An Initiative to improve the well-being of children and youth in Arab Cities
By:
Abdullah Ali Al-Nuaim
Chairman Board of Trustees
President of AUDI
It is obvious that the Arab community is a remarkably young community, for it is estimated that children and youth below 24 year of age represent over 50% of the total population of the Arab word – The increasing decentralization of the administration in the MENA region has shifted more responsibilities to local authorities across the Arab World. Given this, municipalities and other local authorities are expected to play a leading role by responding to the needs and requirements of urban children-notably, providing public libraries, green parks, plazas, and public squares, building road networks and safe pathways, as well as special equipments for children with special needs, in addition to adopting, planning and design guidelines that are suitable to children's needs.
In parallel to this, cities and municipalities are required to establish channels of communication and consultation with children to enable them to participate in issues concerning them, on the grounds that this represents the legitimate right of children, as dictated by sacred laws, civil law, and international conventions.
Although the responsibilities of most Arab cities and municipalities are limited to conventional services such as building and repairing roads, taking care of the environment, waste disposal, issuing building licenses and so on, many cities and municipalities have started to pay more attention to pressing social issues such as caring for the elderly, women and children, in their efforts to support the needs of such urban groups and categories. In fact, such social phenomena as street children, for instance affects tourism and economic investment negatively, regardless of the administrative efforts deployed by cities and municipalities in enhancing urban development. City mayors and presidents of municipalities are both qualified and ethically expected to address all such issues due to their closeness to their citizens. They are also fully aware of (and know best about) the needs and priorities of local communities. They should devise policies that can mobilize collaboration and motivate the private sector to provide some services to those disadvantaged social categories. Moreover, the strategic planning devised and implemented by cities and municipalities represent the framework within which cities and municipalities collaborate with the institutions and sectors concerned more directly with education, health care and security, among other indispensable services. In addition, municipal authorities in the region are responsible for site selection and land allocation for schools, kindergartens, playgrounds for children, and cultural centers.
Many cities and municipalities have bypassed this role. For example, many of them were obliged to sell open spaces and land allotted for schools due to financial difficulties. This has resulted in a scarcity of suitable sites for the above-mentioned purposes so that local authorities were obliged to buy land from the private sector at a later stage at high costs.
It is noteworthy that planning bye-laws in many Arab countries do not incorporate children's needs in cities, such as providing enough schools for children and locating the schools appropriately so that children could walk safely to their schools. Another requirement is to provide open spaces and playgrounds for children in all neighborhoods, for such spaces are necessary for the physical and psychological growth of children.
Moreover, many Arab cities still fail to provide facilities for disabled children and youth in cities, to enable them to move freely from one area to another through passage-ways, pavements, and to use the public transportations used by other citizens.
During the last few years, the Arab Urban Development Institute(AUDI) has been urging city and municipal authorities across Arab countries to bring children's issues within focus, given that children represent a major proportion of Arab societies. Such initiative to improve the well-being of children's issues dates back to the first International "Children and the City" conference, organized by the World Bank, AUDI, and the Municipality of Greater Amman, held in Amman, in December 2002. The Amman Declaration issued in that conference incorporated the commitment of authorities and participants to collaborate with the aim to make Arab cities more suitable to children and children's growth, by providing the required levels of security and safety to all children, regardless of their gender and their social and religious backgrounds. The participants in the Amman conference conveyed their commitment to allow children to participate in decision-making in issues related to their needs. The participants also called for the establishment of a regional fund that can contribute to the financing of municipal and local childhood-oriented projects.
The Arab Urban Development Institute also participated in the organization of the "Children and the Mediterranean" international confrence, in collaboration with the World Bank, the city of Genoa and the Gaslini Foundation in Italy, in January 2004. The latter conference discussed issues relating to health, culture and urban environment and their impact on children. The participants in the conference called for increased collaboration among institutions and researchers in the Mediterranean region. AUDI will also organize another international conference in collaboration with the World Bank and Dubai Municipality, scheduled for 16-18th May 2005. This forthcoming conference will address children and youth issues, focusing on priorities in education. AUDI is currently discussing with the United Nations for Population Activities (UNFPA) Fund a whole set of programmes and initiatives relating to children and youth in the region. AUDI has been calling for activating the decisions and recommendations issued in the Amman Declaration with the aim to implement them. Accordingly, AUDI launched the MENA Child Protection Initiative in collaboration with the World Bank, with financial and logistic support from the World Bank and AUDI. The MENA CPI aims to improve the status quo of particularly disadvantaged one, and children 'at risk' (notably, poor children, working children, disabled children, orphans and children of unknown parents, homeless children, refugees and displaced children, female children, and children who have been subject to violence) through activities aiming to enhance local administrative capacities and knowledge by means of:
1. Building a knowledge base on children related issues in the region, benefiting from research on children's issues and learning lessons from successful projects and model programmes applied in the region and worldwide.
2. Building the capacities of local authorities with the aim to enable them to confront children related issues in adequate ways and enhance the exchange of experiences among municipal authorities and local authorities.
3. Establish a funding mechanism based on donations to respond to the risks faced by vulnerable and disadvantaged children in the MENA region, and to support children-related programmes and initiatives of local authorities to enhance their capacities to implement interventions that meet children's needs and requirements.
The first phase of the CPI consists of making an assessment of the status quo of children in some cities in the MENA region, with the aim to determine the institutions and agencies responsible for their welfare and protection (including municipalities) and assessing their capacity building needs. Within this framework, studies have been conducted in Riyadh, Amman, Khartoum, Alexandria, Sana'a, Beirut, Casablanca, and Madina. The next phase will include similar studies that will be undertaken in Kuwait, Gaza, Damascus, and Algiers. A workshop was conducted in Cairo by the CPI during 12-13th May 2004, that discussed the preliminary findings of the studies and programmes proposed for the next phase. 71 participants attended the workshop, including high ranking municipal official and representatives from the MENA region, representatives of international organizations, as well as researchers and experts. The workshop recommended consolidating the knowledge bases on the situations of children in MENA cities and their social background, and upgrading the leading role of cities and municipalities in children-related issues. A number of regional institutions and international organizations such as the UNICEF, the Arab League, the AGFUND, and the Arab Council for Childhood and Development, welcomed the launching of the CPI and conveyed their full commitment to support it.
The next phase will witness a steady progress of the CPI in the implementation of its programmes and in capacity building at the level of local institutions and administrations, providing them with logistic and material support.
The CPI is currently conducting a study to establish a viable funding mechanism, benefiting from regional and international experiences. The CPI will also enhance building knowledge bases, issuing publications on children-related issues, and creating a special website that provides a network of information and knowledge on children's issues at the scale of the MENA region. The CPI will also implement a number of pilot projects in some Arab cities depending on the latter's needs and interests in the CPI programmes and objectives. The Initiative will also replicate successful projects implemented at the regional and international levels, such as the UNICEF-Habitat initiated Child-Friendly-Cities, among others. It will also urge cities to revise and update planning legislations and building bye-laws to incorporate children's needs and requirements.
The realization of the noble objectives set up by the CPI requires the collaboration of institutions and organizations at the national, regional, and international levels. Accordingly, the Arab Urban Development Institute is highly committed to collaborating with those institutions, particularly Arab municipalities.
We all look forward to collaborating with international and regional institutions and organizations with the aim to upgrade the situation of children across the Arab World, with the conviction that our children represent a great investment for the future of the Arab World. We also hope that regional and international donors will support the CPI, which will sustain the CPI and ensure its implementation of its noble objectives.