Nairobi, 19th October, 2024
Nairobi City County, Public Participation and Citizen Engagement department in Collaboration with World Vision has recognized the legal requirement to engage children in the development and implementation of County Government policies and programs.
Chief Officer for Public participation, Citizen Engagement and Customer service Ms. Zipporah Mwangi led a technical team consisting of Public Participation Officers and Ward Administrators at an Inception meeting to discuss the development of the concept.
During the forum, it was noted that there are many legal instruments ranging from UN convention on the Rights of Children, African Union Conventions, Kenyan 2010 Constitution, Children’s Act, to Public Participation Act 2016 among other instruments that puts a responsibility on governments to ensure the children segment of the society participates in government decisions and development processes.
The Chief Officer said, “The analysis of the current status revealed that children voices have not been listened to satisfactory and it is against this backdrop that the taskforce was tasked with the process of developing a concept and strategy of enhancing children voices in government decisions.”
“In Line with H.E Governor Sakaja’s manifesto the purpose of Public Participation and Citizen Engagement is to ensure that the input, insights and views of Nairobians including Children are considered and that County projects are embraced, bought and accepted by the beneficiaries and local communities. “She further stated.
The team was tasked with developing and delivering a draft document in two weeks’ time.
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