UNICEF in Argentina will start a new Country Programme in August 2021, and one of the main new components consists of rolling out the Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) adapted to the local context. The main objective of the initiative in Argentina is to improve the well-being of children and diminishing territorial disparities in the exercise of rights at the local level. The CFCI is currently in its design phase and it is planned to launch a pilot in 50 municipalities for the period 2021-2022. The initiative will convene key stakeholders from the national, subnational and local governments, civil society organizations with presence in the field and academia, and will also count with the meaningful participation of children and adolescents.

Informed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Sustainable Development Goals, the initiative will seek to promote child rights by building capacities of local authorities in collection of data and evidence, local planning and budgeting, child and youth participation and advocacy for the implementation of a child-sensitive Action Plan. Upon an evaluation of demonstrated results, after completing each phase of the program, municipalities would receive a recognition from UNICEF.