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Principles met

  • Co-production

    We will develop systems that enable citizens to be equal partners in designing and commissioning public services and in determining the use of public resources.

  • Community leadership and a new role for councillors

    We will explore ways for councils to act as a platform for helping the community to contribute to local outcomes, and to re-think the role of councillors as community connectors, brokers and leaders.

  • Innovation

    We will embrace innovation in how we work with local communities to drive positive change.

  • Learning

    We will capture and ‘expand’ the experience and learning from individual projects and approaches in order to encourage broader application of co-operative principles within individual member Councils and across the Network.

  • New models of meeting priority needs

    In exploring new ways of meeting the priority needs of our communities we will encourage models, such as co-operatives and mutuals, which give greater influence and voice to staff and users. in designing and commissioning public services and in determining the use of public resources.

In October 2023 Cardiff was officially declared a UNICEF Child Friendly City – the first of its kind in the UK.

Cardiff Council and its partners joined UNICEF UK’s Child Friendly Cities & Communities programme in 2017. To achieve Child Friendly City recognition, UNICEF UK lists three priority areas which city organisations must work towards:

  1. Co-operation & Leadership: People work together to make the city better for children and young people. They give children the opportunity to be involved in decision-making. All adult decisionmakers value the importance of incorporating children’s rights. They work together and have the skills to make this happen.
  2. Communication: All children and young people understand how they can find information they need – information about their rights and support that might make their lives easier, healthier, safer and happier.
  3. Culture: Children and young people should consistently enjoy interaction with city organisations’ staff and people within their community who know and understand how to use a child rights-based approach to improve their work. People value and respect children and young people and know about and respect children’s rights.

Working with Cardiff’s children and young people, the Council identified three further priority areas:

  1. Healthy: Giving children the best start in life and getting it right for families in the first 1,000 days – from conception to their second birthday. 
  2. Family & Belonging: A place where all families are supported to be together and can enjoy activities around the city. 
  3. Education & Learning: Making sure schools embed child rights practices where the voices of young people are heard and acted upon. Children will leave school with the life skills they need to succeed, including the ability to make well-balanced decisions; manage personal finances; develop a healthy lifestyle; and maintain good social relationships.

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