As people across Scotland vote to elect their next councils on the 5th of May 2022, it is vital that the voices of children, young people and families are heard to address the ABCs of NEEDS NOW in their local areas, including:
These are essential to address endemic poverty and destitution as people and neighborhoods across Scotland face the cost of living crisis. Councils must come together with their communities to confront these challenges and to secure and protect the health and wellbeing of those they serve.
This Manifesto would be nothing without the includem workers who facilitated these conversations and the children, young people and families who shared their experiences with us. This was developed through a flexible approach, including activities with children and young people in a way that best suited them as individuals, to understand what they would like to see change in their local areas – including exploring the concept of 20-minute neighborhoods through activities, metaphors and walks. We explored the resulting themes further with includem workers and other recent in-depth views and perspectives shared by the children, young people and families we support.
We hope this is the beginning of a larger conversation with those we support and their includem workers, allowing us to understand and flexibly respond to their needs. As we work to #KeepThePromise, we are on a journey to embed participation and co-production into everything we do. We recognise this will not be easy and will require difficult and meaningful conversations.
Join the conversation and tell us what #NeedsNow means to you.
We ask individuals and communities to share what their neighborhood #NeedsNow
We call on organisations across Scotland to tell us how they’ll work to support their community’s #NeedsNow
And we challenge all council candidates and parties to join the conversation, and tell children, young people and families how you will address the ABCs #NeedsNow
Your voice matters. To vote in this election, you need to register before Monday 18th April 2022. You can do this online here. If you want to vote by post, make sure you have applied for this before the 19th of April. If voting in person, you can check your polling station at https://wheredoivote.co.uk/.
