Award given to child friendly village

As part of its "Healthy Village" programme, the Syrian government has given Hawayej Bou Messaa in Deir Ezzor governorate, 421 km northeast of the capital, Damascus, the award for the most child-friendly village for 2004. The award is given in appreciation of the village's efforts to protect children and provide a child-friendly atmosphere. "The award criteria include ensuring health services for village children, to ensure they are brought for the full course of immunisations, getting all children into basic education, and ensuring a safe place for them to play," Dr Fawaz al-Raddawi, head of the healthy villages department in Deir Ezzor, told IRIN. Additionally, the project works to create child-friendly homes, which should make up at least 50 percent of the total housing in the village. This means that the home environment should ensure a child's protection, survival and growth through care, love and tenderness, al-Raddawi said. "The population of the winning village, Hawayej Bou Messaa, is 5,000, and 800 children will benefit from the award," he added. The award of US $1,000 has been given every year since 2002, with this year's proceeds earmarked for a small health centre in the village. In addition, an appreciation certificate was given to the village in recognition of the huge efforts made by the community to meet the set criteria. Run by the Ministry of Health in cooperation with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), the project creates healthy competition between villages. "The competition was a great opportunity to encourage villagers to pay further attention to children's health, education and protection," Engineer Badr al-Salman, head of the development committee in the village, told IRIN. He explained that there was a joint effort in carrying out various child-related activities in the village, such as cleaning campaigns, creating safe playgrounds, prohibiting smoking and promoting immunisation. "This award is considered an incentive for us and for neighbouring villages to make further efforts for a safe and happy life for our children," al-Salman explained, pointing out that 23 villages participated in this year's competition. Meanwhile, local children were delighted with news of the award. "I feel proud that my village has won the prize. I am very happy because my village loves children and we take care of them," Malakeh Hasan Al-Merhesh, 10, told IRIN. The programme aims to improve the lives of people in rural areas and support the realisation of the goal "health for all", enhance self-dependency, and develop society through women's effective participation, Dr Mohsen Kanaan, Director of the "Healthy Village" programme, told IRIN. "Certainly, this can be achieved through giving the rural community more say in the development process and of moving decision-making closer to the people," he added. So far the programme has reached 500 villages throughout Syria with a total population of 1.4 million working to achieve the basic needs of development. Kanaan pointed out that the project was gaining momentum with a recent contribution of 4 million euros from the European Union (EU). There are now plans to expand the programme to reach 1,500 villages across the country within the next 5 years.