Get Involved
As Derry and Strabane work towards Unicef Child Friendly Community status we aim to create a district where every child has a meaningful say and can truly benefit from the decisions, spaces and places that shape their lives. Some opportunities are included below which are important for Childrens Rights.
- Save the date - Child Rights Training for Professionals - Delivered by Unicef UK
- Children’s Rights Defenders Programme for schools and youth groups – Delivered by NICCY
- Will you mark World Childrens Day? – 20th Nov 2022
- SAVE THE DATE – Child Rights Training for Professionals - Delivered by Unicef UK
Details are below. Please save the preferred dates in your diary (part A and B must be completed together). Live online booking will be available shortly.
- Children’s Rights Defenders Programme for schools and youth groups – Delivered by NICCY (Northern Ireland Commission for Children and Young People)
NICCY (Northern Ireland Commission for Children and Young People) is recruiting 20 schools and youth groups to take part in a new programme which will train children and young people to become Rights Defenders for themselves and their peers. The programme can be tailored to suit your setting. Timings are flexible and the programme will be delivered between now and February 2023. Materials will be available in three age groups: Foundation and KS1, KS 2 and KS 3/4.
The first stage is a Children Rights awareness session which will look at the purpose of the UNCRC, how governments report on how well they are doing at keeping the promises they’ve made in the UNCRC and how children and young people can take action when they don’t think children’s rights are being met. NICCY Participation staff can deliver this session or provide age appropriate supporting materials for teachers and youth workers.
The next stage is to look more in depth at two of the following issues and how children’s rights are affected in Northern Ireland;
- Post Primary – How government makes sure rights are upheld, Health, Education, Participation, Safeguarding, Youth Justice, Challenging Discrimination, Poverty, Homelessness, Legacy of the Conflict.
- Primary – Wellbeing and either; Participation, Education, Keeping children safe or Healthy homes.
For each topic children will find out how those rights are being delivered on for children and young people in Northern Ireland and how you can take action to ask for change. All children and young people will take an action to defend children’s rights either by raising awareness of the issue or writing to government to ask for change. The Commissioner will use feedback from children and young people in her final meetings with politicians in February 2023. NICCY Participation Staff will deliver one session and provide resources for the other and will also supply a press pack for the project if you would like to highlight your work in the media or social media.
The CYP Commissioner is available to visit schools and youth groups who take part in the programme.
Please contact Laura at the Northern Ireland Commission for Children and Young People (NICCY) to register or find out more laura@niccy.org.
- World Childrens Day – 20th Nov 2022
Every Year on 20 November, the anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Unicef marks an annual day of action for children by children called World Childrens Day
It’s an opportunity to celebrate progress made to advance Childrens rights, hold leaders to account for their promises and shine a light on the work that still needs to be done.
There are lots of ideas for marking the day (depending on the time and resource you have) but two really simple ideas are;
- Turning the world blue – Council will be turning some buildings blue on the day, you could ask children if they’d like to wear blue, create a blue mural, art installation etc.
- Organising a kids takeover – talk with the children you work with to see if they would like to take over for the evening – premises, activities or social media are some simple examples (safeguard toolkit attached)
Please find some resources below: