Listening to adolescents: Corona survey expanded

In April of this year, the Waldeck-Frankenberg district, with its specialist service for sport and youth work, conducted a survey among children and young people on the subject of "Life during the pandemic". On the initiative of Mayor Henning Scheele, the city of Lichtenfels with school social worker Yvonne Pixa from the MPS Goddelsheim and Claudia Vach from the Evangelical Youth Lichtenfels-Eisenberg had signed up as a pilot municipality for the cooperation.

With success: In a video conference, District Administrator Dr. Reinhard Kubat and those involved in the city of Lichtenfels have already discussed the survey results with the young people and recorded additional concrete measures as wishes of the adolescents. These measures are now to be implemented soon, as far as possible. "We now want to follow up on this successful survey with an expanded questionnaire and extend the survey to the entire district," explains Matthias Schäfer, Head of the Sports and Youth Work Department.

The extended survey started in the town of Frankenau. There, Mayor Björn Brede distributed a personal letter to over 150 children and young people aged 11 to 17, inviting them to take part in the online survey. The online voting is, of course, anonymous, and the participants' feedback cannot be attributed to any particular child or young person. This means that every participant can express his or her thoughts freely, and the feelings and individual needs of the adolescents in the Corona period are reflected authentically.

Mayor Brede on the goal of the city of Frankenau: "Above all, we want to listen and offer support," with a focus on what young people want and how to deal with the pandemic. The district also wants to explore targeted interests in online and recreational activities and learn about adolescents' preferred activities. "We want to take into account the insights we gain, as well as the impulses we receive, when it comes to needs-based leisure programs and educational offerings - throughout the district," says Andreas Greif, deputy head of the Sports and Youth Work department.

The good news for the district is that other municipalities have already expressed an interest in carrying out the survey in their area of responsibility - in fact, the survey is just starting in the municipality of Vöhl. The sports and youth work department welcomes this development, because it is the only way to obtain a comprehensive picture of the situation of children and young people in the district. It is therefore desirable and important that as many of the 22 towns and communities as possible participate. Further information on the survey is available from the district's sports and youth work department by calling 05631 954-496 or e-mailing jessica.hecker-robinson@lkwafkb.de.