Sharjah Baby Friendly Office Shares Best Practices in Child and Youth Welfare with 140 Ukrainian Entities

The Sharjah Baby Friendly Office (SBFO), was recently invited by UNICEF Ukraine to share the emirate’s leading example in building a community that is nurturing and sensitive towards the needs of its children and youth at the International Forum on Child and Youth Friendly Municipalities in Kyiv.

Speaking at the conference hosted by UNICEF Ukraine in collaboration with the Ukrainian Government, Dr Hessa Khalfan Al Ghazal, Executive Director of SBFO told the 150 guests in attendance including Volodymyr Groysman, Prime Minister of Ukraine, city mayors, local development stakeholders, and international organisation representatives that children and the youth must be every government’s top priority. 

Dr Al Ghazal delivered a detailed presentation on the status of children and youth, and the level of child-care in Sharjah to representatives from around 140 municipalities Ukraine, who have declared their interest in the initiative, and to the cities applying for the candidate status of the Child and Youth Friendly Community initiative, explaining ways in which these institutions can build their own child and youth friendly strategies.

She also reviewed programmes implemented by SBFO in cooperation with the emirate’s municipality, businesses and civil society within the framework of the Sharjah
Baby-Friendly campaign, which contributed to Sharjah being named the first “Baby Friendly City” in the world in 2015 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF.

Al Ghazal, Public Health Consultant, MBBS (UAE), MSc (Scotland), MPH & DrPH (USA), said: “As one global community working to secure the present and future welfare of our children and youth, it is inspiring to know that more than 3,000 municipalities in 38 countries worldwide, home to about 30 million children, have pledged themselves to the Child Friendly Cities Initiative. While every country’s vision to becoming more approachable and accessible to their young citizens is unique, such forums hold immense value as they allow us to exchange personal experiences, discuss challenges and take home valuable lessons.”

She added: “For 40 years, under the astute guidance of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, we have been relentless in our efforts to fulfill every condition necessary to making Sharjah a leading example of a city where the voices of the youth are important, and where children can enjoy their rights to education, health and leisure fully. After having come a considerable way forward in ensuring a healthy environment for our children through the establishment of best practices in the field, one of our main objectives is to share our insights and experiences with the international community striving towards similar goals.”

Dr Ghazal also shed light on SBFO’s Child Friendly City (CFC) project adopted by the emirate in 2016 in collaboration with the UNICEF, and recounted their two-year journey – from a nascent situation analysis carried out by the UNICEF Gulf Area Office team based on which the CFC initiative action plan was drafted, to setting up a steering committee for the implementation of the project and collaborating closely with a variety of local stakeholders like the urban planning council and local media, to implement the objectives, and the challenges they faced in the process.

In May 2018, following detailed evaluation visits by Rights On and after reviewing Sharjah’s long-term (2018–21) CFC action plan, UNICEF bestowed on it the title of ‘Child-Friendly City’, making it the first city in the world to have successfully met the new international requirements and criteria launched by UNICEF’s global CFC initiative to ensure the fulfillment of children's rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

In line with Sharjah's position as a Baby and Child-Friendly City, the emirate has been engaging actively with the international community to share its pioneering experiences in the field of child and youth development and welfare. This visit follows SBFO’s participation at the International Conference on Humanizing Cities organised in Medina, Saudi Arabia, from May 7–10.