Summer job with the Tuusula Municipality Inclusion Team

Text: Miisa Valonen

I was hired to work on the local authority’s inclusion team for a three-week summer placement. My placement began on Monday 22 June. Starting the job was a bit nerve-wracking for me, as it was my first ‘proper’ job. However, I quickly got into a routine and learnt the ropes, familiarising myself with the different procedures, the premises and the people. Throughout these three weeks, I was mentored by Community Manager Katja Repo, with whom I carried out various office tasks and travelled around Tuusula to engage with the local community.

Lessons and events on inclusion

The work in the participation team is truly varied. Its main task, however, is to involve local residents and enable them to have a say in various matters. In addition, the participation team focuses heavily on participatory budgeting for children and young people, known as ‘Osbu’. Through Osbu, Tuusula residents under the age of 18 were given the opportunity to have a say in how €150,000 is spent to improve the town’s liveability and well-being. Any Tuusula resident under the age of 18 could propose ideas, which were then put to a vote and the most popular ones selected. During my work placement, I got to know Osbu very well and worked on various Osbu projects, with my main involvement being the promotion of the domestic animal event.

The Farm Animal Event is an OSBU project chosen by children and young people, which will take place in the summer of 2027. We developed the project by involving children during a picnic in the park and at the nursery. At the park lunch on 23 June, we asked the children what animals and what sort of programme they would like to see at the event. A week later, on 30 June, we also visited the Tuusulanjärvi nursery to ask the children more about which animals they’d like to see at the event. In this way, the children get to have a say and be involved in organising the event. As well as asking the children, I was able to help move the project forward by taking part in an OSBU meeting with 4H.

As well as engaging with others, the work also involves many other tasks, such as cleaning and various ‘routine’ office duties. We spent three days at the old office in Tuuskodo clearing out the old office rooms. Due to indoor air quality issues, operations in Tuuskodo are coming to an end, so we went to clear the inclusion team’s belongings from the building. The standard office tasks I carried out included writing memos, compiling statistics, conducting analyses and carrying out various information-gathering tasks. I also got to make TikTok videos, create a Webropol survey, and design various survey boards for different events.

I spent most of my work placement at the office, but various events and activities provided a welcome change of pace. As well as park picnics and children’s activities, I got to visit Riihikallio for a ‘living room’ event for older people organised by the local council, where I served coffee and cake and took part in various activities. There was a relaxed and friendly atmosphere at the event, and it was great to see the wide range of activities the municipality of Tuusula organises for its residents.

On top of all this, Katja set me the task of planning a programme for the children to take part in during the Kellokoski park picnic. Coming up with an idea seemed challenging at first, but in the end I found the solution in my own hobby. I’ve been involved in the circus for most of my life, and I thought that running a little circus workshop might be a nice idea. For the equipment, I chose hoops, scarves and skipping ropes for balancing. The plan was also to put on a short chair acrobatics performance at the start of the workshop, but due to the weather, that didn’t work out. Despite a light shower, the workshop was a success. Several children (and a few adults too) turned up to try out some circus tricks. The workshop was full of fun moments and opportunities to learn new skills.

Mixing office work with engagement activities during the working day provided a welcome change of pace. I also learnt a huge amount of new things, from using computer programmes to planning events for children. All in all, my work experience on the engagement team was therefore really varied and enriching.

This content has been translated using AI