Online council for children and young people ”Digiraati”

Description

The Ministry of Justice launched in 2022 an online council “Digiraati” to support children’s and young people’s online participation in decision-making processes.

Date
List people or organisations involved in producing the resource

Ministry of Justice

Purpose
Building Participatory Environments
Collective Participation
Age range of target people
0-8 years
9-12 years
13-15 years
16-18 years
Characteristics of children and groups
All children
Preparation

The aim is to provide an online channel for all children and young people to participate in decision-making processes and to make children’s and young people’s voices to be heard in society. The aim is also to increase interaction between people of different ages and backgrounds, thereby improving the quality of decision-making and increasing the partnership between central government, non-governmental actors and academic research. The project also responds to the need to reach vulnerable children and young people and to involve them more strongly in society. 

Digiraati has been developed in wide cooperation with the ALL-YOUTH research project, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the National Strategy for Children, the Centre of Expertise for Youth Inclusion and the Finnish Red Cross.

Process

 

As a result of the cooperation, the development version of the Digiraati was published in 2022 and the development work will continue in 2023, based on feedback received from participants in the piloting and online councils.

 

In cooperation between ministries, academic research and civil society actors, an operating model has been built in connection with the Digiraati to strengthen the opportunities for equal participation of children and young people and to increase interaction between people of different ages and from different backgrounds.

Next Steps

The aim is to improve the child-friendliness, usability, accessibility and data protection of the Digiraati. 

Modes of participation
Consultative
Collaborative
Phases in cycle of participation
Connecting with Children
Identifying Issues and Priorities
Investigating Children's Views
Taking Action
Following-up on Actions
Skills trained
Advocacy
Campaigning
Consulting
Advisory Groups / Councils
Countries this was based/targetted
Finland
Profile of target group
Educators (e.g. teachers)
Social Workers
Youth Workers
Municipality Staff
Local Authorities (Policy-makers; Decision-makers)
National Authorities
Target group's degree of knowledge
Intermediate