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Seminar on gender equality

Submitted by Finland on أربعاء, 23/02/2022 - 12:57
gender equality seminar poster

30.03.2022 at 16:00-18:45, Zoom Webinar 

Register for the event here (link)

With speakers from the Finnish ALF Network, this seminar activates the network members to work against genderist attitudes among their communities, and discusses methodologies for engaging the youth in gender equality. How different actors of society can help in challenging and undermining genderist attitudes? 

Civil society actors from 7 member organisations will shed light on the challenges they encounter and what kind of remedies they have found. 

Programme 

Introduction (20 min) 

Introduction to the work on gender equality and youth by Mirsal Ry (Mirsal ry)

Panel discussion part 1 (60 min) 

What kind of challenges related to gender inequality arise in refugee support? (Pakolaisapu ry) 

How can a bigger civil society organization act as a role model for smaller multicultural organisation in promoting gender equality? (Moniheli ry) 

How is Islamic feminism visible in today’s societies and especially Western societies? How does it differ from other types of feminism? (University of Helsinki) 

Q&A 

Break (15 min) 

Panel discussion part 2 (60 min) 

What are the most common challenges for Muslim women in Western and Nordic societies like Finland? How has Amal ry attempted to tackle them? (Amal ry) 

How can inclusion of different generations of women help in combatting gender inequality and sexism? (Nicehearts ry) 

What are some of the most common challenges and obstacles in multicultural families and family relations when it comes down to gender equality and empowering or supporting women? Forms of support to help families with problems such as gender inequality or gender bias. (Familia ry) 

Q&A 

Main organizers

Mirsal ry

Finnish Anna Lindh network

SHALIN Finland

National Network
فنلندا
Address

Haapaniemenkatu 7-9 B
00530 Helsinki
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Telephone
+358 40 768 3440
Telephone (other)
+358 40 354 7152
E-Mail
shalin@shalinry.org
E-Mail (2)
peter.g.kuria@gmail.com
E-Mail (3)
leila.costelle@tut.fi
E-Mail (4)
shalinry@gmail.com
Website
http://www.shalinry.org
Organisation Type
Non-Governmental Organization
Year of Establishment
2003
Fields of Activity
  1. Democracy and community development
  2. Environment/Sustainable development
General Information
SHALIN is run by a board and relies on volunteer work to achieve its objective. The main source of funding if from the Ministry for Foreign of Affairs of Finland. The budget per year is around 160 000 euro which is project specific. We have three projects in Kenya on forestry and indigenous knowledge, renewable energy (building of biogas and wind systems through training of artisans)and stoves development. The main partners are Aalto University, HAMK University of applied sciences, Kenya Forest Research Institute, Kenya Industrial Research Institute, local NGOs, CBOs, and Finnish NGOs
Mission and Objectives

SHALIN Finland promotes social, environmental and economic justice to all people. Our Values: Are to make a difference, fight for the most marginalised, be gender sensitive, open to change and learn through nurturing collaboration.

Main Projects / Activities

Forest management through Indigenous Knowledge, mapping of traditional territories, plants, and ecology. Inter generational knowledge exchange. Training of artisans in the development of biogas and wind energy systems. Training artisans on less emitting cooking stoves. Research on Agriculture productivity and sustainability. Organising of seminars, workshops, and networking events, organising the Helsinki African Film Festival (www.haff.fi), volunteer placement, student exchange.

How can you contribute to the Network in your country?

Based on our lessons learned especially on natural resources management and energy systems and the role of inter-cultural competencies, we can improve the interpretation of development concepts to improve the efficiency of development in general.

Why do you want to join the ALF Network?

We would like to join like minded persons, individuals, organisations and networks to learn and exchange ideas. We would also like to generate and contribute to alternative thinking among existing network members.

