Councillor Michelline Safi-Ngongo

Michelline Safi-Ngongo's council service, spanning from 2018 to 2026, demonstrates a clear and evolving dedication to the well-being and development of children and young people, with a particularly strong and focused engagement in recent years.

Key Themes and Priorities: Across her tenure, Safi-Ngongo has consistently championed the welfare of children and young people. Her core priorities have included:

• Youth Engagement and Safety: This has been a dominant theme, particularly in recent years, with a focus on empowering young voices, preventing youth violence and knife crime, and ensuring safe environments for all young people, especially girls and women.
• Child-Centric Approach: A foundational principle has been placing children at the heart of all council decisions, fostering a child-friendly borough and developing comprehensive strategies that involve families and schools.
• Support for Vulnerable Children and Families: This encompasses addressing child poverty, supporting neurodiverse children and those with mental health issues, providing resources for SEND services, and ensuring the well-being of care leavers.
• Educational Outcomes: Safi-Ngongo has actively engaged with educational challenges, including school closures, budget deficits, and the need for improved provisions, always emphasizing decisions made for the benefit of children.
• Collaboration and Partnership: A recurring emphasis is placed on working collaboratively with parents, schools, voluntary organizations, and, crucially, young people themselves.

Evolution of Focus: Safi-Ngongo's early years in council service (2018-2020) were primarily focused on her role within Licensing Sub-Committees, where she served as Vice-Chair and Chair. This period provided foundational experience in committee work and procedural management.

Her focus significantly shifted and deepened from 2021 onwards, coinciding with her appointments to roles related to Children, Young People & Families. The period from 2022 to 2026 shows a marked increase in the depth and breadth of her engagement with these issues. While earlier years saw her addressing immediate concerns like playground safety and COVID-19 protocols, the most recent years reveal a strategic and proactive approach to shaping policy and long-term initiatives.

Her priorities have become more nuanced, moving from general safety concerns to specific strategies like the upstream approach to White Ribbon Day awareness and advocating for care leavers to be recognized as a protected characteristic. The emphasis on working side by side with the community in 2025 and the child-friendly Islington initiative in 2024 highlight a maturing strategy that prioritizes co-creation and community involvement.

Most Significant Contributions (Especially in Recent Years):

• 2026: As Executive Member for Children, Young People & Families, Safi-Ngongo's most impactful contributions centered on championing youth voice and safety. Her active participation in the Budget Meeting advocating for enhanced youth engagement and her upstream approach to White Ribbon Day awareness in schools, aiming to make the borough safer, particularly for women and girls, are key highlights. Her expressed desire to collaborate with Youth Councillors on relevant initiatives underscores a commitment to direct youth involvement.
• 2025: This year was marked by a comprehensive and strategic approach to creating a child-friendly borough. Her instrumental role in launching and promoting initiatives like Child-Friendly Islington, Childcare offer, and Baby Friendly Islington stands out. Furthermore, her leadership in developing the next strategy for children, young people, and families through extensive engagement campaigns, and her focus on improving youth safety with reported reductions in young people entering the Youth Justice System and involvement in knife crime, are significant achievements.
• 2024: A pivotal contribution was her advocacy for care leavers, culminating in moving a motion to recognize them as a protected characteristic. This demonstrated a deep commitment to addressing the specific vulnerabilities and poor outcomes faced by this group. Her continued championing of the child-friendly Islington initiative and the development of a new youth safety strategy, ensuring young people's input was central, are also notable.

Patterns and Consistent Areas of Interest:

• Advocacy for Young People: This is the most consistent and prominent thread throughout her council service, evolving from general safety to specific policy advocacy.
• Commitment to Safeguarding: Safi-Ngongo has consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to protecting children and young people, as evidenced by her statements like,

  Who can protect our young people if it's not us?

• Collaborative Spirit: The emphasis on working with various stakeholders, especially young people, has been a recurring theme, indicating a belief in the power of collective action and community input.
• Strategic Planning: While early years involved reactive responses, her recent work shows a clear shift towards proactive, long-term strategic planning for children, young people, and families.

Overall, Michelline Safi-Ngongo's council career showcases a dedicated public servant whose focus has sharpened and deepened over time, with her recent contributions demonstrating a profound and strategic commitment to building a safer, more supportive, and child-centric Islington.