicts, which accounts for the exodus of numerous families from their villages and cities to inadequate urban environments.
3. The rapid urbanization in the region does not take into account children’s needs or their rights. Accordingly, children remain the most vulnerable social group and, thereby, the most affected by poverty, divorce, displacement and overpopulation.
4. Several Arab States have adopted decentralization policies, thereby shifting executive powers and responsibilities to city councils and municipalities. Nevertheless, the majority of city councils and municipalities have, in fact, failed to incorporate children’s needs amongst their priorities.
Given its interest in the issues of children and youth, AUDI has coorganized in the following regional and international conferences:
(i) The “Future Cities” symposium, held in Riyadh in November 2001, a session of which was devoted to an open dialogue between leading urban authorities and children, which discussed children’s views and their expectations about cities in the future.
(ii) The “Children and the City” conference held in Amman in December 2002. This conference discussed a number of outstanding researches and best practices relating to issues confronting children in urban environment. Furthermore, it included a dialogue between mayors on the one hand, and children on the other. The CPI was launched in response to the “Amman Declaration” issued in this conference.
(iii) The “Children and the Mediterranean: Health, Culture and Urban Settings” a conference organized jointly by the City of Genoa and the Italian Gaslini Foundation in collaboration with AUDI and the World Bank. In this conference, series of sessions were devoted as a follow-up to the Amman Conference and an exposition of the progress and achievements accomplished in its wake.
(iv) AUDI is currently organizing a conference, entitled “Urban Children and Youth in the MENA Region: Addressing Priorities in Education" , jointly with Dubai Municipality, the World Bank, and a number of international organizations. This conference will be held in Dubai in May 2005 and will address the challenges facing the education of children and youth in cities and expected role of cities and municipalities.
The first milestone of the CPI was the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding between the World Bank (represented by the Vice President of the World Bank for the Middle East and North Africa Region), and the Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI) represented by its President. The Memorandum of Understanding constituted an agreement, according to which the World Bank provides technical and financial support amounting to US$.600,000 for the financial year 2004. Correlatively, AUDI would host the Initiative’s Secretariat in Riyadh and provides permanent accommodation and personnel as a material and logistic support of the Secretariat. The Institute’s contribution to the Initiative is estimated at around US$170,000 during the initial year of its launching.
The material support provided by the World Bank for the Initiative is planned for three years and is expected to expire in mid 2006. The contribution is estimated at about US$2.4 million, the payment of which will be made in three installments. The Initiative is expected to submit a detailed annual report, providing an account of the expenses, on the basis of which the installments will be paid periodically. The Initiative is also expected to solicit and mobilize financial support from other sources.
Following its preparatory phase, the CPI was actually launched on December 1st 2003, by the appointment of a Director, in addition to a programmes officer and an administrative assistant, constituting the main personnel of the Secretariat.
A. The Initiative’s objectives
The main objectives of the Initiative consist of the following:
1. Assessing and determining the issues and needs of children in cities and raising the awareness of city councils, municipalities and local authorities regarding their role in this respect.
2. Supporting municipalities and local authorities and building their capacities with the aim of enabling them to promote the welfare of children.
3. Establishing an outstanding knowledge hub on issues facing children in the region with a view to increase knowledge about efficient policies and programmes, and to facilitate the exchange of successful regional and international experiences.
4. Establishing a regional fund for the purpose of financing children-oriented programmes at the level of local authorities and municipalities, and planning an effective strategy for resource mobilization.
B. The Main Achievements of the CPI
What follows is a summary of the main activities undertaken and achieved by the CPI between December 1st 2003 and December 10th 2004.
B.1 Knowledge Management regarding the status-quo of children in cites:
B.1.1. The Initiative launched a website (www.menacpi.org) to serve as a channel for the exchange of information. The website consists of a periodically updated knowledge base, in addition to discussion boards addressing issues relating to children.
