The second SGAIAR youth conference took place at the Pestalozzi Children's Village in Trogen from November 25 to 29, 2024. 63 young people from three schools in the canton of St. Gallen experienced an intensive week full of discussions, encounters and the search for solutions to concrete social challenges.
In various formats such as workshops, committee meetings and plenary assemblies, as well as in their free time, the students from St. Gallen (Meitleflade), Altstätten (Wiesental) and Wil (Sonnenhof) dealt with key issues such as democracy, children's rights, education and the role of the media. In doing so, they learned to understand democratic processes, develop a well-founded opinion, take responsibility and work out creative solutions to social challenges. "The youth conference has once again proven that democracy education works excellently when young people are given the opportunity to take responsibility for themselves and others with a lot of commitment and creativity," emphasizes Nicolai Kozakiewicz, lecturer and employee at the Department of Democracy Education and Human Rights at the St. Gallen University of Teacher Education (PHSG) and co-initiator of the project. Julian Friedrich, project manager of the Pestalozzi Children's Village Foundation (SKP), adds: "We want to make young people aware that they already have opportunities to help shape social decisions - and that they can also use these in the future."
Innovative cooperation between two educational institutions
The SGAIAR youth conference is a cooperation project between PHSG and SKP. Both institutions have been working closely together for years to develop a week that not only imparts knowledge but also motivates active participation. The format stands out from conventional youth parliaments: In addition to the thematic work, the children's village with its intercultural approaches and generous infrastructure with residential buildings and leisure activities offers a unique framework that promotes solidarity and cohesion beyond the actual format of the conference. With the support of the Beisheim Foundation and other sponsors, the youth conference is to become an integral part of the educational offering in Eastern Switzerland in the medium term. In the future, the organizers hope to be able to inspire schools in both Appenzells to take part, as they did last year and in accordance with the intention of the tri-cantonal youth conference. The aim is to welcome more than 100 young people to the children's village in 2025.
From fewer exams to protection from psychological domestic violence
The week enabled and demanded a high degree of participation from the participants. In committee groups, the students independently identified different problem situations in mixed-class workshops, assessed the urgency and developed their own solutions in the form of legislative proposals. The demands of the young people on the Education Committee included shorter school hours and a maximum of two exams per week to reduce stress. The Children's Rights Commission called for measures to reduce discrimination in schools and protection from and support for children and young people suffering from psychological domestic violence. The work of the two committees was accompanied by young people from the media group, who reported on the work of the committees in an evening news broadcast and headlines. In the final vote during the plenary session on Thursday afternoon, all four proposals were clearly accepted.
Own projects for the benefit of society
The SGAIAR youth conference is over. The success of the adopted bills motivated and inspired the young people to campaign for changes in their own school building, in the school community or in the neighborhood at the end of the project week. Together with their classmates, they developed They developed actions and projects through which they can try out social commitment themselves and at the same time bring the perspective of young people closer to the community. The conference did not end with any naive youthful demands on third parties, but resulted in real commitment with the aim of implementing self-developed actions and projects at the school, the school community or in the neighborhood by the end of February. It will therefore have an impact far beyond the one project week in Trogen and should therefore contribute in the long term to strengthening democracy in the region.