Contact (1) Full Name
Peter Kuria
Head of the organisation
Peter Kuria GITHINJI
Contact (2) Full Name
Leila Costelle

SHIFFA ry

National Network
فنلندا
Address

PL 35
Vanha Talvitie 1, 00580 Helsinki, Finland
00531 Helsinki
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Telephone
+358445744460
E-Mail
info@shiffa.org
Website
http://www.shiffa.org
Organisation Type
Non-Governmental Organization
Year of Establishment
2005
Fields of Activity
  1. Media
General Information
Shiffa Association is a multicultural women´s organization founded in 2005 by skilled immigrant women in Finland. Shiffa has organized art and media training for women in Africa since 2007, and managed cultural projects in Finland, among others a collaborative exhibition and workshop project as part of the Turku2011 European Capital of Culture official program. At the moment Shiffa employs 4 people. Many more work for Shiffa as a volunteer. Association's main donor is Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Financing for projects in a year is approximately 100 000€. Our partners in Finland: Ministry for Foreign Affairs Ministry of Education and Culture Turku 2011 Foundation Women Journalists in Finland Women´s Culture Association African Care In Somalia and Somaliland: HARDO Halgan Rehabilitation and Development Action SOCSA Somaliland Culture and Sports Association SWIMA Somaliland Women in Media Association
Mission and Objectives

Shiffa's main objectives are to promote immigrant women's position and employment-, self-expression- and participation opportunities in Finland and internationally. Shiffa strives to support immigrant women to do development projects in their former home countries, especially projects with women, partnerships with non-govermental organizations and other local authorities. Shiffa's mission is also to develop and promote art- and media training in co-operation with authorities, colleges and NGO´s in Finland and internationally.

Main Projects / Activities

Our main project in Somalia and Somaliland is NASIB – Women´s Media Training 2007-2014. NASIB focuses on health information and is implemented in collaboration with local partner organizations HARDO and SOCSA. The project goal is women´s self-employment and professionalism in media (tv, radio, print). HADYA – Women´s Community Theatre project is another ongoing project in Somalia and Somaliland. In Finland, our main project in 2010-2011 was a participatory art installation and workshop project Pots, Sandals and a Tent as a part of the official Turku 2011 European Capital of Culture program. Since then, the exhibition and tent has been on tour in Finland in various events and venues. Apart from our own projects, we have designed and completed an amount of workshops and media productions commissioned by other organizations. As examples of our service, we conducted a grass roots comics drawing workshop in Burco, Somaliland commissioned by ISF Finland, and completed a 5-language DVD-production about health services for refugees in Finland, commissioned by IOM and funded by ERF. We continue to provide media and training services, the profit from which we invest back to our projects as self-financing.

How can you contribute to the Network in your country?

We would liken to projects/seminars with other Finland network associations.

Why do you want to join the ALF Network?

We would like to do projects with different associations across Euro-Mediterranean area and with Anna Lindh Foundation Finland network associations.

Contact (1) Full Name
Shukri Omar Ahmed
Head of the organisation
Zahra Dahir Ahmed

Somali Forum for Progress Finland

National Network
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Address

POB 31, 00101 Helsinki
00000 Helsinki
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Telephone
+358405330757
E-Mail
sfpfinfo@gmail.com
E-Mail (2)
maijakajava@gmail.com
E-Mail (3)
abdihakim.aynte@gmail.com
Website
http://sfpf.wordpress.com
Organisation Type
Non-Governmental Organization
Year of Establishment
2010
Fields of Activity
  1. Democracy and community development
General Information

The Somali Forum for Progress Finland is a NGO, based on volunteerism, established in January 2010 to support and sustain the activities of an interactive platform. The virtual platform has a website still under development, but we have organized several seminars, in Helsinki and in Nairobi. We also contribute to an open monthly discussion forum in Helsinki with the Finland-Somalia Association and plan to initiate a new programme called Youth Forum next year.

Mission and Objectives

Our mission is to promote peace, democracy, human rights and development with a special focus on Somalia and the Somali diaspora in the Nordic countries. Our objective is to achieve sustainable community development through capacity building and information dissemination.

