Kochi City Level Workshop

The Nurturing Neighbourhoods 2.0 City-Level Workshop in Kochi brought together over 40 stakeholders including the mayor, senior city officials from city development agencies, community organisations, and knowledge partners to reflect on the city’s journey towards creating young children and caregiver-friendly neighbourhoods. The workshop served as a platform to review progress, strengthen inter departmental coordination, and co-create a shared roadmap to sustain and scale early childhood and parental well-being initiatives within Kochi’s urban systems.

Key highlights :

• The workshop featured an exhibition showcasing Kochi’s journey since 2020, highlighting key initiatives such as the transformation of Anganwadis, activation of neighbourhood public spaces like PJ Antony Cultural Ground, and community engagement efforts promoting parental well-being and responsive caregiving.
• A recognition segment honoured local champions- government officials, frontline workers, and community leaders—for advancing young child-and caregiver-friendly initiatives across the city.
• Participants co-created a shared roadmap for Kochi, focusing on strengthening Anganwadis, parks, health systems, and streets through better design, convergence, and community participation. Key ideas included child-friendly infrastructure, intergenerational parks, sensory-rich public spaces, and safer neighbourhood connectivity.
• The workshop stressed embedding early childhood development and parental well-being within city systems through institutional mechanisms such as an ECD coordination cell, frontline worker capacity building, and dedicated municipal budgets.
• Behaviour change discussions highlighted how community engagement and local champions have increased public space use, strengthened caregiver networks, and improved caregiving practices.
• The session concluded with next steps, including scaling model Anganwadis, strengthening health partnerships, expanding community events, and building citywide community ownership.