“An idea for the future, perhaps...” – youthful interest and insight on display during Future Day at the FDFA
Bern, 10.11.2016 - Over 60 children and young people visited the FDFA today – Switzerland’s National Future Day – to learn about the department’s work and see the place where their parents, godparents or people they know work. The morning culminated in a meeting with Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter, who showed them the Federal Council chamber and answered numerous questions (the sea of happy faces prompting him to describe the ‘Bundeshaus’ (Federal Palace) as a ‘buntes Haus’ (‘colourful palace’)). In the afternoon, the youngsters were able to explore the FDFA’s work in greater depth at a number of workshops.
The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) received an influx of young blood today when more than 60 children and young people came to look over the shoulders of their parents, godparents, neighbours and friends and gain a glimpse of the ‘real-life’ world of work for a day. Held as part of National Future Day, the event also aimed to provide an insight into the opportunities and issues associated with working life in general, and work at the FDFA in particular. The Section for Equal Opportunities in the FDFA and Global Gender and Women’s Issues had put together a varied programme for the young visitors.
“I don’t know how people here can stick sitting in a chair for so long”, was Davide’s reaction after seeing his mum’s place of work. Severin was struck by how many phone calls his godfather had to make and was impressed at “how fast people at the FDFA can write on their computers”.
Following the workplace visit, the youngsters met the head of the FDFA, Didier Burkhalter. “First, we had to wait over 20 minutes because he had a meeting that went on too long. Then he arrived and introduced himself. After that, we went into the Federal Council chamber. There were seven seats for the federal councillors. One lucky boy got to sit in the president’s chair (though only for a moment!) but everybody else had to stand. Mr Burkhalter answered our questions. They were almost all in German. At the end, we went outside for a group photo, and those who wanted got to have their photo taken with Mr Burkhalter. Not everyone was brave enough to do that, though. We went away happy with our presents: some Swiss chocolate and a wooden cow called Happy Lilly.”
In the afternoon, the youngsters took part in various workshops to give them a clear idea of some of the issues dealt with by the FDFA.
- FDFA Information workshop: The FDFA Information workshop showcased different channels of communication. Nadia, Fabian, Davide, Fiona, Severin and Joachim were then given the task of writing the FDFA press release about Future Day, which you are reading now.
- Presence Switzerland workshop: “Today we saw how Presence Switzerland conveys an image of Switzerland through Houses of Switzerland and expos abroad, where foreign visitors get to see and experience exhibitions, landscapes and sights of interest,” write Seraphim and Samuel.
- Directorate for Resources workshop: “We find it amazing that so many people want to become translators and can speak so many languages,” say Laurin and Darjo, who also found out that “once you’ve learnt three or four languages, it gets easier to learn more, such as Arabic or Chinese…”.
- Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation workshop: This workshop was run by the West Africa Division and focused on education. The video about children in Africa made a big impression on Lina because the children have no school transport and the journey to school is very dangerous. Despite these conditions, Silia thinks that the children like going to school and have fun there. Lena noticed that classes in other countries are much bigger than in Switzerland, some with over 80 pupils. She finds it unfair that boys in poor countries have a lot more advantages than girls, with more books and better school equipment.
- FDFA IT workshop: Alissa learnt “how to work the different Windows operating systems, which I enjoyed. I also tried out a bit of programming.” Gianluca gained a basic insight into the world of programming. “We also learnt about what goes on inside a computer.”
- Swiss Humanitarian Aid workshop: Florence was part of a group that learnt “how to turn dirty water into drinkable water.” She enjoyed the workshop – “and I can imagine myself going out with Swiss Humanitarian Aid one day to help people in a disaster-hit country.” Noé found the workshop “very exciting”: “We learnt what Swiss Humanitarian Aid actually does, and we got to try on the jackets that relief workers wear. We also put up a tent together, like the ones used during the disaster in Haiti.”
Address for enquiries
FDFA Communication
Federal Palace West Wing
CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland
Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55
E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch
Twitter: @SwissMFA
Publisher
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html
