UNICEF to develop local social plan in Myanmar's Chin State

The United Nations Children's Fund in cooperation with Myanmar Institute for Integrated Development ( MIID) will develop the first-ever child focused Local Social Plan in Myanmar's western Chin State, a press release of UNICEF said Tuesday.

The initiative could benefit children and women, supplementing the State's Comprehensive 5-year Development Plan 2016-21, according to the press release.

The plan with financial support from the Government of Denmark aims at producing new results for children and their families within the decentralization reforms led by the government, the release said.

Children in Chin are more likely to be underweight and stunted than their peers living in other parts of Myanmar.

The release stated that only 6 percent of children in Chin are delivered in a health facility, compared with 36.2 per cent in Myanmar on average.

"The Local Social Plan addresses unmet development needs and rights, prioritized by the people of Chin State and the Chin State Government, such as food security, improved access to and retention in education, and expanded coverage of quality health services", said Bertrand Bainvel, UNICEF Representative to Myanmar.

To mobilize support for Chin's LSP projects from development partners, a Development Partner Forum took place here on Monday, putting children and their families in the center of the development of the country.

Peter Lysholt Hansen, Danish Ambassador to Myanmar, said " Denmark is very pleased to have provided financial support to this plan, which is the result of a bottom-up participatory planning process involving key stakeholders."

UNICEF and MIID have recently shared the methodological guidelines of LSP and Chin State experiences with the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development.