Child-friendly municipality work in Tuusula: Joy for children and young people through hobbies and opportunities to influence their own everyday lives
Tuusula has launched the second six-month period of its Child-Friendly Municipality action plan. The mid-year review for spring 2025 was published at the end of May. We have compiled excerpts from our autumn activities, which we use to increase the opportunities for children and young people to influence and participate in matters that are important to them.
Taking children’s rights into account in municipal services and decision-making is a long-term endeavour.
– During the autumn term, we will continue to implement the objectives set out in our plan, with a firm focus on the rights of children and young people and their opportunities to influence their own lives. Our new mayoral programme outlines that we will consistently implement the action programme during the council term and take children’s rights to a good life into account in our decision-making, says Heli Hakulinen, Development Manager for the Child-Friendly Municipality .
Excerpts from the progress of the Child-Friendly Municipality initiative in autumn
Improved accessibility of hobbies and leisure activities for children and young people
Regional hobby fairs provided children, young people and their families with an excellent opportunity to learn about the hobby activities available in Tuusula. The fairs were held in Hyrylä, Jokela and Kellokoski from 19 to 21 August. The opportunities presented inspired people to take up new hobbies.
The autumn season for extracurricular activities and clubs at schools in Tuusula began in early September. New opportunities requested by children and young people were also added to the programme, such as ball games at Tekova Arena for pupils in grades 2–5 and 6–9, athletics at Kellokoski, stick horse building at Rykmentinpuisto and Lepola schools, and a snack club for upper school pupils at Rykmentinpuisto school. As part of the Child-Friendly Municipality initiative, media-focused clubs for secondary school pupils are being launched in Jokela and Riihikallio, offering pupils the opportunity to learn how to write, produce and publish media content, among other things. The clubs will give young people a stronger voice on online channels. Young people will also have their say at the Tuusula hobby network meeting in early September
. The hobby network, which meets three times a year, discusses the hobbies and leisure opportunities of children and young people in Tuusula, such as what kind of free activities we organise in Tuusula schools, taking into account the hobby wishes of children and young people.
At the end of October, students will have the opportunity to share their thoughts on how to improve access to hobbies and leisure activities at a skididialogi event held at Kellokoski School. Young people aged 12–15 from Kellokoski and adults who work with young people are
invited to participate in the discussion.
Our mayor’s programme states that we will take into account the hobby opportunities available to children and young people and consider options for reducing the costs of hobbies as part of our work to become a child-friendly municipality.
Children’s views and experiences influence environmental design
In the autumn, our service design students will compile guidelines based on their practical experiences on how to involve children and young people in urban planning processes and instruct our urban planning staff on how to use them. As part of the student’s final project, ways will be developed for children and young people to have a genuine influence on the planning processes that affect them.
In particular, upper secondary school pupils’ awareness of their opportunities to participate in urban environment planning will be increased during the autumn meetings.
Information about children is utilised in a variety of ways for different groups of children.
We will continue to conduct more in-depth analysis and evaluation of the research, experience and official data available to us with regard to different groups of children, particularly those in vulnerable situations and young people, as well as regional differences within the municipality.
The
results of the upcoming school health survey will be carefully reviewed both at the municipal level and in the units. The results will provide guidance on the health and well-being of children and young people in Tuusula and enable a more detailed examination of the situation of different age groups of children. The results will be used to identify issues that schools in Tuusula will address together, as well as issues that young people are encouraged to reflect on through their own lives and experiences.
Work on making more extensive use of information is carried out systematically on a daily basis by every information processor.
Understanding of children’s rights is increasing
Our staff will continue to learn about children’s rights throughout the autumn. Training on children’s rights and joint sessions in each unit on the four key principles of children’s rights – equality, the best interests of the child, the right to life and development, and participation – will provide us with the tools we need for our joint journey towards a more child-friendly municipality. The units will consider, among other things, where perspectives and support are needed in the implementation of children’s rights, how the principles are implemented in everyday life, and why they are not implemented.
Elected officials for the new council term, which began in June, will be introduced to children’s rights and the Child-Friendly Municipality model in the autumn as part of a broader orientation programme.
Children’s rights will be highlighted at various events, such as the organisation forum to be held on 13 September. Children’s rights will be widely promoted during Children’s Rights Week in November. The key is to raise awareness of children’s rights, especially among children and young people, taking into account their age level. As part of the week, the results of the search for Tuusula’s most child-friendly act will be published. The search will begin in the autumn.
Children are taken into account in decision-making
Our planning work on the introduction of child impact assessment (LAVA) continues. The model enables us to identify specific groups of children for whom the impact of decisions must be mitigated before implementation. In Tuusula, child impact assessment complements the municipality’s preliminary impact assessment model, and training on it is provided to elected and influential bodies. The participatory budgeting (osbu) round for children
and young people, which will start at the end of September, is linked to the Child-Friendly Municipality initiative. The round, known as Children’s PAB, enables those under the age of 18 to have their voices heard in creating a pleasant and well-being Tuusula. Children and young people have been involved in planning and implementing the communication for participatory budgeting and in developing the process to make it more child-friendly. Our joint work will continue during the autumn.
Follow Tuusula’s journey towards becoming a more child-friendly municipality!
Further information:
Development Manager Heli Hakulinen, heli.hakulinen@tuusula.fi, +358 40 314 3084
This content has been translated using AI