Strategies

Budget Allocation

Ensuring children get their fair share of resources.

A key purpose of building a child-friendly city is to ensure that children are visible – in budgeting as in other government activities. The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child requires State parties to implement economic, social and cultural rights of children “to the maximum extent of available resources”.

The local government should demonstrate its commitment to its children by examining how their budget expenditures impact children and ensuring that children, and particularly disadvantaged children, get their fair share of resources.

While the financing of education and health services may be determined at the national, regional or provincial level, local governments can advocate with the national government for increased resources for children just as they can consider if their distribution of resources is equitable and redress inequalities in the application of resources.

MONGOLIA
As part of its strategy to become a child-friendly province and district, the local government in Khuvsgul province/Nalaikh district in Mongolia issued a resolution on investing no less than 10 per cent of the Local Development Fund (LDF) for the wellbeing of children. As a result, the LDF investment for children in Khuvsgul province reached 22.5 per cent in 2015 compared to 8.8 per cent in 2013. It helped increase investment for children and improve the quality of, and access to, basic services, and thus a safer and more supportive environment for children’s development.
View Mongolia country profile.

NEPAL
The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development in Nepal established a 10 per cent ‘child block grant’, meaning that local governments have to allocate at least 10 per cent of received capital grants to child-related issues. For local governments seeking to attain ‘child-friendly’ status, this proportion rises to 15 per cent.
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