The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is conducting a thorough assessment of the compliance of the local government units (LGUs) in the intensified implementation of child-friendly programs in their respective areas.
DILG Sec. Benhur Abalos reminded local officials that the department will be strict in ensuring that that programs and measures are followed through the 2022 Child-Friendly Local Governance Audit (CFLGA).
"Through the CFLGA, we are ensuring that LGUs will help build a protective society where children can enjoy their rights by including them in their plans, budget, policies, and services,” said Abalos.
Started in 2014, CFLGA is an annual assessment of the performance of cities and municipalities in implementing child-friendly policies, programs, projects, and services.
Abalos explained that the LGUs will be assessed based on a set of criteria, including child-friendly facilities in the barangay; budget allocated and utilized for children’s programs; functional local councils for the protection of children (LCPC) with child representation; and children’s participation in the development of programs, projects and activities.
Also being checked are the percentage of fully immunized children; percentage of pregnant adolescents provided with prenatal and postpartum services; percentage of children aged 3-4 provided with early childhood care and development services; percentage of out-of-school children and youth assisted for schooling; and LGU’s management of cases of children in need of special protection.
“We check and review all of these things to ensure that LGUs are really prioritizing the needs and welfare of our children,” he added.
To pass the audit, Abalos said the LGUs must obtain an overall passing rate of 80 percent with a minimum required score of 12 each for the Survival, Development, Protection, and Participation categories and 32 points for the Governance category.
Abalos said an LGU which passes the CFLGA will be granted with the Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance (SCFLG) by the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) Board.
“Passing the CFLGA is the LGU’s passport to being awarded with the SCFLG, which recognizes LGU efforts towards building a child-friendly Philippines. It is a mark of distinction for LGUs who deliver outstanding performance for the well-being of our children,” he said.
The SCFLG is also a requirement under the Social Protection and Sensitivity Program of the Seal of Good Governance (SGLG). LGUs with the SCFLG will also be eligible to vie for the Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities (PACFMC).
Abalos said the timeline for the CFLGA implementation has been adjusted to ensure that the issues and concerns of the Inter-Agency Monitoring Task Force (IMTF) are addressed before jumping to the audit proper, which will begin in October 2022.
He added that the assessment period for the 2022 CFLGA will cover pandemic data and reports, thus, all data requirements and means of verification should be sourced from CY 2021.
Automated System
The DILG has imposed the use of the automated system called Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance Knowledge Management System (SCFLG KMS) to ensure an effective and efficient CFLGA implementation and maintain compliance with the new normal protocols and minimum health standards during the activity.
“We promote the use of the Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance Knowledge Management System in order to automate the current manual process of the Child-friendly Local Governance Audit as this is paramount to our objective to gather data and information from our LGUs, which would help in improving policies, plans, programs, service development, implementation, and monitoring,” Abalos said.
The DILG chief also explained that SCFLG KMS is an automated system, developed by the CWC for the CFLGA assessment, where the audit may be processed and will serve as a repository of data and information generated from the CFLGA and other child-related data for easier access of the LGUs and the public. (Chito A. Chavez)