Participation is about belonging and being heard. The principles of participation in Helsinki include the utilisation of the knowledge and expertise of individuals and communities, enabling independent activities and creating equal opportunities for participation. The experience of participation strengthens citizens’ trust in the activities of public authorities and in social activities and services in general. It helps to accept commonly established rules and practices and to understand the reasoning behind different perspectives. Promoting participation is particularly relevant to SDG 10 Reduced inequalities, SDG 11 Sustainable cities and communities and SDG 16 Peace, justice and strong institutions, which highlight equal opportunities for participation, resident involvement in urban planning and participatory decision-making.
By global standards, residents’ participation and influencing opportunities and interaction are at a good level in Helsinki. Resident participation has been included in the City Strategy and several objectives have been set for it. The goal of the participation and interaction model approved in Helsinki in 2017 is to increase the transparency of decision-making and to strengthen customer- and user-orientation aspects in the development of services.
Helsinki residents have many opportunities to influence and participate
In recent years, Helsinki has made strides in promoting participation. Issues are increasingly being examined holistically across divisions, knowledge and expertise are being shared and successful practices are being tested together. The City concretises the objectives and perspectives of the participation and interaction model in the City-wide participation plan, which is drawn up every strategy period. The participation plans for 2023–2025 are linked to three objectives: strengthening participation experience, strengthening participation competence and understanding, and strengthening pluralism.
The City of Helsinki has increased its staff’s awareness and skills regarding participation and interaction. The City’s intranet contains information on and methods for encountering and engaging residents. The intranet also provides support for communications about participation and reaching different target groups. The same themes have been covered in a learning package on participation for all City staff, which is used to train staff and strengthen their skills in practice. The divisions have also developed their employees’ participation skills separately; for example, the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division has been working on digital participation.
The City has clarified its communications to residents on various opportunities for participation by compiling information in one place on the osallistu.hel.fi website. The website provides information on various opportunities to participate in the City’s development and decision-making process and support for working together.
Involving city residents in the development of services and gathering user understanding are important parts of the City’s development and participation work. The challenge for City services is to engage and provide services to new target groups and reach those who have difficulties in accessing services and who are not yet using the existing services. The whole service chain must take into account the diverse needs and wishes of city residents, as well as the different barriers to using and participating in existing services. Identifying and engaging these target groups is an ongoing development effort for the City.
Services, customer experiences and facilities are designed together with residents through service design and co-creation. The most recent sites where a lot of co-creation has taken place are Kalasatama Library and the expansion and vision work of Cultural Centre Stoa. A good example of the development of the customer experience of services is the creation of safer space principles for all libraries. Different City services utilise experts by experience and organise peer activities. The Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division has launched development work to make expert by experience and peer activities easy to set up and coordinate.
Customer panels and co-creation groups are becoming established in City services and have been used in the development of services such as libraries, health stations and disability services. The City develops its services in interaction with users and stakeholders in various cooperation forums, such as youth organisations’ Helsinki Team, sports clubs’ Club Parliament and libraries’ Kirjastoheimo. The organisations, communities and artists receiving grants form an important group of stakeholders, and the City is constantly developing its cooperation with them.
In major planning and implementation projects related to the urban environment, the City consults its residents through various digital methods and resident events. For larger projects, the City assembles a panel of city residents, who meet with the experts several times during the design or implementation of the project and make suggestions for improvements. The panel is made up of as diverse a group of residents as possible.
Participation is brought close to residents in their own neighbourhoods
Helsinki supports the local participation of residents and has several professional groups that support resident participation in different neighbourhoods.
The City has five community workers, who residents can contact if they want to improve the comfort, safety and well-being of their neighbourhood. The City’s seven borough liaisons support residents and various operators in participation, influencing and working together, taking regional needs into account. The borough liaisons operate in the seven major districts, focusing on regional network cooperation, trials of operating models to support resident participation, and the promotion of equal opportunities for participation. Around 20 area and participation instructors are responsible for consulting and involving young people in the planning of services, and promoting participation measures for young people. There are also staff responsible for participation in the regional libraries. The City also has three business liaisons, who help businesses find the right partners and networks, and also help with licensing.
The City of Helsinki maintains nine community houses in different parts of the city. The community houses act as open, low-threshold living rooms and recreational centres in their area, where everyone is welcome.
