Lambeth is on its way to becoming a child-friendly borough

Lambeth Council works with the Child Friendly Cities and Communities program of the United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK). After six months of consulting over 1,500 children and young people as part of the programme, Child Friendly Lambeth (CFL) is now implementing its Action plan. The Action Plan is a document that will guide the council’s journey towards becoming recognized as a UNICEF UK Child Friendly Community. The Child Friendly Lambeth team, Councilor Kind, Member for Families, Children and Education, Councilor Judith Cavanagh and the UNICEF UK Friendly Cities & Communities (CFC) team recently met for a progress review.

As part of the review, UNICEF UK assessed how well the CFL team performed against the agreed program action plan and noted good progress. Of note, they commented on Lambeth’s excellent commitment to district-wide positioning, strong commitment from senior leaders and elected members, excellent work engaging with children and young people.

Lambeth was also praised for including children and young people, and their rights, in the council’s meaningful commitments. UNICEF UK also noted that the Child Friendly Lambeth program was well-known among council staff and had seen “excellent” examples of child-friendly communications through child-friendly videos and documents.

As part of the review, UNICEF UK also made recommendations for further work, which included ensuring that a child rights-based approach is clearly highlighted. Latifa Bangura, Lambeth Child Friendly Ambassador said: “This is such an exciting time to be an ambassador for the CFL program as we really work to make a difference to the lives of children and young people in Lambeth. I really like that we can continue to engage and listen to children and young people and create action. I am so pleased to see that UNICEF UK has been able to recognize how much work has gone into this stage.

“I am honored to be part of this journey to make Lambeth one of the safest boroughs in London and a great place for children and young people to grow up. I love it here and can’t wait to keep improving it.”

Councilor Ben Kind, Member for Children, Families and Education said: “We are absolutely delighted with the results of our collaboration with UNICEF UK. The dedication and hard work put into this program has been phenomenal. What really stands out is how the voices of our children and young people have directly shaped our focus on safety and security.

UNICEF UK highlighted our outstanding efforts to involve children and young people in the development and design of our regeneration initiatives. I am particularly excited about our upcoming Young Inspectors programme. This initiative will empower young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, to evaluate and improve the services we provide. Their first task will be to assess our local special needs provision, ensuring it meets their expectations and requirements.

We remain committed to integrating the perspectives of children and young people in every facet of our work. They are at the heart of everything we do and their input is crucial to making Lambeth a safer and more inclusive place to grow up.”

Sarah Handley, Program Manager for the UNICEF UK Friendly Cities & Communities programme, commented: “We commend the hard work that has already been done in promoting and supporting children’s rights by Lambeth Council and its local partners. Lambeth now has recommendations to follow, to ensure eventual recognition as a UNICEF Child Friendly Community, so that all children and young people growing up in the borough can have a real say and benefit from the decisions and services that shape them life. “

Child Friendly Lambeth is a partnership between Lambeth Council and UNICEF UK. The ambitious three to five year partnership sees councillors, council staff and local organizations promoting children’s rights – as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – to guide decisions affecting children and young people in Lambeth.

Notes for editors:

About child-friendly cities and communities

Child Friendly Cities and Communities is a program of the United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) that works with councils to put children’s rights into practice.

The program aims to create cities and communities across the UK where all children – whether they live in care, use a children’s center or simply visit their local library – have a meaningful say and genuinely benefit from local decisions and services . and spaces that shape their lives.

The program is part of Child Friendly Cities – a global UNICEF initiative launched in 1996 that reaches more than 30 million children in more than 40 countries.

In the UK, we provide training based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and support councils, their partners and children and young people as they work together on an ambitious three to five year journey to international recognition. as a UNICEF child-friendly city or community.

For more information, visit unicef.org.uk/cfc

About UNICEF

UNICEF works in some of the world’s most difficult places to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. In more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. The United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) raises funds for UNICEF’s emergency and development work for children. We also promote and protect children’s rights in the UK and internationally. We are a UK based charity, funded entirely by supporters. For more information, visit unicef.org.uk