Derry and Strabane preparing for UNICEF Child Friendly City and Community assessment

The Derry City and Strabane District Council area is to undergo recognition assessment to become a UNICEF Child Friendly City and Community. If successful, it would be the first one in Ireland to receive the accreditation.

The assessment will take place on Thursday, June 19, 2025, during which the nine-person recognition assessment panel will meet with Council’s senior management and the senior management teams of other lead partners - WHSCT, Education Authority Youth Service, and Youth Justice Agency. This is to demonstrate the joint partnership is working together to ensure systemic change, and aspirations for the future.

Council has been actively pursuing UNICEF Child Friendly City and Community status through a number of stages including, discovery, development, and delivery and recognition, aligned to a child rights-based approach, since January 2019.

Councillors received an update on Council’s progress towards the prestigious status at Thursday’s April meeting of the Health and Community committee meeting.

All partners in the endeavour met on a regular basis to address the recommendations outlined and engage with UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund. 

It is also envisaged that the Mayor, the elected member political champions, and the children and young people involved, will all be consulted during the assessment day, at which key pieces of evidence will be presented to the panel under, culture, co-operation and leadership, communications, equal and included, and education. 

Councillors were informed there were four possible outcomes to the process - full recognition, conditional recognition, suspended recognition and no recognition; Cardiff was the first city in Britain to be awarded UNICEF CFC status - in October 2023.

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Education, Cllr Sarah Merry speaking about Cardiff's accreditation as a UNICEF Child-Friendly City and Community.

Following a comprehensive briefing, councillors agreed unanimously to approve the use of the remaining budget of £58,269.47 allocated to the project “to sustain programme related costs for children and young people including the mandatory elements of the UNICEF CFC programme for youth voice/participation” to March 31, 2027 

Cllr Aisling Hutton (Sinn Féin) who is one of the political champions of Derry and Strabane pursuing UNICEF Child Friendly City and Community status praised the “vast amount” of work done to date on the project. 

Cllr Hutton added: “I would like to commended Claire Lynch, who has since left the organisation, and wish Claire Maguire the best of luck going forward. I had the pleasure of meeting Claire [Maguire] during a training session a few weeks back and her energy and passion showed throughout the meeting.

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“I wish the team the best of luck in getting prepared for the recognition assessment and to let them know we are all behind them as political champions. I’m sure the young people are all behind them as well because they are giving them a great voice in relation to shaping this place to be a child rights city,” said Cllr Hutton, who added that the accreditation would put the Derry and Strabane area “on the map”.

“It will make us stand out and opportunities and doors will open because of that. The relationship and the partnership with UNICEF will create more relationships and partnerships.”

Cllr Catherine McDaid (SDLP) who is also a UNICEF Child Friendly City and Community political champion also wished Claire Lynch well for her future and described the volume of work done to date on the project as “unbelievable”. 

One of the outcomes of obtaining UNICEF Child Friendly City and Community status is that the Council will have a corporate commitment to deliver sustainable activity, including child’s rights impact assessments in the general work it does.