After spending six months consulting over 1,500 children and young people throughout the borough about the things that matter most to them, the council has announced the priorities that will underpin the activities and outcomes of the “Child Friendly Lambeth” (CFL) project.
Lambeth’s priorities – or “badges” – voted for by its young people, are:
- Safety and Security,
- Place
- Child Friendly Services.
Under these priorities, Lambeth Council and its partners will seek to address the issues raised by children and young people, in addition to the council’s core focus areas on the Child Friendly Lambeth programme, which are Culture, Communication and Cooperation & Leadership. ‘Equal and included’ will also run throughout the priorities.
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 organisations turning to children’s rights – as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – to guide decisions that affect children and young people in Lambeth. As Child Friendly Lambeth embarks on the next phase of its bid to becoming recognised as a Child Friendly Community, children and young people will continue to influence decision-making in these priority areas and play an integral part of raising awareness about children’s rights across the borough.
Latifa Bangura, Child Friendly Lambeth Ambassador said: “I am proud to be a CFL Ambassador because I wanted to ensure that every child in Lambeth reaches their full potential. The CFL programme can make astonishing changes to my life as I can make a difference to others in Lambeth.
“Now that my fellow children and young people have chosen the programme’s badges, I’m really excited to continue working with the programme. We can start working towards making Lambeth the safest borough in London, while always keeping children and young people at the heart of what we do.”
Naomi Danquah, Child Friendly Cities & Communities Programme Director for UNICEF UK said: “Lambeth continues to find creative ways to listen to its youngest residents, who have now told the council what they want to see change in their local area. This is a huge milestone in the borough’s journey towards recognition as a UNICEF UK Child Friendly Community and we’re excited to see how the community comes together over the next few years to take action in these important areas.”
Cllr Ben Kind, Lead Member for Children and Young People said: “At the council we are excited about our Child Friendly journey and this next step in making sure we implement changes that children and young people want to see.
“Voting was conducted in person, at various schools in the borough, through Discovery sessions with partners and online. We are very grateful to all the children and young people who took part in deciding how we can make Lambeth the best place to grow up in London. We will deliver against these priorities collaboratively with UNICEF UK, the Council, partnerships and of course, children and young people.”
Adults, elected members, council and partnership staff also took part in the badge voting process but when calculating the results, children and young people’s votes are given more weight.
To learn more about CFL and the consultation, visit www.lambeth.gov.uk/childfriendly and watch the consultation results video.
Notes to Editors:
The council consulted with 1551 children and young people, aged two-25, in the borough over a period of six months, to establish the priorities for the CFL programme, in partnership with UNICEF UK.
About Child Friendly Cities and Communities
Child Friendly Cities and Communities is a UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK)
programme that works with councils to put children’s rights into practice.
The programme aims to create cities and communities in the UK where all children – whether they are living in care, using a children’s centre, or simply visiting their local library – have a meaningful say in, and truly benefit from, the local decision, services and spaces that shape their lives.
The programme is part of Child Friendly Cities – a global UNICEF initiative launched in 1996
that reach more than 30 million children in close to 50 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 towards international recognition as a UNICEF UK Child Friendly City or Community.
For more information visit unicef.org.uk/cfc
