The signing of the Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) Annual Work Plan was carried out by the Surabaya City Government together with UNICEF Indonesia and the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) at the West Building of Balai Pemuda, Jl. Governor Suryo No. 15, Surabaya, on 14 November 2023. This signing marks Surabaya as the first city in Indonesia to join the CFCI global network.

As a leading city in the implementation of Kabupaten/Kota Layak Anak (Child-Friendly City) in Indonesia and a holder of the “Utama” award for six consecutive years, Surabaya would like to strengthen its efforts to fulfill children’s rights by enhancing meaningful participation and empowerment of the children and young people.

Since 1996, UNICEF’s CFCI framework has helped cities in all parts of the world to fulfill the rights of children, using the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as its foundation. The global network of Child Friendly Cities around the world connects diverse stakeholders who are committed to make their cities and communities more child friendly.

On the other hand, Surabaya City Government has participated in a UNICEF-sponsored CFCI Summit and pledged to support the Youth Manifesto that was declared at the Summit in 2019 and has collaborated with UNICEF ever since to continuously enhance the children’s protection and well-being. Therefore, this signing was carried out because Surabaya always has a commitment to become a child-friendly place. This is linked to the vision of "mutual cooperation towards an advanced, humanist and sustainable world city" which is outlined in the mission of realizing child welfare, educating children as superior human resources, improving infrastructure for children, developing child-friendly public services, and providing legal protection for children.

The Mayor of Surabaya, Eri Cahyadi, expresses his appreciation for the collaboration between the Surabaya City Government, UNICEF Indonesia and Bappenas in the CFCI Program. Eri says that children are the nation's assets and hopes, so they need to be given special attention and protection. Furthermore, Eri invites all parties to participate and synergize to jointly build Surabaya as a friendly, safe and prosperous city.

It is expected that the CFCI program can provide real benefits for children in Surabaya, especially in terms of health, education and participation in Surabaya’s development.

CFCI is a global initiative led by UNICEF to support local governments in realizing children's rights at the local level. The CFCI program aims to facilitate the efforts of the Surabaya City Government in realizing the aspiration of Surabaya as a Child Friendly City, namely a city that fulfills children's rights and protects children from all forms of violence, discrimination and exploitation.

The CFCI program focuses on five priority areas, as follows: (1) Improving the quality of health, education and child protection; (2) Strengthening children's participation in planning, budgeting and monitoring in the city’s development; (3) Increasing capacity and coordination between government, society and the business world in building child-friendly city; (4) Increasing public awareness and contribution for children's rights; and (5) Increasing the availability and utilization of data related to the circumstances of children in Surabaya.