ICLEI South Asia and Udaipur Municipal Corporation (UMC) in collaboration with Bernard van Leer Foundation and support from Urban95 and Parents+ PMU organised a workshop to seek suggestions from government and non-government organisation (including but not limited to NGOs, CBOs, Individual Domain/ Subject Experts) on the Child Safety Guidelines.

Setting the agenda, the Urban95 team highlighted the ongoing and proposed projects, adding that a focused approach is the need of the time for achieving far-reaching results.

Ms Ragini Damor, Deputy Commissioner, UMC,  emphasised the need to make the city safer for young children and their caregivers.  She stated that all the suggestions from this workshop shall be incorporated into the said guideline and that the UMC shall take steps to implement them effectively on the ground, in the process of transforming Udaipur into a child-friendly city in its true sense.                                                                                                                                                                                              The PMU team gave a presentation and explained the need for such guidelines by highlighting the fact that 74% of the total reported cases (accidents involving young children)  in the city happened because of 3 major reasons, i.e. children getting injured due to ‘falling/ tumbling’ within or outside their home, road accidents and bitten by stray animals.  It was also highlighted that the injuries within the house are mostly because of parental negligence due to various reasons. Outside the home, the injuries are mostly because of road traffic, haphazard parking, open drains, and/or broken playing equipment in the park or garden or other such elements in other Infant, Toddler, and their caregivers (ITC) destinations such as Aanganwadi Centers (AWCs), Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs), etc.

Some of the important suggestions from the workshop include a) Sensitisation of service providers and caregivers on ‘positive parenting’, b) Dedicated ITC Zone within the park, c) Dedicated Holding Zones/ Activity Corners for children at other ITC Destinations (AWCs, PHCs), d) Resting Shaded Spaces for caregivers on street and at ITC destinations, e) unobstructed provision of sidewalks/ footpaths on the street/ roads, f) Traffic Calming Measures in and around ITC Dedicated Zones such as road markings and signages, table tops/ bumps, etc. and g) Adequate lighting provision on streets h) Organised parking.

Other important suggestions are a) Having Mobile Crèche and/ or AWC at Construction Sites for construction worker’s children & b) Measures for the prevention of human trafficking etc.