 home home admin mon 1202020 1708 nurturing neighbourhoods challenge shaping cities for young children and their families the nurturing neighbourhoods challenge is a 3year initiative hosted by the smart cities mission ministry of housing and urban affairs government of india in collaboration with the bernard van leer foundation and wri india the challenge enables indian cities to adopt an early childhood lens in designing neighbourhoodlevel improvements that promote the health and wellbeing of young children and their caregivers photo credits bernard van leer foundation cohort announced  congratulations to 25 cities selected for next stage the journey so far over 60 cities participated in an open call for applications and conceptualized early childhoodoriented solutions in urban neighbourhoods 25 shortlisted cities will now implement trials and pilots over six months to strengthen their proposals open to all indian cities with population above 5 lakhs smart cities and capitals of states union territories agencies such as development authorities smart city spvs metro rail agencies etc that have substantial area under their jurisdiction can also apply cities need not be part of the smart cities mission to be eligible to participate the need with over 37 million children under age 5 living in urban areas across india census 2011 an early childhoodcentric approach to city planning design and management helps indian cities achieve goals of economic growth health safety and sustainability adopting an early childhood lens can help city leaders policy makers and urban practitioners envision safe inclusive and resilient cities for all read more key dates below are key dates of the nurturing neighbourhoods challenge any change will be communicated to cities february 20 2020 launch of programme june 2021 peerpeer workshop  february 18 2021 cohort announcement september 13 2021 final pitch jury  