Creating opportunities for girls and boys to express their views to local government.
UNICEF’s work on child-friendly local governance promotes the active participation of children at the Batticaloa Municipal Council, Sri Lanka
In November 2022, 18-year-old Harshon Kamalaruban, along with 27 other boys and 12 girls, participated in the annual budget consultation with children and adolescents at the Batticaloa Municipal Council (BMC), in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province. This is the second such opportunity for Harshon and other youth to directly engage with the Municipal Council’s key administrative officers, including the Mayor, as part of the BMC’s journey towards becoming a child-friendly municipality.
A child-friendly municipality or city is committed to realizing child rights and to ensuring children’s concerns and opinions are heard and action taken. The annual budget consultation with children and adolescents is one of the enabling platforms under the programme that promotes their participation in the decision-making process of the municipality. This also ensures that the BMC addresses the changing needs of children and young people in the community. Since its implementation in 2020, the consultations with children and adolescents have been valued as a critical contributing factor of the municipality’s decision-making.
“I feel like I am a big part of the society and see myself as a decision maker in the Municipality,” says Harshon. “I now have a clearer idea of the roles and responsibilities of the BMC, something I was not aware of prior to my participation at the budget consultation.”
At the previous budget consultation held in November 2021 he had raised the issue of private tuition classes being conducted even on holidays resulting in swift action by Municipal authorities. “I raised this issue to the responsible personnel at the previous budget consultation. I am happy that through the efforts of the Honourable Municipal Mayor, action was taken to ban tuition classes being held on public holidays.”
Harshon is now more aware of how the BMC functions and the distribution of power among the key administrative components of the Municipality. “I am proud that I can explain the fiscal and monetary policy of the Municipality to my parents. I now have an opportunity to be more involved in the primary decision making of my household as well.”
UNICEF’s work on child-friendly local governance supports municipal governments in realizing the rights of children at the local level using the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as its foundation. In the BMC the programme is implemented with the financial support of the Korean National Committee and the European Union and the support of Children's Emergency Relief International (CERI).
