The Programme will link with other major initiatives in the City, with the intention that each will add value to the other.  These links may be made in a variety of ways, according to factors such as the need to sustain or extend an initiative, the need to take another successful initiative to a wider range of children, or the need to bridge gaps between initiatives.

Key mechanisms for the Programme’s implementation are the:

• Identification Process, to ensure that services reach the children for whom they are designed.
  
  
• Signposting Service, to co-ordinate information about and assist access to services for children aged 5-13.

The Services Task Group work with children to develop the service specifications and it is intended that the Providers work closely together.

To prove that the services are effective, in improving children’s protective factors, and reducing their social exclusion, a rigorous monitoring and evaluation framework is required.  The Evaluation Task Group works with children, their families, and the service provider organisations, to provide the evidence of changes on the ground.

In all these strands and processes, the involvement of children and their families in the design and delivery, monitoring and evaluation is central to the Programme.  Children’s Co-ordination Officers, employed by an organisation independent of the Programme and working to the Children’s Task Group, will develop the children’s engagement with them.

Examples of other related initiatives are:

• Connexions
  Connexions offers a range of guidance and support for 13 to 19 year olds to help make the transition to adult life a smooth one.
  
  
• Family Support
  NCH site promoting a nation-wide strategy urgently required to support stressed families with children.
  
  
• SRB
  The government's Urban Policy Unit, whose policy bbjective is: "A high quality of life for all in our towns and cities."
  
  
• Sure Start
  Sure Start works with parents-to-be, parents and children to promote the physical, intellectual and social development of babies and young children, particularly those that are disadvantaged.
  
  
• Teenage Pregnancy Project
  Information about the work of the cross-Government Teenage Pregnancy Unit and the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy.
  
  
• Youth Offending Team
  The Birmingham Youth Offending Service has been in operation since 1 April 2000 and has responsibility for implementing the Government's youth justice reforms in Birmingham.