Children and Young People's Champion
The post of Children and Young People's Champion was created by Salford City Council in 2006. Cath Connor is the first person appointed to this role.
The main focus of the post is to develop opportunities throughout the City to enable children and young people to have some influence over the decisions which affect their lives. Effective involvement of children and young people is rooted in the UN Convention on the rights of the Child UK which was ratified by the UK government on 16 December 1991. Article 12 of the convention is of specific relevance to this role.
The work of Children and Young People's Champion is varied and has developed from listening to children and young people in Salford. Many young people express the same concerns as adults about their communities; the environment, road safety, crime and disorder and transport are just some of the issues young people in Salford are working on together to influence change. As Children and Young People's Champion I have divided my work into four areas which are:
- To provide young people with information and experiences which will assist them to become active citizens
- To develop systems and processes to ensure their voice is heard and has an impact
- To promote the views and concerns of young people
- To develop effective links with others involved in the same area of work.
Examples of current work in each of these areas is listed below.
Provide young people with information and experiences which will assist them to become active citizens
- Co-ordinate the attendance of young people at full council meetings and support them to table questions.
- Citizenship classes to provide information about the structure and operation of the City Council and decision making processes
- Development of a city wide competition for young people to have their say about how they would best like to influence decision making.
- Opportunities for young people to shadow councillors, the majority of cabinet members have been shadowed there are plans to extend the shadowing initiative in October to link with local democracy week 2008.
- Develop training for young people who participate in Youth Forums.
Develop effective systems through which the voice of children and young people will influence change.
- Development of a city wide participation strategy for children and young people
- Monitor the implementation plan for the Participation Strategy and report to the Children and Young People's partnership Board
- Use of the Hear By Right mapping and planning tool developed by the National Youth Agency to develop a whole system approach to the positive engagement of children and young people. Progress to be published on the Shared Learning web site in October.
- Work with colleagues in the youth service to develop youth forums across the City
- Develop opportunities for young people to become involved in deciding how money is spent via participatory budgeting projects
- Develop the role of young people in the scrutiny process
Promote views and concerns
- Co-ordinate a weekly column in the Salford Advertiser written by children and young people
- Support the involvement of young people in UK Youth Parliament
- Further develop the opportunity for young people to develop campaigns about issues of concern using the Youth Act programme
Develop effective links with others involved in the same area
- Attend meetings at the Office of the Childrens Commissioner to network with colleagues who have similar positions in other authorities.
- Web links with a variety of national organisations which promote the voice of children and young people
- Strong links with other partners in Salford which include Salford Council for Voluntary Service, the primary care trust, the police, Salford community leisure, Salford University and many others.
U count 2
A competition for young people to develop ideas about how they can best influence decision making in their local community.
Decisions are made every day that effect you, your friends and your family – make sure they’re not made without you. We need your ideas on how to make it easy for young people across Salford to have a say.
If you would like further information or If you have any suggestions for future work or are involved in a similar area please get in touch. By working together sharing information and resources the voice of children and young people will be strengthened.
Downloadable documents
- U Count 2 information (Adobe Acrobat, 303kb)
- U Count 2 Democracy Challenge form 2008 (Microsoft Word format, 1Mb )
If you are unable to view documents of these types, our downloads page provides links to viewing software.
Cath Connor
Children's Champion
Salford City Council
Children's Services Directorate
Minerva House
Pendleton Road
Salford
M27 4EQ
Telephone: 0161 778 0341 or 778 0146
Mobile: 07966 316 201
Email cath.connor@salford.gov.uk
This page was last updated on 12 November 2008
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