The Children’s Forum gives children in inner-city Nottingham a chance to put their stamp on the local community, by identifying problems and finding solutions to them. It’s the children who decide which issues the Children’s Forum should address and some of the challenges they’ve taken on so far include healthy school meals, litter and local parks.
The Children’s Forum was set up in 2004 by the Partnership Council, an action group that works with local communities to tackle social and environmental issues across three of Nottingham’s wards.
Service providers such as school caterers and neighbourhood services work with local children to develop and agree plans for change – and positive action is guaranteed, as each partner commits from the outset to deliver changes based on the children’s views. One service provider described the children’s contributions as ‘pure gold dust’.
The focus of the Children’s Forum is on creating sustainable change. One area in which they’ve achieved this is local parks. Consultations on local parks tend to focus on the initial phase of redevelopment but the Children’s Forum has developed lesson resources that help keep children engaged in the long-term quality of local parks.
Each year, a number of children join the Children’s Forum grants panel. These children are involved at every step of the grant giving process, from developing the criteria right through to monitoring the impacts of the grants they award. As well as giving children a role to play in improving the local community, Children’s Forum activities present opportunities to meet peers from nearby schools and build social and communication skills.
Topics associated with this project
Decision making, East Midlands, Environmental, Neighbourhood, Partnership working, School