The Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) was created through Presidential Decree 603, otherwise known as the Child and Youth Welfare Code in 1974. It is mandated to coordinate the implementation and enforcement of all laws, formulate, monitor, and evaluate policies, programs, and measures for children.

Executive Order No. 806 signed in 2009 and Amended Executive Order No. 778 affirmed that CWC shall continue to function and exercise the same powers pursuant to the provisions of Presidential Decree 603 and Executive Order 233 and attached to Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The Council for the Welfare of Children is headed by Executive Director V, Undersecretary Mitch Cajayon-Uy.

Vision of Council for the Welfare of Children

The focal government inter-agency body providing dynamic leadership in ensuring a child-friendly and child-sensitive society where every child fully enjoys his or her rights.

 

Mission of Council for the Welfare of Chidren

CWC shall undertake its coordinative role for children through:

- Coordination of implementation and enforcement of all laws relative to the promotion of children’s welfare;

- Formulation and advocacy for the implementation of policies, programs, and projects;

- Monitoring and evaluation of policies, programs, and measures for children;

- Advocacy for child rights and mobilization of resources;

- Building strong networks, partnerships, and coordination mechanisms; and,

- Institution building of partners and stakeholders.

 

Plans and Frameworks for Children of the Council for the Welfare of Children

Child 21 and its National Plan of Action for Children (NPAC)

The Philippine National Strategic Framework for Plan Development for Children, 2000 – 2025, or Child 21 is the overarching long-term development framework that drives the country’s vision for children. It provides the road map towards the progressive realization of children’s rights and laid the foundation for a rights-based approach to planning and programming woven across the child’s stages of development.

The vision of Child 21 is translated into clear, actionable, and time-bound plans in medium-term multiple-year time frames toward disparity reduction concretized in the National Plan of Action for Children and local plans for actions for children.

 

Child-Friendly Philippines: A Caring and Protective Society for, by, and with the Children

The vision of Child-Friendly Philippines: A Caring and Protective Society for, by, and with the Children (CFP-CPSC) is the translation of the commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child that needs to be shared and promoted among all sectors and levels of Philippine society.

The CFP-CPSC culture provides an overall framework for all the advocacy and programming initiatives for and on behalf of children.

Legislative and Research Agenda for Children

CWC continually and periodically develops the Legislative and Research Agenda for Children as basis for the enactment of laws that not only give priority to children but address the prevailing and emerging issues and concerns affecting them.

 

Macro Subaybay Bata Monitoring System (SBMS)

SBMS is an instrument to generate information on the status of implementation of the Convention of the Right of Children (CRC). The system translates the country’s vision for the Filipino children into concrete, measurable impact indicators within the context of the CRC and a continuous life cycle (Child 21). Macro Subaybay MS provides general and aggregated picture of children at the national and regional levels; generates information on the status of the children in the country; and, supports the production of Annual Status of Filipino Children Reports and the Philippine Implementation Report on the CRC, which is every five years.

Sources of data are the administrative reports, census, and survey outcomes.

 

Flagship Projects of Council for the Welfare of Children

Children’s Month Celebration

Presidential Proclamation 267, series of 1993 declared October as “Children’s Month”. This is in recognition of the importance of the role of the child within the Filipino family and in nation building. As lead in this celebration, National Agencies, Non-Government Organizations, and other stakeholders on children on child rights promotion and protection are mobilized to partner with CWC in undertaking activities at national and regional level.

 

Presidential Award for the Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities

Executive Order No. 184 series of 1999 entitled “Establishing the Presidential Award for the Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities” is an annual search, which gives recognition to local government units who have championed and sustained child-friendly governance. This undertaking is also one of the advocacy and monitoring strategies of CWC for the CRC.

 

Conferment of the Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance

The Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance is a recognition and auditing system on local government units (LGUs) producing positive results for children. Through the mandatory audit, all LGUs nationwide shall have to meet or pass the 12 indicators along health and nutrition, education, protection and child participation, among others. CWC will use the audit results to confer the Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance to qualified LGUs to be nominees for the Presidential Award for the Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities.

The CWC Board confers the Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance to LGUs that passed the mandatory audit. This is a partnership with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

 

Communities of Practice on Child-Friendly Local Governance

The Communities of Practice on Child-Friendly Local Governance (CoP – CFLG) is a replication strategy that establishes a peer-to-peer coaching and learning methodology banking on the exemplary practices and mechanisms of LGUs producing positive results for children and on the potential of other LGUs to replicate such practices. It primarily aims to capacitate LGUs on child rights programming through effective Local Councils for the Protection of Children (LCPC) with the end in view of institutionalizing child-friendly local governance.

For related entries, please read Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Situationer, CWC: Bata Protektahan Karahasan Wakasan The Philippine Plan of Action to End Violence Against Children, and The State of Filipino Children Report 2015: A Safe and Protective Environment for Children.

 

For more information, please visit www.cwc.gov.ph, www.facebook.com/batabidaka or the official YouTube channel, CWChildrenOfficial.

Council for the Welfare of Children Office Address:

10 Apo St. Brgy. Sta. Teresita, Quezon City 1114, Philippines

Council for the Welfare of Children Contact Numbers:

(632) 740 – 8864 and (632) 781 – 1039 local 1001

Fax Numbers: 740 – 5490 and 740 - 2010

Council for the Welfare of Children Email Address:

cwc@cwc.gov.ph