Panel discussion on european youth participation

Amongst  many other interesting stuff happening at the Tampere Seminar on European youth participation there was a panel on youth in politics. On the panel we had:

Sirpa Pietikäinen, Member of European Parliament (European People’s Party)
Till Burckhardt, Treasurer, Executive Bureau, JEF
Sissi Penttilä, Schengen Youth Assembly representative of Finland
Alina Böling, Youth delegate of Finland, United Nations
and the moderator was Fatim Diarra, Chair of International Affairs
Committee, Allianssi

STE-012_Panel_Discussion_mp3 (90 min, ca 90 mb)

Sometimes the language was difficult to understand, but Fatimas way of leading the discussion was really good. Lots of people had the chance to participate and it also a little bit controversial at times. Especially when Tim Burckhard of Jeff said he was disappointed by youth. Unfortunately we didn’t get a straight answer about continuing the youth in action program after 2013.

Of course the location was really hip: the council chamber of Tampere city council is the most beautiful part of the city hall.

What is a youth council?

What is a youth council and what does correspond to the institutions we in Germany know as youth-city-councils (Jugendgemeinderat)? The definitions what youth councils are differ from country to country.

Tampere
Tampere with dramatic light

Even in Germany there are several definitions that seem to be equally valid and good:

  • „A youth council is a democrativly elected body compromised of people mostly aged between 13 and 20 years, that works on a regular, continuous basis and exerts influence on local policy“ (concept08 was a meeting of Finish and Baden-Württemberg youth councillors in Summer 2008)
  • “youth councils are representing the interests of youth toward local politics. They are a model of participation and offer young people an entry into politics without getting bound to a party. Ideally these have the right to talk in the city council and the right to make formal proposals in the city council. Ideally they have their own budget for publicity, events and other projects”  (Interessenvertretung der Jugend, von der Website des Dachverbands der Jugendgemeinderäte http://www.jugendgemeinderat.de/index.php?id=21, abgefragt am 15.2.2011)
  • “through youth councils youth in their municipality are formally represented. (…) they offer the possibility to transport wishes, suggestions or proposals for improvement of youth towards the political system. Through this youth can participate in the community. (…) they offer all youth political means of participation and creating a political will. (…)
    Youth councils are directly, democratically elected by youth and represent different ages and school types. Youth can participate at planning and projects, which concern their interests within a reasonable way. The elected youth gain deeper insight into local politics and learn on how to take responsibility and represent their position in the public (…)” ( Landtag von Baden-Wu?rttemberg Drucksache 14 / 6762 State Government of Baden-Württemberg
    (in response towards questions of the green party group)

Internationally the definiton seems to be very variable. For example nuva ry the finnish umbrella organisation of youth councils defines them as follows: (Senni Raunio, Salo 2011, „Suomen Nuorisovaltuustojen Liitto – Nuva ry. The Union of Youth Councils in Finland“ Vortrag beim Treffen der Delegation des Dachverbands der Jugend- gemeinderäte Baden-Württemberg und des Finnischen Dachverbands der Jugendgemein- dera?te in Salo am 9.4.2011)

  • „The age of the representatives in Youth Councils varies typically from 13 to 20 years
  • The amount of the representatives varies from 7 to 60 members
  • Members are usually selected via election, but also other methods are being used
  • They are trying to make sure that decision-making in municipalities is fair to the young people
  • Being a part of the municipal boards and other groups
  • Taking part to the public discussion and start new discussions by highlighting the problems that young people are facing“ „What is a youth council?“ weiterlesen

NYRIS 11 Presentation

And here is the abstract and the slides to my presentation. I gave it at Mon 13 of June at NYRIS 11 in Turku in the stream 1 „active youth participation“

Youth councils in the German State of Baden-Württemberg (BW) and Finland

By: Sebastian Müller (University of Education Freiburg) June 14, 2011

Keywords: youth political attitudes, political participation, political behavior, democracy

What was the study about?

