Double awards for Zamboanga City

THE SOCIAL Watch Philippines has recognized Zamboanga Mayor Beng Climaco as “Champion” in promoting the welfare of children, saying she prioritized the needs and welfare of the young sector during her nine-year term as local chief executive.

The Zamboanga City Social Welfare and Development Office headed by Socorro Rojas received the two awards from the Social Watch Philippines.

It also awarded the local government through the City Social Welfare and Development Office headed by Socorro Rojas, the “Most Traceable Budget for Children Award” during the recently concluded “Capacity Building Workshop in Strengthening Public Finance Management for Children” held at the Limketkai Luxe Hotel in Cagayan de Oro City.

Social Watch is an international network of over 100 citizens’ organizations struggling to eradicate poverty and the causes of poverty, to ensure an equitable distribution of wealth and the realization of human rights.  It is committed to social, economic, and gender justice.

The training focused on the use of the Budget Tagging Tool, which is intended for use by local governments, specifically the offices concerned in planning and budgeting for children. These offices include the Local Chief Executive, Planning and Development Coordinator, City Health, Social Welfare and Development, Local School Board, Gender and Development, City Budget, City Treasurer and City Accounting and other offices in promoting the welfare of children.

 

The child-focused budget tagging is the systematic identification of child-specific and relevant programs, projects, and activities classified according to child rights - survival, development, protection, and participation.

 

The budget tagging tool aims to monitor allocations and actual expenditure of local governments on child- focused programs and services to uphold the rights of children, promote their well-being and ensure their participation in policy development, planning and program implementation.

 

The tool can identify funding gaps and under-resourced priorities, and facilitate stronger inter- linkage with other cross cutting- themes- gender equality, equity, inclusion and humanitarian response.

 

In 1997, Social Watch Philippines was convened by the Action for Economic Reforms, Accessing Support Services and Entrepreneurial Technology, Inc. and the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement with Professor Leonor Briones as the Lead Convenor, being the coordinator of Social Watch-Asia.  

Social Watch Philippines has annually put forward a strategy of advocacy, awareness-building, monitoring, organizational development and networking. Series of national and island consultations were organized with the objectives of increasing people’s awareness and participation in promoting social development concerns with the government. 

 

It has likewise faithfully submitted an annual Philippine country report to the Global Social Watch Report, which in turn is submitted to the United Nations Social Development Commission.  The Social Watch global report is essentially a progress report on the accomplishments, or the lack of them, of different countries in the implementation of their social development commitments.

 

The Climaco administration was also awarded with the prestigious “2018 Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance (SCFLG)” and the “2018 Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities” by the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

 

Climaco, a strong advocate of children's rights, received the awards in recognition of the local government’s initiatives to promote the protection and welfare of children. Zamboanga, under Climaco’s leadership, has been a consistent awardee for its efforts on child protection and welfare.

 

The SCFLG is awarded to cities and municipalities that have passed all the criteria set by the audit system subsequent to an assessment gauging their level of performance in implementing child-friendly programs and establishing measures which promote children’s welfare.

 

She also took pride in saying that the voices of the young are very important to her administration and cited Zamboanga City which participated and represented the country in the recently concluded UN Convention on the Rights of Children held in Germany. Zamboanga City, Climaco added, is also in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund to keep children safe in terms of road safety and infrastructures. (Zamboanga Post)