Youth Academy administered and coordinated a national youth work center of expertise focusing on youth participation and influencing in Finland.
The center was a cooperation project between Youth Academy, the Union of Local Youth Councils in Finland, Koordinaatti of the city of Oulu, Finnish Red Cross’ Youth Shelters, and Development Center Opinkirjo. The center ran from 2020 to 2023.
Main tasks of the center included:
- promoting young people’s participation and influencing opportunities,
- renewing and increasing knowledge about digital tools to foster youth participation and influencing,
- developing and increasing knowledge about the quality criteria for youth participation and influencing.
Main activities of the center included:
- training and supporting authorities to encounter and interact with young people,
- developing ways of consulting young people through pilot consultation processes,
- developing a new digital participation method and platform called Digital Panel (Digiraati),
- promoting a 12-point list for authorities and officers on what needs to be remembered when promoting youth inclusion.
The center’s multi-part development processes were usually intended for elected officials, senior officials, and young people on municipal level. Additionally, the center educated officers and specialists in ministries on youth participation and consultation in legislative preparation projects.
The center carried out youth consultations for most of the Finnish ministries.
For example:
- on the National Youth Work and Policy Programme for the Ministry of Education and Culture,
- on the reform of the Finnish Climate Act for the Ministry of Environment,
- on the reform of the military conscription system for the Ministry of Defence.
Youth work centers of expertise formed a network supporting the implementation of the objectives set out in the Finnish National Youth Work and Youth Policy Programme 2020-2023. They developed and promoted competence, expertise, and communications in the youth sector in accordance with the Youth Act. The Ministry of Education and Culture subsidized the centers, which were financed by state aid.
More information from the website below (in Finnish/Swedish):