Helsinki supports its residents’ daily lives and attachment to the city by providing various advisory services. The City’s Helsinki-info advisory service offers guidance in three locations across the city, as well as by phone and chat. Various tools have been developed to support the skills of the advisory workers and cooperation in multilingual communications and advice has been stepped up in several projects. Helsinki implemented the Avoin ovi palveluihin (Open Door to Services) project between 2020 and 2024, which focused on the development of advisory services specifically for foreign-language customers.
Regional dialogue and development have also been supported by participatory budgeting implemented by Helsinki since 2018. Helsinki’s participatory budgeting system is called OmaStadi, and it is implemented fully on a digital platform. Between 2018 and 2024, the city’s residents have had the opportunity to brainstorm and decide how the City will spend more than 22 million euros. Participatory budgeting has resulted in 164 projects across the city. In 2022, Helsinki completely overhauled its participatory budgeting process and succeeded in its goal of making the process simpler to participate in and implement, and shorter in overall duration.
Residents feel that participatory budgeting has increased their opportunities to make a difference, and are more interested in the City’s activities and influencing decision-making. Participatory budgeting OmaStadi has brought many new services to the city, especially in the area of sports services, brainstormed by city residents. Indeed, participatory budgeting has increased innovation in City services and has also brought transparency to decision-making. It has also strengthened cooperation between different divisions and services. An example of good cooperation is the fact that children in comprehensive school are the most active of all age groups in participating in OmaStadi.
Digital participation increases transparency in decision-making
Helsinki offers digital platforms and tools to its residents, which allow them to participate in the planning and development of the City’s services regardless of time and place. The City has a digital participation roadmap, which helps develop, promote and support the use of digital participation platforms in the city. Digital participation platforms and feedback systems provide the City with data that can be used to develop the City’s services.
Participation on digital platforms requires sufficient skills and suitable devices, to which not all residents have access. The City’s digital support services at service points and in the form of remote digital support make it possible to lower the threshold of participation. The key objectives of digital support are to expand access to free digital support and raise awareness of it.
Mediation helps young people act fairly
The City of Helsinki organises extensive mediation in criminal and civil cases. Mediation in criminal and civil cases is a free and voluntary statutory municipal service for the parties involved in a criminal or civil case. The purpose of mediation is to provide solutions to a criminal or civil case, in addition or as an alternative to the formal legal process. At the mediation meeting, the parties have the opportunity to discuss the crime or dispute between them, guided by mediators, and agree on how to compensate for any harm caused.
The City of Helsinki’s development of mediation is particularly focused on the mediation processes of minors. The aim is to resolve various conflicts and wrongs at an early stage and thereby influence young people’s ability and understanding to act amicably and fairly in their communities and shared spaces. Measures to achieve this include a city-wide cooperation agreement with those working with young people with delinquent behaviour, staff training and the development of opportunities for young people to compensate for damage through work.
Together with the police, the Education Division has produced a comprehensive package of materials for staff in early childhood education and educational institutions on cooperation with the police, Child Welfare and the Mediation Office.
Councils promote the participation of different population groups
The Elderly Citizens Council and the Council on Disability promote the non-discrimination and participation of Helsinki residents who are older or have a disability or long-term illness. These councils influence the planning, preparation and monitoring of the City’s activities in matters relevant to wellbeing, health, inclusion, living environment, housing, mobility or the performance of daily activities.
Helsinki Youth Council ensures that young people are heard in Helsinki’s decision-making and in the planning, implementation and monitoring of the operations of the City’s divisions. The Youth Council prepares opinions and statements on youth issues, making young people’s voices heard in the City’s decision-making. Helsinki’s elected Youth Council has the right to speak and be present at the meetings of the City’s committees and the City Council.
Supporting free civic activities
Helsinki is a platform for free civic activities that focus on working together and initiatives from organisations. The City supports Helsinki-based organisations, communities and resident groups with almost 40 million euros per year. In Helsinki, NGO cooperation is promoted through a network-based model. The City is looking to strengthen its partnership with organisations and cooperate regularly at the City level. Different City divisions have intensified their cooperation with organisations; for example, the Education Division has developed a model of interaction structures for NGO cooperation, which comprehensively describes the partnership and cooperation with different operators and organisations to promote the well-being of children and young people.
