Child Friendly Municipalities (CFM) Jeunes Champions

UNICEF is an international humanitarian agency for children established by the United Nations Charter in 1946. The organization is present in more than 192 countries and works in the areas of health, education, water and sanitation, child protection, HIV and AIDS, nutrition, policy, and social protection. UNICEF operates in both humanitarian and development contexts, addressing the needs of children and women, particularly girls and the most vulnerable. UNICEF has been present in Cameroon since 1975. The organization works in the fields of education, water and sanitation, child protection, and HIV and AIDS. Meanwhile, its upstream efforts focus on advocacy and lobbying for budgetary conditions favorable to children and women, as well as on the formulation of policies to promote their growth and development. At the operational level, UNICEF Cameroon focuses on strengthening the capacity of stakeholders, service delivery, and the creation of partnerships to improve services for children and women. The Child Protection Program aims overall to ensure that children—particularly adolescent girls in vulnerable areas—are better protected against violence, exploitation, and harmful practices, including in the context of humanitarian emergencies. The program thus contributes to strengthening government and community child protection systems in order to identify and address violations of children’s rights more effectively. Particular attention is given to birth registration, the prevention of and response to physical and sexual violence, and the elimination of child marriage, based on evidence.

As part of the decentralization process and efforts to strengthen local governance, municipalities play a central role in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of local public policies that benefit children and adolescents. The Child-Friendly Municipalities (CFM) initiative aims to support municipalities in systematically integrating children’s rights into their development plans, budgets, and governance mechanisms. However, many municipalities face structural constraints, including a shortage of local human resources, limited capacity for community mobilization and citizen participation, and weak institutionalization of mechanisms for listening to and holding local authorities accountable. These constraints reduce the effectiveness of municipal plan implementation and limit municipalities’ ability to respond in an appropriate and inclusive manner to the needs of children and families. In this context, community volunteering (including United Nations Volunteers—UNV) serves as a strategic lever for strengthening local public action. Rooted in their own communities, community volunteers support municipalities in implementing the CFM initiative while fostering a gradual and structured transfer of skills to municipal services—an essential condition for sustainability. Objective and Purpose of the Program The overall objective of the community volunteer program is to sustainably strengthen the institutional and operational capacities of municipalities to design, implement, and monitor local initiatives that incorporate children’s rights, within a framework of participatory and community-based governance. Specifically, the program aims to: - support the implementation of CFM plans and budgets. - strengthen municipal mechanisms for dialogue, citizen participation, and accountability. - improve local monitoring of the accessibility and quality of social services for children. - ensure a gradual transfer of skills, tools, and practices to municipalities, with a view to their institutional management. Guiding Principles The deployment of volunteers in CFM municipalities is based on the following principles: - Local roots: Volunteers are natives of or residents in the municipality where they serve, ensuring a deep understanding of local dynamics. - Institutional ownership: the actions carried out are exclusively aligned with municipal priorities, plans, and budgets. - Non-substitutive support: volunteers support and strengthen municipal capacities without replacing municipal functions. - Sustainability and handover: each action is designed with a clear path for handover to municipal services.

Under the direct supervision of CFO Bertoua (Mandjou, Ngoura, Batouri, Garoua-Boulai, Djohong, Ngaoundere III), CFO Maroua (Lagdo, Garoua II, Mokolo, Moutourwa), CFO Buea (Limbe II), and Social Policy Specialist in Yaounde (Bikok, Bana), the UN Community Volunteer will, in the municipalities participating in the Child-Friendly Municipality (CFM ) initiative, provide support structured around four complementary areas. Support for the implementation of municipal CFM plans: Volunteers assist municipalities in operationalizing child-rights-sensitive plans and budgets. They support the organization of local activities, facilitate coordination among municipal services, community actors, and local partners, and contribute to monitoring the implementation of planned actions. Community dialogue and local accountability: Volunteers support the establishment and facilitation of municipal mechanisms for dialogue and citizen engagement (community meetings, local forums, community radio stations). These mechanisms enable municipalities to incorporate citizens’ concerns into decision-making and improve transparency and accountability. Community monitoring of social services: Volunteers contribute to the participatory monitoring of the accessibility and quality of social services for children and families, in collaboration with municipal and technical services. The information collected informs municipal planning and supports the continuous improvement of services. Strengthening municipal capacity: Volunteers play a key role as community mentors, supporting municipal officials and local liaisons in using tools for community mobilization, participatory monitoring, and the analysis of local data. Furthermore, UN Community Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities: - Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day). - Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country. - Provide annual and end of assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results, and opportunities. - Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc. - Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers. - Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible. 13. Results/Expected Outputs: The deployment of volunteers in CFM municipalities will lead to: - a measurable improvement in the implementation of municipal plans that are sensitive to children’s rights. - a sustainable strengthening of citizen participation and local accountability. - capacity building within municipal services. - a solid and lasting institutional foundation for the CFM approach within municipal governance.