Following a successful bid to realise Bridport’s ambition to become England’s first RightsRespecting town, Bridport Town Council is now seeking to appoint a local person to support the steering group in turning this ambition into action involving all groups and communities in the town. We are looking for someone who has our town secured in their heart and mind.
Bridport steering group member, David Powell explained “The project has grown from an
initiative driven initially by Bridport’s young people. Our ambition is to take the project
forward with local people keen to further strengthen our diverse and enterprising
community.”
The funding has been awarded by Global Dialogue, a charitable trust which aims to build
stronger support for human rights and to increase the amount of funding for human rights
activities in the UK. This followed a joint bid by the Council and Human Rights organisation,
RealisingRights. On 31 January 2018, the then Mayor of Bridport, Cllr Anne Rickard, with the agreement of the Town Council declared its commitment for the town to be Rights Respecting and launched Bridport’s Rights Respecting Citizens’ Charter. The intention of the declaration and Charter is to improve individual and community wellbeing through a better
understanding of the human rights we all hold, and the opportunities and responsibilities
that go hand in hand with these rights.
Cllr Anne Rickard is currently Deputy Mayor and a member of the steering group. She said
“I am so thankful for our project to be offered this generous grant. It is imperative for us to
be able to extend into the wider community of our town the transformation and well-being
felt in our local schools through the wonderful rights-respecting work done there over many
years. This is a great opportunity for Bridport Town to further its Rights Respecting
programme.”
The rights that underpin and give legitimacy to the project are those set out in the UN
Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, the UK Human
Rights Act 1998 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Sir John Colfox
Academy is currently working towards UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting School award
which, if successful will make Colfox one of only nine Secondary schools nationally to
achieve it.
BRIDPORT TOWN COUNCIL
WILL AUSTIN Town Clerk e-mail: enquiries@bridport-tc.gov.uk website: www.bridport-tc.gov.uk
Further details of the opportunity can be found online at https://www.bridporttc.gov.uk/consultancy-opportunity-rights-respecting-town-project-phase-2/
