KSCDL aspires to provide child-friendly environment

KOHIMA — Kohima Smart City Development Limited (KSCDL), in collaboration with the World Resources Institute (WRI) India, organised a city-level workshop in Kohima on Tuesday with an aim to fostering a child and family-friendly urban environment.

The workshop was organised following Kohima’s commendable achievement as one of the top 10 winning cities in the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge (NNC) hosted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

Addressing the gathering, Sudipto Barua, programme associate for Sustainable Cities and Transport at WRI India, highlighted Kohima’s picturesque landscape and the noteworthy statistic that is home to over one lakh children under the age of 6, constituting 12% of the city’s total population. Barua emphasised Kohima’s significance as a top-tier city in the NNC, emphasising the challenge’s focus on shaping cities through the lens of young children and caregivers.

He stated that the workshop was a celebration of those efforts to reflect the vision of transforming Kohima into a child-centric city while acknowledging the pivotal role played by community-based individuals in developing child-friendly public spaces within and around Kohima’s wards.

Kekhriesetuo Ziephrü, NNC senior general manager and convenor of KSCDL, informed that MoHUA, in collaboration with the Bernard van Leer Foundation and technical support from WRI, India, hosted NNC intervention programme in 2020 with an aim to incorporate a focus on neighbourhood-level improvements in Indian cities that in turn would promote healthy and early childhood development.

He informed that NNC is a three-year initiative that aims to work with Indian cities and their partners to pilot and scale ways to improve public space, mobility, neighbourhood planning, access to early childhood services and amenities, and data management across city agencies. It would also build a platform for peer-to-peer learning and sharing best practices between cities, he added.

Jeenal Sawla, principal advisor of DAM unit at Smart Cities Mission, expressed delight in discovering the ongoing initiatives within Kohima Smart City spanning the past three years. She lauded the collaborative efforts of line departments and Kohima Smart City in uniting the community to face those challenges.

While highlighting their roles in creating small public spaces, Sawla has sought involvement of citizens in identifying areas for conversion into parks.

Ipshita Sinha, representative of Van Leer Foundation, also delivered a virtual address by emphasising on the critical need to prioritise and ensuring ample opportunities for a positive start in life for all infants and toddlers. Sinha outlined the foundation’s approach through NNC, detailing their focus on cities like Kohima.

She highlighted the intention to strategically plan and construct public spaces that contribute to fostering a diverse network of connections throughout the city, specifically designed to cater to the needs of babies, toddlers, and their caregivers.

Meanwhile, Madhura Kulkarni, programme manager at WRI India, underscored the profound impact of early experiences on shaping the future of children’s brains and emphasised the need to tailor cities for infants, toddlers and their caregivers through NNC.

Kulkarni revealed that Kohima was among the 10 winning cities selected for phase-II under NNC. She outlined the comprehensive approach taken by the winning cities, focusing on reimagining parks, gardens, outdoor play spaces, enhancing access to early childhood services, ensuring safe and walk-able streets, and adapting public spaces and transit facilities with amenities for early childhood.

She further emphasised on the necessity of creating environments conducive to the experiences of all children.

Also speaking on the occasion, the deputy commissioner of Kohima, Kumar Ramnikant, urged citizens to actively contribute to the city’s development. While acknowledging the collaborative efforts of KSCDL and WRI India, he highlighted the necessity of addressing the challenges faced by pedestrians, especially children and the elderly.

He underscored the importance of creating facilities by catering to the needs of children through a collective effort to enhance the quality of public spaces in the neighborhood. He further expressed confidence of overcoming those challenges with active participation of the citizens in the future.

CEO of KSCDL, Kezha Theunuo, shared insights from his experience in exploring green and blue schoolyards in Rotterdam, a multicultural city in the Netherlands which emphasises on fostering biodiversity and reducing stress by promoting walking, cycling, and recreational activities.

Drawing parallels with Rotterdam, Theunuo expressed hope that Kohima could become a child and family-friendly destination.

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