Smart Cities Mission: 25 cities chosen for Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge

As many as 25 cities from across the country including Agartala, Bengaluru and Coimbatore among others have been selected for the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge cohort. The Challenge is a three-year initiative aimed at supporting early childhood-friendly neighbourhoods under the government’s Smart Cities Mission.

Key Highlights

• The cities that have been selected for the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge cohort are Agartala, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Dharamshala, Erode, Hubballi-Dharwad, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Kakinada, Kochi, Kohima, Kota, Nagpur, Rajkot, Ranchi, Rohtak, Rourkela, Salem, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruppur, Ujjain, Vadodara, and Warangal.
• The 25 shortlisted cohort cities will receive support and technical assistance over the next 6 months to test and strengthen their proposals.
• As many as 63 cities from across the country had submitted applications proposing neighbourhood-level pilot projects in public space, mobility, and access to services to enhance the physical and psychological health of young children and their caregivers of which 25 cities have been selected by the evaluation committee.
• The Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, announced 25 shortlisted cities for the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge cohort, in collaboration with the Bernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF) and technical partner WRI India.
• The first stage of the Challenge involved an open call for applications from city agencies and closed on February 7, 2021.
• During the three-month application period, over 100 cities were engaged through remote or in-person discussions and online capacity-building workshops under the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge. There was an enthusiastic response from cities to focus on the needs of young children aged 0 – 5 years and their caregivers in the public realm.

SOURCE: The Indian Express

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