How we work across
cities & communities

Every child has the right to grow up in an environment where they feel safe to play, learn and grow. A place where they have access to public services and where their voice is heard and matters.

We work in cities and communities across the UK to help them fulfil these rights for all children.

We support local politicians to incorporate children’s rights into their decision-making, so that the people who make decisions in cities listen to the children who live there.

We train council professionals who work with children every day – social workers, youth workers etc. – providing the tools they need to put children’s rights into practice. We do the same for others who might not realise just how much their decisions affect children’s lives – planning or housing officers, communications teams etc.

We champion the voices of the children and young people by ensuring their voices are given equal weight to adults when decisions are made about the cities and communities they grow up in.

And we support councils to engage more meaningfully with children and young people, especially those who might not usually have their voices heard, so that they can share their priorities for making the city or community more child-friendly and hold the council to account when it promises change.

It’s not just councils we work with. We support councils to bring their local partners together – from the police, fire and health services, community organisations, volunteers, and even transport providers – to work with UNICEF UK, raising awareness of children’s rights more widely and putting them into practice across the entire community.