Inclusion pilot incorporates views of children and young people into Government’s preparation work

Some 17,000 children and young people shared their views on issues such as safety and security, trust and wellbeing in a pilot project aimed at strengthening the inclusion of children and young people in society and taking into account their perspectives in preparation work at the state level.

In autumn 2025 and spring 2026, the Government carried out a pilot project in which children and young people in Finland shared their views and wishes for the next government terms. The pilot project’s final report was presented at a publication event at the House of the Estates on Monday 25 May.

The pilot was targeted at pupils in years 5–9 across Finland. The national survey sent out as part of the pilot received 17,000 responses, which were supplemented with dialogues, digital panels and workshops involving a total of 200 children and young people.  

The final report highlights those themes that children and young people considered most important. The children and young people consulted in the pilot project felt that Finland should be focusing most on issues such as climate change, safety and security, mental health systems and inequality.  

The themes explored in the pilot were based on the themes discussed in the key messages from the permanent secretaries to be published later, and some of the children’s views were directly incorporated into the permanent secretaries’ report. The key messages from the permanent secretaries present the shared views of senior public officials across the ministries on the most important policy challenges of the next parliamentary terms and possible approaches to solutions.

Towards a permanent model for hearing the views of children and young people

The main purpose of the inclusion pilot is to incorporate the views of children and young people directly into the preparations for the next government term. The results of the pilot project also show that there is a clear need to hear the views of children and young people, and that their inclusion strengthens the knowledge base for decision-making and builds trust in society and democracy.

During the pilot project, the ministries identified the need to develop a permanent and systematic way to hear the views of children and young people on a regular basis and put them to use when preparing for future government terms. The pilot project on inclusion is an important first step towards this goal.

“Taking into account the views of children and young people is an essential component of sustainable and future-oriented decision-making. This pilot project shows that their voices can be systematically included in the Government’s preparations. This work will also continue in the second part of the Government Report on the Future, where the main focus will be on young people,” said State Secretary Risto Artjoki.

The inclusion pilot was carried out through broad-based cooperation across a variety of sectors. It was coordinated by the National Child Strategy in cooperation with the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education and Culture.  Motiva Oy, 1001 Lakes, the Timeout Foundation, the Deaconess Institute and Save the Children Finland also contributed to the implementation.

Inquiries: Laura Kuusio, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 29 516 3504 and Laura Salovaara, Coordinator, tel. +358 29 516 3177
Email addresses are in the format [email protected].