The municipality of Saint Ursula is running before UNICEF What Child Friendly City and aspires to become the third locality in the north of tenerifeand the first in the Acentejo region, which achieves this recognition from the agency of the United Nations Organization (UNO) who works to defend the rights of children. Mayor, Juan Acosta (AISU)and the president of the Unicef Canary Islands Committee, Rosa Gloria Suarez, have signed the commitment to promote the rights of children in the municipality. The signing of this document represents the step prior to the process so that Saint Ursula become a Child Friendly Citya recognition that ensures that all children and adolescents in the town can exercise their rights and achieve their full development.
At present, only the localities of Realejos and La Orotava have this recognition in the north of Tenerife, in addition to La Laguna, Tegueste and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the metropolitan area. The Santa Ursula City Hall plans to apply for this distinction in the call for the second quarter of next year 2023. The mayor has announced that the first step towards this objective will be taken this November, raising the commitment to promote the rights of the childhood. “From then on there are a series of milestones to meet and different measures to work on to be worthy of this distinction,” says Acosta.
Institutional collaboration
The Child Friendly Cities program is promoted by UNICEF in Spain together with the Ministry of Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda of the State Government, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (Femp) and the University Institute for the Needs and Rights of Children and Adolescents of the Autonomous University of Madrid (Iundia).
The recognition process Child Friendly City It is based on four basic points. The first starts after the signing of this commitment and its support by the Plenary. The second is related to the design of a local Childhood plan to improve and transform the reality of this group in the municipality. The third point is the implementation of said plan, through which the commitments acquired with the boys and girls of the locality will be developed. Finally, The City Council must monitor and provide information on the progress that they are carried out. It is a continuous process and for this reason the recognition as a Child Friendly City, once obtained, must be renewed every four years.
The mayor of Santa Ursula hopes to confirm this international recognition at the end of 2023: «We are convinced that Saint Ursula must be named Child Friendly City. We have committed to this objective and we are on the way to comply with all the requirements demanded and being transversal in our policies.
Juan Acosta He adds that his municipal government has been working along these lines for years: «We have been working for quite some time to preserve the rights of children and young people in Saint Ursula. Proof of this is that the Municipal Council for the Participation of Children and Adolescents, which allows a greater local representation of the population between 6 and 17 years of age, guaranteeing that the voice and needs of this important group are heard. Likewise, we already have a prior diagnosis of the situation of children in the municipality, a useful tool when preparing the future Local Childhood Plan».