The City has a City-level steering group for NGO and grant activities, which prepares and coordinates the implementation and interaction of the overall model for NGO cooperation. The participation and influence of organisations is promoted in Helsinki in the NGO Advisory Board, which brings together Helsinki-based organisations and trustees, and experts from the City’s central administration and divisions. The City also organises annual open events for organisations to promote networking and participation in the development work of the City, both among organisations and between organisations and City employees. In addition to this, we provide training for organisations to strengthen their self-sufficiency, public benefit and impact.
Children’s and young people’s participation
Helsinki is committed to promoting children’s and young people’s participation and opportunities to influence and has set City-wide targets for promoting these, approved by the City Board. Helsinki offers a wide range of influencing opportunities and channels for young people. Helsinki has an elected Youth Council. Young people’s participatory budgeting, known as the Youth Budget, engages around 10,000 young people aged 13–17 every year. The Voice of the Young Editorial Board highlights social issues important to young people in Finland’s biggest media outlets. Independent activities for young people are supported through the Sponssi! grant, for example. Through the young people’s initiative channel, young people can make their voices heard in City decision-making. The new Club Forum brings the voices of children and young people to the development of sports services. In 2023, the City launched regular Lasten ja nuorten ääni kuuluu! (The voice of children and young people is heard!) events, where the deputy mayors and division heads engage in dialogue with children and young people. The aim of these meetings is to strengthen interaction and the understanding of the City’s management of the experiences and ideas of children and young people. In 2023, the City completed the Muistitko lapset ja nuoret? (Did you remember children and young people?) planning tool, which supports City employees in the consultation and involvement of children and young people.
Work in early childhood education, schools and educational institutions is an important part of promoting the participation and influencing opportunities of children and young people. Families play a key role in promoting the participation of learners. Functional and genuinely communicative contact with homes, daycare centres, schools and educational institutions supports learners’ well-being and is also a resource for learning. Training and support materials are available for schools and institutions to strengthen dialogue and to help communities reflect together on how being seen and heard, positive action and community attachment are realised in the daily lives and activities of learners, guardians and employees. The school partnership built between the Myllypuro unit of Helsinki Vocational College and the comprehensive schools in the Myllypuro area and its events (e.g. the ‘Ota opiskelupaikka vastaan’ event in the summer) have provided a concrete opportunity for guardians and learners in the transitional phase to get to know the staff of the nearby educational institution. This has increased safety and trust in educational institutions, ensured an understanding of the potential support needs of new learners and initiated cooperation with guardians before the start of upper secondary education, ensuring continuity of cooperation between the home and the educational institution. Helsinki’s general upper secondary schools and Helsinki Vocational College have separate forums for student participation (Advisory Board at general upper secondary schools and Influencer Forum at Helsinki Vocational College).
The City-wide promotion and monitoring of the objectives is the responsibility of the steering group on the participation of children and young people, which includes representatives from each division. At schools and educational institutions, the participation of children and young people is monitored through the School Health Promotion study and customer experience surveys, carried out in alternate years, as well as through various well-being surveys. Furthermore, tools have been developed for schools and educational institutions to measure the experiences of participation in everyday life. The tools help identify learners’ experiences of participation, well-being and support needs throughout the school year. As part of UNICEF’s Child Friendly Municipality work, Helsinki’s different divisions have piloted different ways of collecting and using feedback and experience data from children and young people during 2023–2024.
Successes:
- Helsinki has developed a variety of participation methods, which are being used extensively in service development and decision-making preparations alike. Digital participation and digital support have been actively developed.
- Participatory budgeting has established itself as one of the City’s methods of participation, strengthening transparency in the City’s decision-making and the opportunities for residents to participate.
- The City’s participation and interaction work is more goal-oriented and more managed than before. The City Executive Office and the divisions have jointly prepared participation plans, which set out both City-wide and division-specific objectives and measures.
- The City established the NGO Advisory Board in spring 2023, and the City’s new model for NGO cooperation has provided a clear structure and goals for interaction with organisations.
- Communications about participation have evolved and expanded. The intranet site and training package on participation and interaction for all City employees strengthen the City’s ability to involve its residents in development and diversify residents’ opportunities to participate.
Areas for development:
- Further development of multi-channel opportunities for participation, combining digital and face-to-face methods of participation.
- City residents’ opportunities to participate in and influence the City’s work on sustainability and the environment.
- Cross-administrative cooperation to facilitate residents’ local agency.
