Unicef has launched a new partnership with Redbridge Council to improve the lives of children in the borough.

Ilford Recorder: Staff and pupils at Mill Grove making pledges and helping shape services which affect them.Staff and pupils at Mill Grove making pledges and helping shape services which affect them. (Image: Redbridge Council)

Today, Friday, October 4, leading council members made a series of pledges which focus on the rights and welfare of children, in five different locations - John Bramston School, Mill Grove, New City College, Frenfords and Lab Central at Redbridge Central Library.

The aim is for Redbridge to become a "child-friendly" borough where children both understand their rights and feel they have the ability and influence to shape services affecting them.

Specially-branded buses toured the borough throughout the day to help raise awareness and support for the programme, and provide information on how the community can get involved.

The first phase of the programme focuses on engaging with children and young people to understand what life is like in the borough for them and what is important to them.

Ilford Recorder: Staff and pupils at Mill Grove making pledges and helping shape services which affect them.Staff and pupils at Mill Grove making pledges and helping shape services which affect them. (Image: Redbridge Council)

"By working towards our child-friendly status we will continue to build on our commitment to ensuring the voices, needs and rights of children and young people form a fundamental part of our policies, services and decisions," said Councillor Elaine Norman, cabinet member for children and young people.

During the three to five-year journey to achieve Unicef's child-friendly status, the borough will be working closely with many partners to ensure children are given a decisive voice in the way the council and its partners make decisions, and embed children's rights into the authority's governance, policy and practice.

The council will work with children and young people to understand which areas they think should be prioritised to make Redbridge more child-friendly.

It will need to show evidence of sustainable progress in six areas, monitored by an independent panel of experts in human rights, child wellbeing and public services, and an advisory board of local children and young people.

Ilford Recorder: Staff and pupils at Mill Grove making pledges and helping shape services which affect them.Staff and pupils at Mill Grove making pledges and helping shape services which affect them. (Image: Redbridge Council)

"These are challenging times for local authorities, but this partnership represents a bold commitment from the council and their partners to put children's rights at the heart of everything they do," said Naomi Danquah, programme director.