The Municipal Seal (Sello Municipal Incluir para Crecer Gestión Local para las Personas) is a national initiative led by the Peruvian Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion (MIDIS), through Supreme Resolution N° 002-2015-MIDIS. The Municipal Seal gives public recognition to local governments that contribute to increase the quality of public services aimed to improve the conditions of the population living in poverty and extreme poverty, as well as promoting their development and social inclusion, within the framework of the National Policy of Development and Social Inclusion. UNICEF supported the start of implementation in 2014 and provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, including a study tour to Brazil to learn about the ‘Municipal Seal’ programme led by UNICEF.

The Seal was launched in 2015 and is implemented in one-year cycles. 185 municipalities received a recognition for their performance and 47 were recognized for good practices out of the more than 1,000 municipalities that participated in the latest round in 2018. 29 municipalities received both recognitions. The current, fourth round of the Municipal Seal (called “Edición Bicentenario” to celebrate the 200^thAnniversary of Peru’s independence) will follow a three-year cycle from 2019 to 2021. For this fourth round, 1,120 municipalities representing the poorest 40% of each region are participating.

Children and adolescents have been prioritized in all rounds of the Municipal Seal. Among the main goals for the municipalities to achieve are the following:

• Children (aged 0-5 years) have opportunities for play in public areas.
• Children (under the age of 12 months) have a national identity document.
• Children (under the age of 36 months) are registered in the beneficiary records of their district.
• Adolescents receive comprehensive health care and life skills.
• Municipalities implement an integrated response plan to address anemia.
• Local decision-making mechanisms are in place for following up and improving MIDIS’ Social Programs performance.
• Domestic violence prevention services are provided.
• Sanitation services in rural areas are provided and supervised.

At the national level, the Municipal Seal relies on coordination with public institutions in each territory. They contribute to the design and development of a set of goals and indicators and to the implementation of capacity building strategies. At the local level, each municipality must form a Municipal Technical Team (composed by 2 to 5 members), which is responsible for the successful achievement of the implementation of the Municipal Seal.

During the third round in 2018, the Municipal Seal achieved the following results for children:

• More than 64,000 children less than 12 months old received a National Identity Document.
• More than 57,000 families with children aged less than 36 months participated in trainings to prevent anemia and chronic malnutrition.
• More than 278,000 children aged less than 36 months were registered in the beneficiary records of their district, easing access to social protection services.
• More than 203,000 adolescents received sexual and reproductive health counseling.
• More than 673,000 soles (approximately 204,000 USD) were allocated to improve the food service in schools participating in the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE).