Ruuti is a program run by Helsinki's youth and school departments that aims to give young people a voice in decision making and make civic participation accessible to all youth. It operates through various structures like an annual city hall event, meetings between youth and officials, and a participatory budgeting process. The core goals are for youth initiatives to be taken seriously, for youth to feel heard on issues relevant to them, and for their participation to make Helsinki a better city. Ruuti also elects an annual core group of 20 youth to work with the youth department on agendas for improvement in the city. Common themes youth want addressed include equality, school issues, transportation, jobs, and leisure activities. Challenges include documenting participation efforts

1. Ruuti supports young peoples’ civic
participation
Kaisa Bremer & Juha Kiviniemi
2.10.2014

2. Often only a minority of young people shapes
the agenda as “the young people”
Ruuti strives to give a voice to all young people
of Helsinki

3. ”Traditional” youth participation in
Finland
• Youth councils in municipalities
• Often elected among young people that are already active
• Youth councils directly represent the youth in that
municipality
+ Easier to understand and adopt for decision-makers
+ Easier for youth workers to maintain
- Narrower scope of positive experiences for fewer young
people
- Tends to favor already active young people and discourage
immigrants etc.

4. Our vision in Ruuti:
1. Every young people in Helsinki has a positive
experience on participating in decision
making as a citizen.
2. Young people’s initiatives are taken seriously.
3. Young people are heard in the issues relevant
to them.
4. Young peoples’ initiatives are actually making
Helsinki a better city to live.

5. Ruuti as a system
• For the whole city of Helsinki, not just the
youth department
• Run by the youth dept. & the school dept.
• Started in 2011
• A ”work in progress”

6. Supporting active, democratic
citizenship via:
• Groups as a default unit to co-operate with
• Doing things together: society is made for me
and for others
• Concrete activities
• Doing things that matter most for the young
people and suit their interests

7. Structures to co-create Helsinki
together with its young people
• Annual City Hall Gathering / Event “Ruutiexpo”
• Annual meeting with the decision makers “Päättäjämiitti”
• Providing support & services for all active youth groups to
bring their ideas and voice into local decision making
• 400 professional youth workers & 90 youth centers
• Annual school student board meetings to discuss and
improve school life
• Annual participative budget cycle shifts local decision
making power towards youth
• Young peoples’ initiatives via www.ruuti.net

8. Decision-makers meeting –
”Päättäjämiitti”
• Over 80 young people and several municipal
representatives and officials / workers (2014)
• Themes discussed are chosen by young people,
discussions are on their terms
• Officials put forward discussed action plans in
their own name – not as an organisation
• Examples: Summer job vouchers, more sports
events, better information on school nurses shifts
• All action plans can be followed online

9. RuutiExpo
• Our biggest event of the year
• Held annually in the City Hall
• Aims to showcase different avenues of participation via
municipal offices (Youth work, libraries, office of sports
etc.), NGOs and other organisations
• 4520 young people and 60 different offices /
organisations (2013)
• Also a venue for direct participation
• Challenge: How to ”package” the event so teachers can
incorporate the event in their classes? How to layout
the fragmented program so visitors can find things
most relevant for them?

10. Recurring themes: What do young
people in Helsinki want to change?
• Equality
• School: food, interaction with teachers,
participation etc..
• Public transportation
• Job opportunities for young people
• Leisure activities for young people

11. What is the core group?
• Consists of 20 annually elected
young people
• Their task is to work together
with the youth department to
ensure that Ruuti works
properly
• The group also has multiple
agendas on what they want to
improve in Helsinki
• The group agrees on their own
operating culture and rules
• Frequent meetings with the
director of youth services,
politicians, city councilmen etc.
• A high emphasis on learning
within the group; it is up to the
youth worker to ensure that
every member can fuction in the
group
Ruuti core group for 2015

12. Core group election
• Young people between 13-17 years can enroll
as candidate
• Voted online by all young people between 13-
17 in Helsinki
• A very diverse group: Ethnicity, main language,
background, skill level..

13. Topics which Ruuti core group
2015 wants to improve in Helsinki
• Equal rights (Racism, language minorities etc.)
• School issues (school participation,
counseling)
• Youth leisure activities
• Sexual harassment towards young people
• Job opportunities for young people
• Bullying in schools

14. Participatory budjeting
Participatory budjeting gives direct budget
allocation and activity planning power to young
residents in selected youth work districts.
Aims to be used in every youth work district by
2018.

15. Challenges for Ruuti
• How to document participation activities that
have been done
• How to gain more candidates / voters in the
core group election
• How to lower the treshold of participation
• How to strengthen dialogue between officials
and young people in general

16. New municipal law
• New municipal law in Finland in final stages of
parlament approval
• Requires all municipalities to strengthen youth
participation via mandatory ”youth
parlaments or similar participation groups”

17. Questions?
What would you like to know more about?
Juha.kiviniemi@hel.fi