Make your own election poster
The visitors are encouraged to reflect on the societal issues that are important to them and how they could best communicate their views to other people.
Nuorteneduskunta.fi – the young people's web portal to Finnish democracy
Nuorteneduskunta.fi (”Young People’s Parliament”) is a website for young people preparing to use their votes – and voices – in the Finnish society. Complementing the offical website of the Parliament of Finland, Nuorteneduskunta.fi provides the ABC of parliamentary democracy in Finland as well as links to further information and channels of activism.
The main goal of the site is to offer an inspiring, activating tool for the teaching of Social Studies in schools. In addition to explaining the parliamentary processes, great emphasis was put on demonstrating how political decision-making affects us all every day.
In the ”Eduskunta” (”The Parliament”) section of the site, various interactive applications are used to bring democracy close to young people’s lives:
EeTuubi – a treasury of moving pictures
EeTuubi ("ParliamentTube") offers a selection of audiovisual material such as live streams from the plenary sessions and video clips on other aspects of parliamentary work as well as the history of the Finnish Parliament.
Take a guided tour into parliamentary work
The visitor selects one of the Members of Parliament to describe what the people working in the Parliament buildings – not only MPs but also the Speakers of the Parliament, assistants, civil servants and journalists – actually do.
Who's in the current Parliament?
The seating plan for the plenary sessions illustrates the political party representation in the current Parliament. Clicking on the seats produces basic information about the Members of the Parliament and links to their personal webpages.
See how laws evolve
Laws always reflect the values and the political culture of their times. This application uses a timeline to show how, for example, traffic legislation has evolved along the years in response to changes in society.
Web base for teachers and Parliament Clubs
In addition to the Parliament section, teachers have their own section on the site for uploading and sharing teaching materials, class assignments and lesson plans. They will also find all the information they need to arrange a visit to the Parliament House for their class.
Nuorteneduskunta.fi is also the web base for the Parliament Clubs that operate in about a hundred Finnish schools. In the clubs, students tackle topical issues to learn how the society works and how they can make a difference in it. The website provides a home for the Parliament Clubs' blogs and the documentation on Youth Parliament sessions held every other year in the Parliament House.
What next?
In the future, the website will be developed in co-operation with, among others, The Finnish Broadcasting Company's The Living Archive, which contains thousands of television and radio programs. Valtikka.fi, a web democracy project for young people financed by the Ministry of Education and Culture, will be another collaborator. Thematic content and applications related to topical events such as elections will also be added to the site.