B.1.2 The CPI has prepared terms of reference and supervised assessment of the status-quo of children in 12 Arab cities – namely: Sana`a, Amman, Alexandria, Khartoum, Casablanca, Riyadh, Beirut, Algiers, Al-Medina, Kuwait, Gaza and Teheran. The final drafts of the first seven cities have been completed and have been forwarded to municipalities and childhood councils for revision, as a prelude to their publication as booklets, and their dissemination to relevant institutions. Studies undertaken on the last five cities are still in progress. In all cases, such studies are expected to contribute to the development of programmes and projects targeting the high priorities of each city, by means of exchanging views with municipalities and the concerned councils.
B.1.3. The Initiative also organized a number of workshops and round tables as follows:
- A session devoted to the CPI in the international conference, “Children and the Mediterranean” held in Genoa, Italy, in January 2004, in which the participants in the conference exchanged views on the Initiative. Both the Initiative and AUDI participated in the revision of the international report entitled “Charting the Mediterranean Child” first issued in this conference.
- A workshop entitled “ the Middle East and North Africa Child Protection Initiative: the Status quo and Future Prospects” was held in Cairo in May 2004, which included about 71 participants – representing cities, municipalities, childhood councils, international and regional organizations in addition to researchers. This workshop reviewed the preliminary results of a number of studies assessing the status-quo of children in cities. It also assessed the organizational structure of the CPI and the concept of a funding mechanism. Correlatively, the workshop participants discussed the role expected to be played by the CPI and its partners.
- A special session was devoted to the CPI within a World Bank workshop on “Issues concerning disadvantaged children in the MENA Region, held in Washington in June 2004; in which the CPI’s future programmes and the challenges confronting it were discussed.
- A workshop entitled “ Knowledge Management on Urban Children in the MENA Region”, was organized by the CPI in Amman in November 2004. This workshop reviewed the results of assessments conducted in 10 Arab cities and debated ways in which the knowledge gaps on children could be bridged by using modern techniques and approaches in order to consolidate knowledge bases on issues confronting children in cities and by re-defining the role of municipalities in this respect.
B.2. Collaboration with partners:
The Initiative has established a partnership network and channels of communication with relevant regional and international organizations with the aim of strengthening the collaboration with them. Such contacts have included municipalities, childhood councils, the Arab League, the Arab Council for Childhood and Development, some pertinent UN organizations, in particular the UNICEF, the UNESCO, the UNFPA, in addition to donors such as AGFUND, the Islamic Development Bank, the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development, among others. Such contacts have resulted in the consolidation of collaboration with the CPI’s partners – especially the Greater Amman Municipality, the Municipality of Al-Madina, the Jordanian National Council for Family Affairs, the Lebanese Higher Childhood Council, the Egyptian National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, the Arab Council for Childhood and Development, and UNICEF.
B.3. Funding Mechanism:
The CPI has engaged a Consultant to take stock of the existing funding sources with the aim of benefiting from the latter’s experience, and to devise a viable financing mechanism. The Consultant has proposed the establishment of a fund specific to the Initiative to be supported by donors, which would serve to fund municipal children-oriented programmes, particularly those concerned with vulnerable and disadvantaged children. The Consultant has recommended that an autonomous funding agency (such as the Islamic Development Bank, for instance) takes charge of the management of the fund and its financial sources; that the Initiative’s Secretariat reviews requests for financial support and their approval; that any municipality seeking financial support from the Initiative participates financially or in kind. The Consultant has also recommended that direct financing from donors to specific municipal projects that have been assisted by the Initiative should be calculated within the framework of its funding mechanism.
B.4. The Initiative’s Institutional Framework
B.4.1. The Initiative is managed by a small Secretariat consisting of a Director, a programme officer, an administrative assistant, in addition to the logistic and administrative support provided by AUDI. Accordingly, the administrative expenses of the Initiative remain limited and do not exceed 14% of its annual budget.
B.4.2 The Secretariat is occasionally assisted by consultants whenever the need arises. It is currently assisted by two consultants in the fields of childhood and population studies. Previously, the Initiative benefited from the assistance of an Information Technology consultant.
