Youth seminar to discuss social and cultural aspects of wellbeing and ill-health of young people
Why are there two opposite phenomena in our society: On the one hand, there is good, humane sense of community and excellent learning results, and on the other, there is school bullying, violence and hard values? What can we do to help young people cope better, and how can social exclusion among the youth be prevented?
The Prime Minister’s Office together with its cooperation partners will hold a seminar, to be opened by Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, aimed at giving an overall picture of the wellbeing and ill-health of young people and discussing how society and different actors can help and support young people in growing up.
The seminar will take place at 9.00-17.00 on Wednesday 20 January, and it can be followed live on the Prime Minister's Office website (www.vnk.fi) and on Facebook where viewers can also take part in the discussion. The Facebook link is available on the Prime Minister’s Office website.
At the seminar, young people and those working among them will present their views concerning the social and cultural factors that affect the everyday life of the youth. A number of experts will also comment on these issues. Topics to be discussed include the position of children and young people in the economic downturn, bullying and violence, and the coping of the youth under the pressures created by the media and fragmenting culture. The seminar aims at identifying possible solutions and gathering experiences of good ones.
More than 350 political decision-makers, public servants, researchers, and representatives of NGOs and the media will participate in the seminar. The results of the seminar are to be utilised in political decision-making. Potential solutions brought forward in the discussion will be further analysed in the Policy Programme for the Well-being of Children, Youth and Families.
The seminar is organised by the Prime Minister’s Office in cooperation with the Policy Programme for the Well-being of Children, Youth and Families, the Internal Security Programme and the Finnish Youth Research Network.
The entire seminar will be recorded, and the recording along with other seminar materials will be made available at www.vnk.fi/nuorisoseminaari2010 (in Finnish).
Further information: Sirpa Kekkonen, Counsellor, Prime Minister’s Office, tel. +358 9 1602 2145, Taina Kulmala, Counsellor, Prime Minister’s Office, tel. +358 9 1602 2365 and Päivi Paasikoski, Head of Communications, Government Communications Unit, tel. +358 9 1602 2082 or +358 40 547 6279