UNICEF NZ  is pleased to announce that the Otaki Community Board won a Community Boards Best Practice Award on Thursday 5 May in recognition of its Youth Events Programme.

 The award, in the Working with Children and Youth category, was sponsored by UNICEF NZ. Barbara Lambourn, National Advocacy Manager at the charity, presented the award to Otaki Community Board at the biannual conference of Community Boards in Rotorua.

The Award recognises excellence in projects or initiatives that enable young people’s views to be incorporated in decision making and respond to the needs of children and young people in their area.

Barbara Lambourn, said, “The judging panel was impressed not just by the variety and appeal of the Otaki Community Board’s event programme, but also by its philosophy of ownership by young people. It responded to their needs and no one was excluded because of prohibitive cost restrictions.

 “The youth of Otaki were vibrant, enthusiastic and responsible users of their community facilities and were able to witness and be involved with many positive things happening around them.

 “Their contribution was purposeful and valuable and UNICEF NZ congratulates the Otaki Community Board for its far sighted and genuinely child friendly initiative. These young people respect their community and are likely to promote Otaki as a good place to grow up in. That is a benefit for all its citizens now and in the future”.

 Community Boards were created by the local government reforms in 1989. Some 143 community boards now operate in both urban and rural areas within local authorities throughout New Zealand. They carry out functions and exercise those powers delegated to them by their councils. The Best Practice Awards were established to recognise significant contributions made by Community Boards to the process of achieving excellence in local government. The 2011 Awards mark the fourth year that UNICEF NZ has sponsored the Working with Children and Youth category