B.4.3. During the preliminary phase of the Initiative, a consultants’ office was requested to prepare a study assessing the institutional organization of the Initiative and its administrative procedures. The consultant has recommended the following:
- that the Initiative remains annexed in its primary phases, to the administration of AUDI, while maintaining its autonomy in decision making and while benefiting from the technical support of the World Bank.
- that an advisory group consisting of representatives of municipalities and national childhood councils, international organizations and donors, provides guidance to the Initiative’s Secretariat. Further, the Secretariat would be expanded, at a later stage, by means of engaging an additional programme officer, a financial administrator and an accountant.
B.4.4. The consultant’s study asserts that the Initiative should aspire to become an autonomous organization with an autonomous funding mechanism, in addition to an autonomous administrative cost and an autonomous accounting system around the middle of 2006. Within this framework, the advisory council would become a steering committee or a board of directors for the Initiative.
C. Future Plans
As the Initiative is about to start its second year since its launching, we would like to provide an account of the Initiative’s plans for the year 2005:
C.1. Knowledge Management:
C.1.1 . The Initiative is planning to undertake a final revision of the assessment of the status-quo of children in cities. The latter studies together with the views of municipalities and councils, will be published as a book, in addition to the publication of each individual study separately as part of series to be issued by the Initiative periodically.
C.1.2 The Initiative intends to adopt some detailed comparative studies addressing dropping out from school, its motivations and consequences, violence against children in cities, among other important issues.
C.1.3 The Initiative is also planning to document successful programmes and policies addressing childhood issues in cities both in the MENA region and abroad, benefiting from experiences and lessons, and disseminating them to cities, municipalities and other relevant organizations, while facilitating the exchange of expertise amongst Arab cities.
C.1.4. The Initiative is determined to carry on disseminating knowledge through the Internet, but also by means of its periodic publications.
C.1.5 The Initiative will contribute to the building of a knowledge base on childhood issues in cities and municipalities, to be used in the planning for childhood projects.
C.1.6 The Initiative will organize workshops and conferences whereby knowledge and expertise can be exchanged, such as the forthcoming international conference “Urban Children and Youth in the MENA Region: Addressing Priorities in Education", organized by CPI, the Dubai Municipality, the World Bank and AUDI, scheduled for May 2005.
C.2. Capacity Building
C.2.1 The Initiative intends to build municipal capacities in the areas of high priority such as knowledge management on children, the planning, implementation and assessment of projects, and so on. This will be done in consultation with cities and municipalities in which assessments have already been undertaken.
C.2.2 The Initiative will technically and financially support the foundation of childhood units in cities and municipalities.
C.3. Funding
C.3.1 The Initiative will continue to contact donors and to mobilize resources for the Initiative’s fund. Emphasis will be laid on such regional donors as the Islamic Development Bank, the Arab Fund, the AGFUND, among others, in addition to international donors such as the European Union.
C.3.2 The Initiative will develop the criteria for municipal projects funding based on the suggestions offered by its consultant.
C.4 Pilot Projects
The Initiative intends to start implementing a set of pilot project in partnership with some cities, municipalities, and donor agencies. This would be translating into practice some pilot ideas, the spirit of partnership and the criteria for project funding, all of which will set-up the models to be followed by the Initiative. What follows is a set of preliminary ideas for pilot projects which the Initiative aims to promote.
- Promote an appropriate urban environment for children: In collaboration with the UNICEF – Habitat initiated “Child Friendly Cities” and UNESCO initiated project “Growing-up in Cities”, the Initiative will support some pilot municipalities in providing a more appropriate environment for children (“Child-Friendly Municipalities) with the aim to revise urban planning legislations, and by incorporating children’s needs and requirements such as play-grounds, gardens, safe path-ways, cultural and recreational centers and so on, in municipal urban development programmes. Children will also be participating in decision-making whenever they are directly concerned.
