With the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the LEPL Youth Agency, a large-scale event was held organized by the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG). Within the framework of the Best Practice Programme conference, panel discussions were organized, one of which was dedicated to discussing municipal programmes for child protection and support.

The panel discussion was moderated by Nino Zurabishvili, consultant of NALAG and UNICEF.

The main topic was the social programmes implemented by municipalities to strengthen children and families with children. Special attention was paid to the methodological tools developed by NALAG with the support of UNICEF. These tools help local self-governments in needs assessment, service planning, and the process of child-responsive budgeting.

At the conference, expert Shota Murghulia delivered a presentation in which he reviewed the methodology for child rights-based budget analysis. This tool gives municipalities the opportunity to accurately identify child-focused programmes and effectively measure the budgetary resources directed towards them.

The panel participants shared their practical experience and successful municipal programmes with the audience: Natalia Khubua, representative of Senaki Municipality, spoke about the experience of implementing the municipal programme of medical screening for children; Tamar Shiolashvili, head of the Neurodevelopmental Centre “Phoenix – Kazbegi”, shared the practice of supporting children with special needs; Shorena Tsabria, representative of Poti Municipality, presented Poti Municipality’s activities in the direction of strengthening reintegrated children, children subject to reintegration, and their families; and Rusudan Salukvadze, head of the Child Rights Protection and Support Division of the Social Services Agency of Batumi Municipality City Hall, spoke about the programme for supporting socially vulnerable families with children and the results achieved.

During the discussion, UNICEF representatives emphasized the role of NALAG in the development of child rights-based policies in municipalities. According to their assessment, in recent years the experience of municipalities has significantly increased and local practice in planning and implementing child-responsive social programmes has strengthened. At the same time, the assessments of municipal representatives particularly highlighted the importance of the support provided by UNICEF and the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia, which, according to their statements, substantially contributes to the gradual strengthening of child rights-based approaches at the local level and the effective implementation of needs-based programmes.