Child Friendly Communities is off to a flying start!

I’m Emma, one of the five Article 12 Advisers working on Child Friendly Communities, which is a new initiative by UNICEF UK to try and get children and young people’s rights embedded at the heart of UK society. It’s an award scheme for local authorities who can show that children’s rights are known about, respected and actively upheld. If they can prove this then they can call themselves a UNICEF certified ‘Child Friendly Community’.

The Article 12 Advisers are a group of young people from across the country helping to give a young person’s perspective on the project. UNICEF themselves are upholding children’s rights by hearing and respecting the views of young people. This means our right to have our views listened to, promised in Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; is upheld within UNICEF itself. We also help UNICEF to make sure that what they’re doing will provide real benefits for children and young people.

So far we’ve been working on the assessment framework for Child Friendly Communities, which local authorities will have to fulfil. We have all been giving our perspective on it and looking at ways in which young people can be involved in the process. Personally I’ve been looking at how training in children’s rights, for staff who work with children and young people, will have an effect on our lives

On 16th February we had the first meeting of the advisory committee for Child Friendly Communities. This was a meeting of groups, charities and other organisations who work on children’s rights or might have an interest in the project. We broke into small groups and assessed different aspects of the framework.

From my point of view it was simultaneously terrifying and very exciting and interesting. On the one hand, having to talk to this group of people who work in children’s rights, who clearly will know more than me, was very intimidating, but on the other hand to get their perspective on the project was fantastic and I know I learnt a lot. It was great to get feedback on the framework and I felt the meeting was very successful.

So the work now goes on, and we’ll keep you updated on what we’re doing.

The proof is in the pudding!

Katie takes part in the second DECC Youth Advisory Panel pilot session.

DECC's commitment to young people and our futures was truly established for me a week ago, as I was invited to attend the second pilot session for the Youth Advisory Panel. The fact that DECC are willing to give up almost an entire day to listen to what young people have to say and assure us that the Youth Advisory Panel is a priority for the current Government really fills me with hope.

The day kicked off bright and early, with a lengthy discussion about the purpose of the panel, how the panel members would be selected, the role of individual members and how DECC can support us, and these ideas were then presented to Ed Miliband. Whilst the details are still to be confirmed, here are the key messages that I took away from the day:

The DECC Youth Panel represents the youth voice to DECC, particularly in ensuring the long term impacts of policy are sound, safe and agreed to by the future generation. It aims to:

• Hold DECC accountable to youth stakeholders
• Advise on how to work with and engage young people
• Where appropriate, and where agreed by the youth panel, to proactively engage with wider youth audiences

In the afternoon we discussed DECC's Consultation on Skills for the Low Carbon Economy, which is looking at the skills needed to meet the UK's targets for 2020 (reduction of 34% in greenhouse gas emissions) and for 2050 (reduction in at least 80% in greenhouse gas emissions). Key areas of the economy that were identified include:

• Decarbonising power
• Decarbonising transport
• Decarbonising buildings, construction
• Decarbonising supply chains across the entire economy
• Climate change adaptation

Our discussion mainly focused on the need to encourage more young people to choose a low-carbon career. We learnt from David Kidney that there will be up to 70,000 jobs available in the wind industry alone, and therefore teachers and career advisors have a key role to play in getting this sort of information across and telling young people that there is a long-term, sustainable and worthwhile career in helping Britain's transition into a low carbon economy.

The DECC Youth Panel will not meet again until after the General Election, providing that the party that wins still gives the panel a thumbs up. But until then, we're all busy drafting reports from the meeting and making the most of our newly established connections with young climate leaders from across the country!

Katie x

UNICEF HQ through the eyes of an Article 12 Advisor

I’m Evie and recently was appointed an Article 12 Advisor to UNICEF UK’s Child Friendly Communities initiative. Along with 5 other people from Britain, I will be working with UNICEF in 2010 to implement the initiative among British towns and promote a ‘child-friendly’ approach in all communities. Recently, I went to New York City with my family and was lucky enough to visit the headquarters of UNICEF on the last day of my visit.

I spent most of my visit with Cristina Gallegos, who runs the UNICEF Voices of Youth website, and she showed me around the building. The first thing that struck me was the size of the building and the amount of people who worked there – it’s incredible how many people work there, and how much all of these people genuinely care about children is a really positive thing to remember.

The Voices of Youth website is a great forum for young people to discuss issues that relate to them and that they care about – these range from AIDS awareness and the Junior 8 summit to children’s rights and media coverage, along with hundreds of other topics. All the conversations are logged and recorded, as a way of integrating young people’s views into projects. For example, a document was published called A World Fit for Us, which used stories and comments from the VOY forums to explore the impact of the UN Special Session on Children in 2002. The VOY site also carries news items and themes to inform and initiate discussions among the thousands of young people who use it.

I really enjoyed my visit, and extend my sincerest thanks to Cristina Gallegos for showing me around and to Matthew King for helping us to organize the visit. I’d love to return in the future!

Evie xo

Follow the Article 12 Advisors and Child Friendly Communities on Facebook.

DECC Youth Panel

One of the discussions with Ed Miliband at the DECC Youth Panel pilot

On Tuesday 9^th February, I was fortunate enough to be able to take part in something which young people around the UK had been looking forward to for some time. The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has finally agreed to set up a ‘Youth Advisory Panel’, and, as one of the ‘Copenhagen 4’, I was given the opportunity to take part in a pilot session for this Panel.

Youth involvement in the climate issue is important for two reasons. Firstly, it is the young people around the world who are being hit hardest by climate change already – when drought decimates a family’s crop, it is the children who are forced to work the land harder; when rivers run dry it is young women and girls who are forced to walk ever further in search of water, and when disaster strikes the child victims are all too numerous.

Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, the decisions taken now will affect the world which we, as young people, inherit. DECC is launching a ‘Roadmap to 2050’ report this Spring, which sets out how the UK is going to achieve its 80% reduction in emissions by mid-century. Therefore they were keen to hear what we thought about how the UK should use its energy by mid-century.

At the meeting, we had a brief introduction about DECC’s plans, and then got into small groups to discuss what we wanted the world of 2050 to look like. There were about 15 young people between the ages of 16-25 from loads of different organisations, and it was great getting to know them all – it’s amazing just how many different groups are getting involved with youth climate activism! The best part of the day was when Ed Miliband walked in and we got to have a question and answer session with him: getting to miss a day of school for the meeting was fantastic, but meeting Ed was even better!

Ed with some even younger climate activists! (Image courtesy of DECC)

He was really friendly and open, and it was great to have his support: I think his presence was testament to his and his department’s commitment to the idea of having our input on DECC policy. There was, of course, a concern about the stability of the future of this Youth Panel, given the looming General Election. Who knows who will be sitting in Ed’s chair in a few months’ time, and who knows what they’ll think of our involvement? We’ll just have to wait and see…

We are now feeding back to them about the process and how we think it went. They seem very keen to continue the Panel and to make it as large a success as possible, which is really great news for all young people in the UK and around the world.

Keep reading this blog for updates on what happens next with the Youth Advisory Panel and for more about what the 'Copenhagen 4' are doing...

Thanks!

Luke