Children and young people at the Nordic democracy festivals |
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| Update on child and youth policy and practice 4/2026 | | | | | | | |
Children and young people at the Nordic democracy festivals
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The Nordic Welfare Centre’s first event at this summer’s democracy festivals was Folkemødet in Denmark in June, followed by SuomiAreena in Finland, and now in August, Arendalsuka in Norway. We arranged and took part in seminars on how to ensure children have a healthy start in life and presented findings from an upcoming Nordic report on children, young people and digital media. Children, young people and digital mediaOur upcoming Nordic report on children, young people and digital media was the focus of three different events. At Folkemødet, Gitte Stald from the IT University of Copenhagen – the Danish representative in the project Nordic co-operation on a safer digital democracy for children and youth – presented preliminary findings from the literature review on the impact of digital media on children and young people. At SuomiAreena, Sirkku Kotilainen from the University of Tampere, a co-author of the report, took part in a discussion with Fatim Diarra, Member of Parliament and Aarre Okkonen, a student. During Arendalsuka, Niamh Ní Bhroin from the University of Agder, also a co-author of the report, presented preliminary findings focusing on the overview of policies in the Nordic countries in the field. Ensuring children a healthy start in lifeFindings from the recently published report from the Nordic network about the child’s first 1000 days – a healthy start in life were shared at two different events. Jonna Lehikoinen, co-author of the report, took part in a discussion at SuomiAreena focusing on trust and resilience as the foundation for crisis preparedness in the Nordic region. During Arendalsuka, a seminar was organised that focused on the results from the report presented by Kari Slinning, a member of the Nordic network. Photo: Daniel Mirabal Chessal |
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Young people want to be informed, to be listened to and to be able to contribute when crises arise
| How do
children and young people view emergency preparedness? The Ombudsman for
Children has investigated this in this year’s Children’s Barometer, based on responses from over 1,500
young Norwegians. The results show that many young people are concerned about
crises such as war, pandemics and economic turmoil, and that they are calling
for clear information, trusted adults and greater involvement in emergency
preparedness work.
The
findings are consistent with experiences from Nordic cooperation on children’s
rights in crises. Our own report Participation is protection emphasises the importance of including children
and young people in emergency preparedness work and decision-making processes
that affect them. We are collaborating with the Nordic Ombudsmen for Children
to develop child-friendly versions of the report. The reports will be launched
with a webinar on 21 October, registration opens 1 September. | | | | |
Save the date - Nordic Baltic Youth Summit 2026 in Tallinn | The Nordic
Baltic Youth Summit 2026 will take place in Tallinn on 4–5 December. Participants
from the Nordic and Baltic countries will take part in two days of panel
discussions and workshops. This year, five key topics have been identified for
the conference: - The AI leap
- Radicalisation
- Mental health
- Security and resilience
- Youth participation in democracy
As usual at
these events, the participants will formulate recommendations addressed to
decision-making organisations on the different topics.
This year's
summit is organised by the Estonian National Youth Council, in cooperation with
the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Estonia and NORDBUK (the Nordic Committee for
Children and Young People). | | | | | Nordic Youth Con is
an annual conference at Voksenåsen, bringing together young people from across
the Nordic region to strengthen democratic participation and exchange
experiences—developed in collaboration with youth themselves. We encourage
young people aged 15–24 who are interested in democracy, participation and
societal issues to apply. | | | | |
EU launches first anti-poverty strategy | The European
Commission has launched its first comprehensive strategy to tackle poverty and
social exclusion across the EU. The initiative comes at a time when around one
in five people in Europe are at risk of poverty or social exclusion.
The
strategy sets out a life-course approach, with a particular focus on reducing
child poverty, improving access to employment and essential services, and
addressing homelessness and social exclusion.
Its
headline target is to lift at least 15 million people out of poverty by 2030,
with the longer-term ambition of eradicating poverty in the EU by 2050. | | | | |
Samuel Engblom new Director of the Nordic Welfare Centre | On 1
August, Samuel Engblom took up his post as the new Director of the Nordic
Welfare Centre. He most recently worked at the Swedish Equality Ombudsman (DO)
as chief of staff and deputy equality ombudsman. | | | | | | Nå de små - Sped- og småbarnskonferansen, tema: overganger The conference, which is held in Norwegian, will take place between 09:00-14:50. It is digital, free of charge, and will be available to watch online afterwards. Program and registration | | | | | | | | Did you get this newsletter forwarded to you? Subscribe here! | This
newsletter is published about six times a year, mainly in English, with
occasional Scandinavian articles. It contains the latest news about our
network, projects and publications, and information about coming events in the
field of child and youth policy and practice in the Nordic region.
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Norden ska vara världens mest hållbara och integrerade region år 2030. Nordens välfärdscenter bidrar framför allt till målet om ett socialt hållbart Norden. Läs mer om arbetet i Nordiska ministerrådets Vision 2030.
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