In both Finland and the German state of Baden-Württemberg, there are youth councils. Youth council was defined for the study as: “Elected bodies composed of people between the ages of 12 and 22, that are instituted by the local authority and deal with public policy.”

In recent years, the amount of youth councils has increased in both areas to more than 80 in BW and more than 90 in Finland. In BW, the spread of youth councils began around the mid 1990s, in Finland it began around the turn of the century. Both umbrella organizations have a working relationship since 2006, delegations visit each other annually and they participate in joint action.

There are very few scientific enquiries dealing specifically with youth councils, and up to now there was none dealing with them in both areas.

In both regions I sent out two kinds of questionnaires: one dealing with the structures and the other with attitudes of youth councilors. This questionnaire was based on the work done by Michael C. Hermann, who investigated youth councils in BW in 1995.

„NYRIS 11 Presentation“ weiterlesen

NYRIS Turku: Youth Councils in Germany and Finnland

Unfortunatley he will not sing for us, but this Finnland trip will be good, too.

Today I’m off for Finland again to present my thesis about youth councils in the German state of Baden-Württemberg and Finland. I will present this at NYRIS 11 and be in the Comparative Youth Participation Session. I feel very honoured to be in a session with such important researchers and hope to have inspiring meetings there.

You will find me at Sessions 1 next Monday 13th of June at 15.30-17.00 in the EDU 244 Educarium, Assistentinkatu 5 Turku. And This is the abstract: Youth councils in BW and Fi Abstract Sebastian Müller

Here is the invitation:

YOUTH COUNCILS AND COUNCILORS IN THE GERMAN STATE OF BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG AND FINNLAND: A SURVEY ABOUT STRUCTURE, ATTITUDES AND CONDITIONS OF THEIR WORK

Presenter: Sebastian Müller

Keywords: Youth participation, youth councils, youth parliaments, Finland, Baden-Württemberg, comparative research,

Since 1996 there have been major developments in the field of youth councils in the State of Baden-Württemberg, the number rose from 16 to over 89 today. This study is the first survey of the attitudes of youth councilors in the German state of Baden-Württemberg since 1996 and the first comparative research of the conditions, attitudes and structure of youth councils and their members in Germany and Finland. It builds on previous research by Michael C. Hermann, “Jugendgemeinderäte in Baden-Wprttemberg, eine interdisziplinäre Evaluation” and the joint publication „Youth participation in Finland and in Germany – Status analysis and data based recommendations“ by Eva Feldmann-Wojtachnia, Anu Gretschel, Vappu Helmisaari et al. „NYRIS Turku: Youth Councils in Germany and Finnland“ weiterlesen

Jugendgemeinderäte in Baden-Württemberg und Finnland

Nun das Werk ist vollbracht, ich habe meine Wissenschaftliche Hausarbeit (Umgangsprachlich Zula) fertig gemacht und zur Druckerei gebracht. Wer sich also für einen kompletten Überblick interessiert wie es nun so um Jugendgemeinderäte steht, der kann sie hier auch als PDF runterladen:

Wissenschaftliche_Hausarbeit_Sebatian_Mueller_1403135

Vielen Dank an alle die mir in den vergangenen Monaten dabei geholfen haben.

from Salo its Nuva ry life

In Finish schools you take off your shoes when entering the building, so we had many visitors and many shoes
In Finish schools you take off your shoes when entering the building, so we had many visitors and many shoes

On the wekend the delegation from the Dachverband der Jugendgemeinderäte in Baden-Württemberg e.V. went to Salo to see our friends from nuva ry and find some new from Hackney youth council in the UK. Hackney is a borough (my indonesian friends would say: kampung) of London. All three groups gave presentations on their work.

I learned many interesting facts on the youth councils in booth countries from this presentations and I will include what I have learned in my thesis.

„from Salo its Nuva ry life“ weiterlesen