- The integration of marginalized children in society: The Initiative intends to collaborate with UNESCO and with some city councils to establish a set of programmes and centers that can offer remedial educational and artistic programmes as well as counseling on everyday life to children who drop-out of school, either due to poverty or divorce and were driven to the streets, or became bread winners in highly inadequate work conditions. The aim is to enable such children to fit back into society either by getting them to school, or by means of providing them with skills and expertise required by the labor market, once they have reached the legal age for work.
- Support some of the outstanding projects adopted by some cities and municipalities such as “Oasis of Science” and educational and recreational centers, to the benefit of marginalized and disadvantaged children.
- The Initiative intends to adopt some outstanding experiences already implemented abroad in the region. One instance of these is the “Children and Youth” unit at the London City Council, which addresses the needs of all children in collaboration with its housing office, transportation office, environment office, among others; with the aim to incorporate children’s needs and requirements in their projects and policy-making. The Initiative hopes to support similar units in some municipalities.
- It is noteworthy that the adoption of pilot projects provide the opportunity and adequate ambiance for the implementation of new ideas within the framework of any project; yet we should take with caution the generalization of experiences and lessons learned on a large scale in the absence of the adequate sine qua non conditions available to the pilot projects themselves.
D. Challenges Facing the Initiative
The Initiative is currently facing numerous challenges, the overcoming of which requires adequate efforts and perseverance on the one hand, and collaboration with the Initiative’s partners on the other. The major challenges can be defined as follows:
D.1 The first challenge has to do with the fact that the majority of city councils and municipalities do not incorporate children concerns amongst their priorities, but rather regard the burden of children-related issues as the responsibility of the social welfare, health, and education sectors, among others, in central administrations. Hence, most city councils and municipalities are reluctant to espouse the trend and the position represented by the Initiative. Nevertheless, some of them place children’s needs on top of their agenda and have, thereby, devised programmes and implemented projects to promote the welfare of children. Instances of these include the Municipalities of Greater Amman, Khartoum, Alexandria, Riyadh and Al-Medina, among others.
Given this, one of the challenges facing the Initiative is awareness-raising amongst municipal authorities and mayors with regard to their important role in providing children with an adequate urban environment that is conducive to the welfare of children.
D.2 Concerning knowledge management, detailed information on children in cities (pertaining to their age, needs for special public places, interests and aspirations, marginalization, the cause of the latter phenomenon and the effective ways in which it can be addressed) remain incomplete. At best, even at the national level such information remains schematic and, thereby deficient. To this extent, it does not enable policy-makers and decision-makers to be well informed about the needs of children in cities.
The Initiative hopes to play a leading role in bridging the knowledge gaps by means of collaborating with relevant sectors at the national level (such as bureaus of statistics and relevant ministries); at the level of local relevant administrations (such as city councils, municipalities and related administrations); at the regional level (for example, the Arab Council for Childhood and Development, the Arab League, the AGFUND); and internationally through UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund, etc.
D.3 Institutionally speaking, the Initiative will be challenged, in the coming years, by its endeavor to become an autonomous institution in the absence of material support from AUDI and the World Bank. Hence, it is estimated that the three years period specified by the initial project document of the Initiative will not be adequate, an issue yet to be considered by the Advisory Group. Meanwhile, the Secretariat is expected to undertake the required procedures with the aim to guarantee maximum autonomy by mid 2006, the expiry date of the World Bank funding.
On the basis of all the above, the quest for sufficient funding is a prerequisite for the Initiative’s autonomy, and the Initiative endeavors to perform its duties and to address the major challenges facing it. Hence, the Secretariat, together with AUDI, the World Bank, and their dear partners in cities and municipalities are called upon to exert their efforts to find financing sources capable of funding the Initiative, from independent funds to donor countries and benevolent donors. We hope that members of the Advisory Group contribute with counseling and advice over the best means to achieve such goals.
May God guide us in the achievement of our noble goals, notably, to promote the welfare of children and to integrate the marginalized ones in society so that they can benefit from love and equal opportunity.