Manchester City Council visits Ilford, to harness the experience of the London Borough of Redbridge as it works towards UNICEF Child Friendly Recognition

Project leads for the Child Friendly programme from Manchester City Council visited Redbridge Council last week in pursuit of tips and advice on their journey towards making their city child-friendly.

Redbridge Council has been working with the United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) for two years on the Child Friendly Cities & Communities programme, and is among local authorities leading the way on upholding children’s rights. In this time colleagues from across tens of council departments and services have collaborated, on top of their day-jobs, to fundamentally change and develop the Council’s services to make them work with and for children.

Redbridge colleagues shared with Manchester City Council how they have re-shaped almost all functions of the Council, bringing children right into the heart of local decision-making and service design.

Redbridge Council has been working with the United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) for two years on the Child Friendly Cities & Communities programme, and is among local authorities leading the way on upholding children’s rights. In this time colleagues from across tens of council departments and services have collaborated, on top of their day-jobs, to fundamentally change and develop the Council’s services to make them work with and for children.

Redbridge colleagues shared with Manchester City Council how they have re-shaped almost all functions of the Council, bringing children right into the heart of local decision-making and service design.

Manchester colleagues heard that children in Redbridge worked with architects to design a hub in Seven Kings, ensuring it met their needs, had the privacy they wanted from the street, had rooms and spaces solely for them to come and do homework and meet with friends. They chose the décor for their spaces within the building, made sure there was space to park prams, and considered the security features they felt would be appropriate.

The Redbridge team revealed that children not only have play equipment on the pedestrian area of Ilford High Road, but local children chose the equipment, ensuring the Council truly understood what was needed, and what would be most popular. Any trip down the high road demonstrates the success of this, as musical notes ring out as children play a super-sized xylophone, and challenge their parents to giant tic-tac-toe.

Redbridge Council workers shared that children help develop policy in our borough. Young people met with cabinet members in the Council chamber to discuss mental health support in the local area. Their perspectives on what’s available, and what their peers may need, has fed into a new policy which is being developed. Manchester City Council were interested to hear about the depth of listening carried out in Redbridge, and how intrinsic children’s views are to new policy and services in the borough.

Although at an earlier stage of the recognition process, Manchester City Council are clearly driven to ensure that the children of Manchester help develop a city that also protects children’s rights, that listens to their voices, and that is built with young people in mind.
Redbridge Council and Manchester City Council plan to keep their conversation going into the future, sharing knowledge to ensure both places will always be best-of-breed as communities that uphold children’s rights, and respect, listen to and nurture children.

 

Cllr Jas Athwal, Leader of Redbridge Council said, “As children are the future of our borough, we believe it is critical to involve them at all levels of decision-making and to design spaces in Redbridge that really work for them. Our work towards becoming a truly child friendly borough is pushing ahead at pace. We are leading the way and are hoping to become the first borough in England to gain recognition as a UNICEF Child Friendly borough.

“Redbridge is proudly incorporating children’s views into every part of Council policy and in every Council service. I’m pleased that others have noticed the changes we have been making, and it’s a delight to be able to share knowledge and swap ideas with our friends at Manchester City Council, who are also incredibly driven to put children at the heart of their fantastic city.

“I wish Manchester City Council every success in their own journey to becoming truly child-friendly. Imagine a world where everyone put children first, where children’s needs and opinions were respected and their voices were truly heard.”

 

 

Ruth Denton, Child Friendly Lead at Manchester City Council said, “It has been a fantastic opportunity to hear from colleagues in Redbridge on their progress of the programme. The issues with children and young people that are being encountered in Manchester and very similar in Redbridge. It was such an insightful meeting to hear Child Friendly Redbridge examples of best practice, that will help to inform our work in Manchester. We really look forward to continuing to stay in contact with Redbridge CFR Programme Team.”

 

Mushtak Khan, Interim Head of Youth, Play and Participation Service said, “I am blown away with the amount of progress by Redbridge Council, Partners and key stakeholders have made with Children and Young People. This will give Manchester’s CFC team food for thought to develop ideas with our Children & Young People for a joint approach to develop as a Child Friendly City. A big thank you to Redbridge Council for sharing their CFC journey with us that will certainly help Manchester to achieve CFC status.”

 

Sarah Handley, Child Friendly Cities & Communities programme manager, UNICEF UK, said: “Both Redbridge and Manchester are part of a thriving network of cities and communities working with UNICEF UK to embed the rights of every child – as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – at the heart of their policies and services. It’s wonderful to see the exchange of knowledge and inspiring practise taking place locally, and most importantly, to see the ways in which all children and young people are being supported and empowered to enjoy their rights.”