Three MOUs have lately been signed by the CPI, the Municipality of Alexandria, Khartoum State, and the Municipality of Sana’a.  The signature of these MOUs falls within CPI and AUDI plans to enhance interest in children related issues in local administrations and municipalities across the Arab world.   An analogous MOU was signed, last December, in Amman with the Municipality of Greater Amman.  The above-mentioned cities were chosen on the ground of their need for material and logistic support, and in our attempt to focus the initial stage of CPI interventions on a limited number of cities with the aim to maximize the benefits of such cities,   using the rather limited resources of the Initiative.  Limiting the CPI intervention to a limited set of pilot projects enables us to benefit from successful projects   and   the lessons that can be derived from them,      by replicating them on a large scale in the Middle-East and North- Africa.

Such efforts  are part of CPI objectives  ,  which aim for upgrading the knowledge base on children’s issues and children’s needs  in Arab cities ,  and building the institutional and administrative capacities of local administrations aiming for the protection  of children and  promotion of the welfare of children .   Such efforts also aim to activate the role of the Initiative in the protection of children and youth, by means of  safeguarding   their rights and  responding to their needs,  with special attention to vulnerable children ,  children ‘ at risk’,   and children with special  needs,  within the scope of the CPI programme   of material and logistic support  and capacity building of  Arab administrations .

The signature of such conventions also falls within the scope of AUDI plans to upgrade municipal services in  Arab cities by means of providing logistic support to local administrations and their personnel,  and also by means of replicating successful  model programmes and pilot  projects undertaken by leading regional Arab and international organizations  --   AUDI being the scientific and technical organism of the organisation of Arab cities.

As a matter of fact,    the three MOUs are   the framework of bilateral agreements between AUDI / CPI and those cities, the aim of which is to realize a set of objectives which are basically:

a.        To enhance the efforts of those cities   in the protection of children and youth, with upgrading the welfare of children and youth.

b.       Assist in the implementation of the policies where children are a top priority in those cities, to make those Arab cities “child-friendly-cities”, where children and youth could have access to all their rights and to better living conditions.

c.        Incorporate the needs of children and youth in all development strategies planned by those cities and supported by AUDI, the World Bank, and City Alliance.

d.       Benefit from successful regional and international experiences, model programmes and pilot projects, and replicate the acquired experiences and expertise, and the lessons derived from them in Arab cities.

e.        Work towards attracting additional resources with   the aim to support child oriented projects.

f.         Work towards expanding the scope of the participation of children and youth in the management of cities (especially on issues that directly concern them), through the medium of their representation in municipal and parliamentary committees.

Among  the projects that will be implemented   on the basis of those three conventions   :   the promotion of libraries for children;  support   the creation of centres for children and youth in poor neighbourhoods;  support projects for the benefit of poor children and children ‘ at risk’   such a the habilitation of “street children” and drop -outs ;  support local institutions concerned with the protection of children in Arab administrations,  as well as other pilot projects  for their implementation in those three Arab cities.

In parallel to the financial support provided by the CPI for those three cities,  the total amount of which is  $ 550 000 (five hundred and fifty thousand dollars),  the three cities are committed to spending $1.5  million ( one and a half million Dollars),  in financial and other terms,  on children and youth,  the outcome of which would be a substantial change in municipal services destined for children and youth .    The regional UNICEF Office of Cairo, in Egypt, is an associate of the convention signed with Alexandria Municipality and is contributing with the sum of $ 170 000 (one hundred and seventy thousand Dollars).

We all look forward, with hope,   to see these signed conventions bear fruit to the advantage of children and youth in those Arab cities.