Main Projects / Activities

Wednesday Club, a discussion forum in Helsinki. Seminars. Dialogue and debate in the virtual internet environment. Youth Forum, a capacity building program for immigrant youth. Publications and open archives. Active participation to events and seminars organized by partners and like-minded.

Contact (1) Full Name
Maija Kajava
Head of the organisation
Abdirizak H. Mohamed
Contact (2) Full Name
Abdihakim Yusuf Ali 'Aynte'

Somalian Association for Human Rights

National Network
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Address

Kaarenjalka 5 E 71
00940 Helsinki
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Telephone
0458470551
E-Mail
salman.sheikhahmed@hotmail.com
Organisation Type
Non-Governmental Organization
Year of Establishment
2017
Fields of Activity
  1. Human rights
General Information

Tarkoituksensa totuttamiseksi yhdistys järjestää kokoontumisia ja koulutustilaisuuksia, harjoittaa tiedotus ja julkaisutoimintaa sekä toimii yhteistyössä muiden vastaavien yhdistysten kanssa.

Mission and Objectives

On edistää, puolustaa ja suojella ihmisoikeuksia, erityisesti naisten ja lastenoikeuksia.

Main Projects / Activities

Tarkoituksensa totuttamiseksi yhdistys järjestää kokoontumisia ja koulutustilaisuuksia, harjoittaa tiedotus ja julkaisutoimintaa sekä toimii yhteistyössä muiden vastaavien yhdistysten kanssa.

Contact (1) Full Name
Salman Sheikh Ahmed
Job Title
General Manager
Head of the organisation
Helsinki

Sopiva

National Network
فنلندا
Address

Isonnevantie 26 a 4
00320 Helsinki
فنلندا

Telephone
+358503787443
Telephone (other)
+358505120083
E-Mail
noora.kettunen2015@gmail.com
E-Mail (2)
marikki.n@gmail.com
Organisation Type
Individual Person
Year of Establishment
2016
Fields of Activity
  1. Democracy and community development
  2. Human rights
  3. International/Cultural relations
  4. Media
  5. Religion
  6. Research
General Information
We are a working group of around ten journalists who want to make a difference to the way different cultures and religions are portrayed in the media in Finland. We are looking to achieve this by starting a new online media platform that uses journalistic means in order to bring people together. Ultimately we want to make a positive contribution to Finnish journalism in general and bring relief to tensions in society. At the moment there is no official organisational structure. However, we have chosen an Editor in-Chief, an assistant editor and a communications officer from our group. We are developing our concept in meetings and a Facebook group. We are also meeting representatives from relevant organisations who can give us feedback on our plans. We are actively looking for partners as well as funding options. We have already spoken to several NGO:s and individuals with similar aims but there are no official contracts yet. We also do not have any sources of funding available at this point.
Mission and Objectives

In recent years we have seen a polarisation of talk about migration and asylum issues and cultures in Finland, similarly to elsewhere in Europe. Confrontation and stereotypes are being upheld by time pressure in news outlets, conflict-seeking headlines, bad background research and unsatisfactory follow-up of issues and events. This is very dangerous to society, as it gives fuel to radical groups to play into fears and concerns in society and mobilise them for their ends.
We want to provide a well-researched and interesting alternative to mainstream media reporting, with a specific focus on religious and cultural issues. We will go beyond just providing more and better information: our media outlet will be the place where people can ask questions about differences, even question the views of others, in a way that does not undermine the human rights of each one of us. The ultimate aim is to prevent conflicts in society before they even start.
Human rights are at the core of our mission. We will seek to make human rights more concrete to people by bringing people together and talking about difficult topics while respecting others. Our project is loosely based on the concept of ‘conciliatory journalism’, which is being researched at the University of Tampere in Finland. (Blog in Finnish: https://sovittelujournalismi.wordpress.com/) We will experiment with different ways to apply conciliatory methods to journalism. It is especially important to make people talk with each other as well as listen to each other.
We will target ordinary Finns who have concerns related to migration and different cultures and who are willing to look for answers. We will never give a platform to extremists or people who do not respect human rights. Some mainstream media outlets have done this in the past in the name of “objectivity” -however, this only makes disrespectful and even racist views seem legitimate. Instead we will be giving a voice to more moderate voices and facilitate real debates. We are calling for the silent majority to unite and save our democracy.

