Children and Youth Strategy for Vienna
Vienna´s biggest participation project for children and young people
Your Vienna for future
The City of Vienna aims to make Vienna the world’s best city for children and young people to live in. The route towards achieving this goal is laid out in the Vienna Children and Youth Strategy, which defines 9 objectives and 193 measures addressing all fields of local policy, and all City of Vienna departments and enterprises.
The Children and Youth Strategy for Vienna
In a participatory process, children and young people living in Vienna were given the “assignment” to perform a “service check” on the City of Vienna: What is working well, and what is not? Which improvements do they suggest? The young participants were entirely free to choose the topics addressed. Based on their assessment, they could award medals to the City of Vienna, or submit “repair instructions” for the city by formulating suggestions, ideas and visions.
22,581 children and young people took part in 1,309 different workshops and contributed their views on what should or could be done to make Vienna even better. Their suggestions served as the basis for the Vienna Children and Youth Strategy, which was adopted by the Vienna City Council in June 2020. A detailed description of the strategy’s nine objectives is available here; to get the entire publication, click on the button below:
The Vienna childrens’s and young people’s Parliament
The City of Vienna has established the Vienna Children’s and Young People’s Parliament to give its youngest residents a strong voice in shaping their city. The CYP Parliament is meant to encourage children and young people to take an active part in local political discourse. Over 300 Viennese between 5 and 20 years of age took part in the first “sitting” on 17-18 May 2022.
One of the main tasks of the young MPs is to debate and vote on projects submitted for funding from the city’s first participatory budget for projects by and for children and young people. A million EUR has been set aside for this purpose – termed “Kinder- und Jugendmillion”. The Vienna CYP Parliament also maintains a dialogue with the Vienna City Government on the progress made with implementing the Vienna Children and Youth Strategy and its goals.
For the current year, all seats in the Children and Youth Parliaments are taken. We will keep you updated right as soon as applications can be submitted for the 2023 session.
A participatory budget of one million Euro reserved for children and young people
For the first time in its history, the City of Vienna has reserved a participatory budget of 1 million Euro for projects and measures by and for children and young people. In October 2021, all Viennese residents between 5 and 20 years of age were invited to submit their ideas for the city of the future, and to get an active say in jointly deciding how their and our city can be further improved.
As a result, the City of Vienna received about 250 different ideas from private youth associations, schools and kindergartens. In its first session, the CYP Parliament grouped these ideas into several focus topics that were subsequently discussed in special committees. To assess the ideas’ feasibility, the young MPs held co-creation workshops with staff members from 27 different departments of the Vienna City Administration and from the municipal districts of Vienna – ranging from urban gardening experts to district youth representatives.
In their second “sitting” in autumn 2022, the young MPs will vote on which projects make it into the final online selection process. This process is open to all local residents between 5 and 20 years of age. The winning projects selected are slated for implementation.
All children and young people in Vienna grow up in a clean and healthy environment and climate. They can live sustainably in their city and have many parks, green spaces, and water at their doorsteps. They are well informed about climate and environmental protection and can get active themselves.
All children and young people in Vienna can develop their interests, ideas and talents. They are supported and respected in kindergarten and school, can get an education and find a suitable job. They and their families get support if they need it and they have a good place to live. The city actively combats child and youth poverty.
All children and young people in Vienna live a healthy life and feel well. They have access to doctors, hospitals and other healthcare institutions. They are protected from smoking, alcohol and other drugs.
All children and young people in Vienna grow up in peace in a free environment. They form part of a community in a diverse city and contribute to fair and friendly relationships.
All children and young people in Vienna are as important as adults in all places and locations in the city. There is enough space at their doorsteps to play, move and relax.
All children and young people in Vienna are involved in decisions that concern them. They get clear information, learn to form an opinion and are encouraged and supported to express their opinions freely and to take responsibility.
All children and young people in Vienna feel safe and secure. They are protected from violence, harm, bullying and discrimination. Adults treat them with respect and take them seriously.
All children and young people in Vienna are considered in urban transport planning and can move around safely and freely in the city.
All children and young people in Vienna have time and opportunities to enjoy leisure activities, sports, games, fun, rest and recreation. They can freely participate in festivals, events and cultural activities.