KAKINADA: Kakinada is one of the ten winning cities in the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge, a national initiative to shape neighbourhoods across India that support healthy early childhood development.
The challenge was launched in November 2020 by the Smart Cities Mission, ministry of housing and urban affairs, in collaboration with the Bernard van Leer Foundation and technical partner World Resources Institute India. The winning cities, announced by Manoj Joshi, secretary, housing ministry, also include Bengaluru, Hubballi-Dharwad, Indore Jabalpur, Kochi, Kohima, Rourkela, Vadodara, and Warangal.
Finalists were selected following evaluation of their proposed and implemented projects.
In the first stage of the challenge, Kakinada Smart City Corporation Limited and Kakinada Municipal Corporation responded to the ministry's call for proposals to implement neighbourhood-level pilot projects improving public spaces, streets, transport and access to services to enhance the health and wellbeing of 0-5-year-old children and their caregivers.
In February 2021, Kakinada was shortlisted by an expert committee from over 60 applicant cities across the country. Over the next seven months, it was part of a cohort of 25 cities that received technical assistance and capacity building to solicit citizen participation, implement trials and pilots and build consensus around their proposals. KSCCL and KMC chose Ramarao Peta to test the pilot interventions.
Over the next two years, Kakinada and the other winners will be supported to scale up infant, toddler, caregiver-friendly neighbourhood interventions across the city.