Main Projects / Activities

Online media outlet
The first step to achieve our goal is to found a new high-quality online media outlet that is based on the principles on conciliatory journalism. We will recruit both Finnish and immigrant journalists to produce text, photographs and video for our website. We already have around twenty journalists who would be interested to contribute. However, in order to do this in a professional manner, we need funds to pay the journalists.
In our vision we see ourselves as the best Finnish expert in writing about cultural and religious issues as well as integration. We will achieve this by creating an extensive network of NGO:s, scientists and individuals in the field as well as recruiting journalists with different backgrounds. We will publish content in both Finnish and English (maybe also Arabic) -this enables also immigrant journalists to write for us.
Training materials
“Conciliatory journalism” is a new concept that is not properly understood at this point. Our media outlet will be a great place to test different practices and see how they really work. We will document our experiences and then produce training materials that can be used by other journalists.

How can you contribute to the Network in your country?

We are looking to build an extensive network with people who want to create better cross-culture and cross-religion dialogue. As a media outlet, we are a valuable asset to the members of the Anna Lindh network. Too much great research, important views and experiences never hit the headlines in Finland. As an independent media outlet with the specific focus on cultural and religious issues we will contribute by giving a platform to these voices.

Why do you want to join the ALF Network?

Our aim is to bring people together. The ALF network is a very good place for us to get more contacts and find people who have similar targets as we do.
We are also interested in the grants of the network as we currently have no funding for the project.

Contact (1) Full Name
Marikki Nykänen
Job Title
Assistant Editor/ Sopiva
Head of the organisation
Noora Kettunen
منشور
Education
Youth
Studying the impact of international youth work cover

Studying the impact of international youth work

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Summer for Success - International volunteering project

Submitted by Finland on خميس, 27/07/2023 - 13:26
Volunteers from the summer for success project

International Youth Centre Villa Elba in Kokkola, Finland hosted a short-term ESC (European Solidarity Corps) volunteering project called "Summer for Success".

During the project in june 2023 10 volunteers from Italy, Austria, Ukraine, Norway, France and Finland carried out summer camps that were open to both local and refugee children. Children spent their time together doing traditional summer camp activities such as playing, singing, swimming and dancing. Multicultural camp is easy and simple way to bring together children from different cultures. Through games and activities it is easier for the children to get to know each other. These shared experiences often lead to long-lasting friendships.

Volunteers planned and led different kinds of workshops and activities and together with the staff of Villa Elba ensured a safe atmosphere for the campers. Over 50 kids participated in these camps and the volunteers managed to create safe and welcoming atmosphere for participants.

 

During the project volunteers had meetings with a mentor who helped with recognition of their learning outcomes. Here are some learning outcomes that they mentioned:

"Working with kids in general is reflection in personal growth and you can learn so much only by watching. It is very important to be open-minded, listen to other opinions and to respect everybody."

"I deepened my understanding of different cultures and developed the ability to adapt to new situations. I engaged in reflection regarding my goals and motivation for participating in the project."

"My entrepreneurial skills grew the most during this time. It started with very small things, like making a meal and cleaning plan. But there were also tasks like organising the camp, preparing games and creating a time schedule to get everything done."

"We provided assistance to children in reading, writing, and communication to improve their skills and confidence. Working with children helped me change my attitude towards my native language and learn more about other languages through games and communication with the children."

"We were in contact with different cultures on a daily basis and often exchanged ideas and found many differences but also similarities. I also noticed that you shouldn't have prejudices."

 

Villa Elba provides high quality youth work for all young people. They offer variety of short-term ESC team projects on different topics each year.

The projects can be found on their website: https://www.villaelba.fi/en/short-term-volunteering/, as well as long-term individual ESC projects: https://www.villaelba.fi/en/volunteering/