Making Nottingham Child Friendly - Nottingham

Child Friendly Nottingham – Discovery Phase Consultation

We opened the consultation phase in summer 2022 and we brought the city’s children and young people together so they could say what was important to them.

Click here to see what our children and young people said during a Primary Parliament consultation CFC Discovery Day - Google Drive

From the consultations, so far, we are improving our understanding of how our children and young people see and feel about their city.

We have produced an animation of the main things our children and young people highlighted during the consultations. Click here to see the video Child Friendly Nottingham - YouTube

A huge ‘Thank YOU’ to all of the children and young people who took part. The Child Friendly Nottingham team and partners massively value your input - thank you for your views, honesty and wisdom.

How Do We Work Towards Becoming Child Friendly Nottingham?

The Child Friendly Nottingham programme employs UNICEF UK’s badge framework which allow us to focus on defined areas of work during our partnership with UNICEF UK.

Achieving the badges shows how the city council, organisations, young and older citizens can make Nottingham truly child friendly. There are three ‘core’ badges (or priority areas) that are mandatory for all cities

Our goals

Badges Chosen By Nottingham’s Children and Young People

Safe and Secure

Children and young people said that they don’t feel safe enough going to parks, crossing roads or on the way to school. Older young people expressed concerns about their relationships with the police. “If we had a safe and secure city and everyone feeling safe and secure more people would move around the city and visit the city.” "If people don't feel safe they will stop coming." "We should think about others which will be important as this will make them feel safer too.”

Education and Learning

Children and young people said they feel pressure around their futures. They feel that they have limited opportunities for further educations and practical experiences. "We all will need to get a job and education and learning will help you get a better job and make good money." "Education is good for careers, It is good to learn from the past." "(Education and learning) helps us follow our dreams and be responsible."

Healthy

Children took a wider view of health. Many commenting that there are not enough activities to support their general health. They wanted more educations in how being active helps improve their mental health. Young people linked healthy diets with healthy and active lives. They want suggestions for more education on how to eat and be healthy. "Poor health leads on to anti-social behaviour and crime, poor eating leads to other problems, poor health will impact on jobs and family life." "(We need to) look after ourselves and our emotional health."

Equal and Included

A Child Friendly City is one that promotes children’s rights and encourages children to have more of a say in decisions that affect them. It creates inclusive places where children are

are healthy
feel protected and safe
educated
don’t experience discrimination (in language or deeds)
live in a city which is rich in culture
has a cohesive and culturally rich environment.

Broadly speaking it ensures that children and their needs are central to the city and community agenda.

UNICEF UK Mandatory Badges

Culture

People value and respect children and young people and know about and respect children’s rights. Children and young people should consistently enjoy interaction with city organisations' staff and people within their community who know and understand how to use a child rights-based approach to improve their work. Children and young people will feel welcome and respected in everyday interaction, communication and conversation (i.e. talk, acts, words and gestures) with adults and their peers. They don’t feel judged or stereotyped because of;

who they are
where they live
what they look like or anything else connected to their identity

Their rights are understood and respected by all in society and publicly championed by all leaders.

Communication

All children and young people understand how they can find information they need. That is information about their rights and support that might make their lives easier, healthier, safer and happier. The community has a better awareness and understanding of Child Rights locally and the situation for Children and Young People and understand how they can make positive change. When important decisions affecting children, young people and families are being made information will be shared in effective ways. Organisation's communications staff and local media understand and value children’s rights and know how to put them into practice. This will enable children and young people to see positive stories about their achievements celebrated in the media.

Cooperation and Leadership

People work together to make the city better for children and young people. They give children the opportunity to be involved in decision making. All adult decision makers value the importance of incorporating children’s rights. They work together and have the skills to make this happen. All staff and leaders – no matter where they work - are skilled Child Rights Champions, and are able to use tools such as Child Rights Impact Assessments. They will collaborate and cooperate across organisations on all issues relating to the rights of children and young people.