Experience democracy together
How do you learn democracy - not as a theory, but as a lived experience? Employees of the Pestalozzi Children's Village have contributed to a new publication that explores precisely this question.
Our annual report 2025
Over 320,000 children and young people benefited from access to high-quality education and additional learning opportunities last year. You can find out more about our work and its impact in the Annual Report 2025.
'It's also about our future'
Around 50 children from German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland took their demands to the place where decisions are made: the Federal Parliament. As part of the 2026 National Children's Conference, they met three members of the National Council and took the opportunity to put forward their demands.
Now children speak
How do children experience their rights and what would they like to change in this context? At the Children's Conference 2026 in the Pestalozzi Children's Village, around 40 children from all over Switzerland explored precisely these questions. Over the course of four days, they explored their rights, discussed their views and developed concrete demands for society and politics.
Europe meets in Trogen
What happens when 150 young people from ten countries meet for eight days in the Children's Village to discuss topics that concern young people in Europe? A look back at the European Youth Forum Trogen and the Youth Worker Forum 2026.
Locally owned, globally backed - A Manifesto for Locally Led Action
In the 1960s, "experts" and cows were still being sent to Rwanda in order to intensify agriculture. Today, however, being geared towards local needs is part of the self-concept of international cooperation (IC). Yet many stumbling blocks remain. Together, more than 40 Swiss NGOs have therefore drawn up a manifesto. It is a call to joint action in pursuit of equitable partnerships.
Offline meets online
On 10 February 2026, Safer Internet Day, over 50 people from ten Swiss cantons and three countries met at the Pestalozzi Children's Village. 19 of them were in a digital room and thus followed the events from a distance. The event? The symposium organised by digitalstreetwork.ch and the OST Ostschweizer Fachhochschule on digital youth work in the prevention of extremism.
Where democracy becomes tangible
The third youth conference took place at the Pestalozzi Children's Village from 1 to 5 December 2025. Over the course of five days, 64 young people from three schools in St.Gallen engaged intensively with democratic participation.
A school model with national impact
The transition from primary to secondary school is a particularly critical moment in the Serbian education system – especially for children from marginalized communities. Our project, "Together to Secondary School," addressed precisely this juncture. It empowered numerous children and young people and simultaneously developed a school model with the potential for nationwide scaling.