During our research on Swiss initiatives allowing young people to express their views on climate futures, the name of one city kept coming up: Rapperswil-Jona. This town of 28,000 inhabitants located in the canton of St. Gallen has distinguished itself by having two different institutions aimed at young people: an annual Children’s Conference and a Youth Council.

Rapperswil-Jona’s Children’s Conference

Each year, between 60and 70 children from the 5th and 6th grades of Rapperswil-Jona participate in an event enabling them to explore in depth various topics related to their city and their daily lives. Around the motto: “It’s the children’s turn!”, the conference gives them a place to develop their creativity and freely express their opinions.

Creative and educative workshops to explore the city’s responsibilities

During a full day, participating children can take part in different workshops, guided by adult staff from the city. These workshops are designed by child and youth services and school social workers in collaboration with members of the municipal administration who are specialists in the topic. The event allows children to get an overview of everything that happens in the city of Rapperswil-Jona, all the themes and areas that the city deals with on a daily basis.

“I hope we’ll have lots of fun together and that we can simply have our say on the future.” (excerpt from an interview with a participating child, translated from German)

Various forms of creative and fun activities are offered depending on the themes addressed. The workshops generally begin with an introduction to the topic, followed by a time for dialogue with the city expert and finally a moment of creative expression (drawing a giant map, building a city with cardboard, modeling clay, creating monsters from waste, etc.)

In 2023, during a workshop focusing on the theme “a sporty and adventurous city” (with the Sport and Physical Activity department), the children were able to design leisure spaces using Lego, which they were able to combine with paint, paper, etc. Some have been able to create, for example, a PlayStation house, a swimming pool with a waterfall, and a nature park.

In another workshop on urban housing in Rapperswil Jona, the head of the technical department on the maintenance of public spaces was able to present what is being done to ensure that public spaces are clean, that everything functions properly and is preserved. The children also had the opportunity to share their concerns and their own ideas for improving the environment.

“For me, it’s important that people pay more attention to their waste, use their cars less, and travel more by bicycle.” (excerpt from an interview with a participating child, translated from German)

With this process, the specialized services that participated directly in the conference can listen to the concerns of children, collaborate with them and consequently may be able in the future to implement projects related to these concerns.

In another session entitled “Waste Monster”, the children drew on a map the areas where there were particularly high amounts of waste. This mapping allowed the services to gain a different understanding of the city through the children’s eyes.

From the children voices to the city council

We can therefore see that this conference is not only about the future but also about the children’s present, their daily lives as children who perceive things differently from adults. According to Claudia Taverna, in charge of organizing the event, dialogue is really the most important aspect of this initiative. It is important both to give children the opportunity to express their views and to take them seriously in their requests, wishes and ways of perceiving the world.

Additionally, the concerns expressed by children play a vital role in her work as Commissioner for Children and Youth [Kinder- und Jugendbeauftragten] (KiJuBe). Indeed, this administrative position gives her the role of representative for children and young people, responsible for bringing their requests to the municipal council.

“For me, it’s important that we think about children and not just leave them to cope on their own.” (excerpt from an interview with a participating child, translated from German)

In summary, the children’s conference has 4 complementary objectives: 

• Create opportunities for children to talk about topics that matter to them.
• Gather children’s concerns and enable them to discuss the feasibility of their ideas with expert municipal technicians.
• Understand their perspective and use it as a source of inspiration.
• Help them understand that the city’s administration is not an abstraction but a group of people open to dialogue.

Children’s participation methods

To inform children of their opportunity to participate in the conference, the city sends each child a personalized invitation to their home. This invitation allows them to discover the event’s program, the proposed themes, and register in order of preference.

There are between 60 and 70 places available. This equates to 10% of the city’s children in this age group. Claudia places great importance on valuing these children and rewarding their motivation to participate in this event.

That’s why, at the start of the day, the children are first received by the mayor. Afterwards, they participate in a workshop in the morning and another in the afternoon, with breaks scheduled throughout the day.
The day concludes in the main hall with a city councilor thanking them for their work. In 2024, Mayor Martin Stöckling even came to symbolically accept all the suggestions.

Finally, the children are invited to give feedback on their experience, in order to also involve them in how the event is run.

Youth Council – Jugendrat Rapperswil‑Jona

“Who are we?
We are motivated and committed young people from Rapperswil-Jona who advocate for the interests of 13–25 year olds. Thanks to direct access to the town hall, our concerns are addressed quickly. We have the opportunity to give our opinion on municipal projects and to organize an annual youth session.” (Jugendrat Rapperswil‑Jona)

A place for teenagers’ concerns

The Rapperswil-Jona Youth Council was founded in 2022. We met with Fynn Tremmel, the founder and co-president of Rapperswil-Jona’s Youth Council who explained to us the intention behind this initiative for the young people of the city. 
At that time, the city already had the Children’s Conference for 10- to 12-year-olds, but Fynn and his friends lacked a space for teenagers. They then decided to create their own youth parliament, focused on the city’s issues, in complementarity with the other cantonal and national youth parliaments.

The Youth Council is thus a platform for youngsters to discuss with each other about politics and the issues of the city, before being of voting age. According to Fynn, the goal is to show teenagers that politics isn’t boring and that they have a chance to change things.

“Your opinion is no less valuable simply because you are a minor. On the contrary: you live in this city, you use its services and you walk its streets.” (Jugendsession – Die Jugendsession ist zurück!)

The Youth sessions

The first youth session took place in spring 2023. Three themes were addressed: accessibility, road safety, and leisure outings for young people.
For half a day, the young people work on demands related to these themes, which are then passed on to the city. It is also the occasion for some young people to talk about their own projects and ideas for the city. 

Over the years, there have been numerous propositions on new ways for young people to spend their free time. But also, perhaps more surprisingly, the topics of inclusion (for people in wheelchairs or visual imparity for example) and mobility (alternative ways to travel or safety on bicycle lanes) have been really important for the young participants.

Mobilize the city’s youth

At the moment, fifty youngsters are members of the Youth Council. 7 young people elected among them compose the Youth Council’s “Executive Committee”. They work in collaboration with Claudia Taverna, the Commissioner for Children and Youth, who assures their connection with the city administration. 
The team succeeded in gathering the participation of 400 young people in the session preparation surveys.

The main concern of the Youth Council team lately has been to improve communication and participation in events.
To this end, they are testing a new strategy working with sports or cultural activity clubs in addition to schools in order to reach young people and motivate them to answer the surveys. The team also wants to reach out to more people on social media, outside of their existing “bubble”.
The main challenge is to make their proposal attractive and therefore to fight against the cliché of a boring political engagement where one just sits and talks about paperwork. It feels like school and teenagers don’t want more “school-like” time.