Forum 21

Emma Kuusi
Senior Adviser, Ministry of Education
Helsinki
Rauna Nerelli
Finnish Youth Cooperation Allianssi
Helsinki
46
Forum 21
Nordic Respect – Enhancing Two-Way
Integration in the Youth Field
Background
The Nordic Council of Ministers adopted in 2006
a comprehensive strategy for its child and youth
policy. The main aim is to promote young people’s
living conditions and to encourage them to exert
influence over their own lives. The strategy
requires that a child and youth perspective must
be incorporated into the activities of all Council of
Ministers’ sectors.
The Nordic Children’s and Youth Committee
(NORDBUK) is an advisory organ to the Council
of Ministers and responsible for the practical
coordination and follow-up of the strategy. The
Committee – consisting of representatives of
Ministries responsible for youth and of national
youth councils from Nordic countries and
autonomous areas – is a good example of a wellfunctioning co-management model.
The Action Plan of NORDBUK for 2006-2009
highlights multiculturalism. Efforts are made in
order to encourage multicultural youth
organisations to get more involved in Nordic
cooperation and to profit from NORDBUK
subsidies for youth organisations and projects.
The project EtNorden, initiated by the Swedish
Chairmanship in 2003 and financed by the
NORDBUK ever since, has organised conferences
and information events that have facilitated the
networking between young people with different
ethnic backgrounds and between youth
organisations that deal with ethnic relations.
invest in measures promoting diversity. This
entailed the organising of the seminar “Nordic
Respect – enhancing two-way integration in the
youth field” that was held in 28-30 September
2007. The seminar, organised by Allianssi with
the support from the Nordic Council of Ministers
and the Ministry of Education, brought together
representatives from administrations and youth
organisations as well as researchers from Nordic
and Baltic countries.
The aim of the seminar was to find solutions on
how to make cooperation between administrations,
youth organisations and researchers more efficient
in youth integration issues, as it was felt that this
tripartite approach, with its obviously positive
synergy effects, had so far been lacking. Another
important approach was to highlight the concept
of two-way integration, integration being a process
that does not only affect the immigrant but also
the society as a whole. The seminar therefore
aimed also at developing concrete models for
making this two-way integration successful.
Some outcomes of the seminar
Tripartite cooperation in two-way
integration
Regarding two-way integration, the present
situation in Nordic and Baltic countries was
considered problematic. The debate concerning
multiculturalism is very strong in some countries,
almost non-existent in others. The concepts used
are many times misleading, such as the term
“immigrant”. The majority of the population does
not necessarily see integration as a two-way
process, but rather as an obligation for immigrants
to assimilate, and the immigrants often feel
underestimated and stigmatized.
During its Chairmanship of the Nordic Council of
Ministers in 2007, Finland has continued to
The immigrant communities are not always well
organised or adequately represented. Promoting
47
the positive sides of a multicultural society is a
challenge. However, some good practices were
identified: the right to use one’s own native
language in schools; using the Living Library as
work method; facilitating contacts between
schools from different neighbourhoods; organising
joint activities, such as football matches, between
different ethnic or religious groups.
Two-way integration could be also promoted
through media campaigns and events such as
festivals, concerts, seminars etc organised by
national youth councils, for instance, could be
used for this purpose. It is equally important to
enable contacts between majority and minorities
in everyday life and in the routine activities of
youth organisations. The need to increase the
48
Forum 21
involvement of parents and schools in multicultural
youth work was also noted.
It was suggested that the tripartite cooperation in
youth integration issues could be structured in the
form of regular joint meetings setting common
targets for each of the parties to implement in their
own activity. The national youth councils in the
respective countries could take a leading role in
organising these gatherings. It is vital to involve
young people from different ethnic backgrounds as
experts, i.e. as researchers and representatives of
youth organisations and administrations, into this
process. It was noted that there is a need to have
targeted research regarding multicultural youth,
and the aims of such research could be discussed
within the frame of tripartite cooperation.
FR
Respect nordique – Promouvoir l’intégration à double sens dans le secteur de la
jeunesse
Emma Kuusi
Conseillère principale
Ministère de l’Education
Helsinki
Rauna Nerelli
Coopération de la jeunesse finlandaise Allianssi
Helsinki
Le Plan d’action de NORDBUK pour 2006-2009
met en relief le multiculturalisme. Ainsi, des
efforts sont déployés pour encourager les
organisations multiculturelles de jeunesse à
s’impliquer plus activement dans la coopération
nordique et, pour ce faire, à profiter des
subventions que NORDBUK octroie aux
organisations et aux projets de jeunes. Le projet
EtNorden, initié par la présidence suédoise en
2003 et financé depuis par NORDBUK, a mis en
œuvre des conférences et des manifestations
d’information qui ont facilité la mise en réseau
de jeunes de différents antécédents ethniques
et d’organisations de jeunesse qui travaillent sur
les relations entre ethnies.
Durant sa présidence du Conseil nordique des
ministres en 2007, la Finlande a continué
d’investir dans des mesures en faveur de la
diversité. Elle est notamment à l’origine du
séminaire « Respect nordique – Promouvoir
l’intégration à double sens dans le secteur de la
jeunesse », qui s’est tenu du 28 au 30
septembre 2007. Le séminaire, organisé par
Allianssi avec le soutien du Conseil nordique des
ministres et du ministère de l’Education, a réuni
des représentants des administrations et des
organisations de jeunesse, de même que des
chercheurs des pays baltes et nordiques.
49
DE
Nordischer Respekt - Stärkung der zweiseitigen Integration im Jugendbereich
Emma Kuusi,
Leitende Beraterin
Bildungsministerium
Helsinki
Rauna Nerelli
Finnische Jugendkooperation Allianssi
Helsinki
Der NORDBUK-Aktionsplan für die Jahre 2006
bis 2009 konzentriert sich auf
Multikulturalismus. Es werden Anstrengungen
unternommen, um multikulturelle
Jugendorganisationen zu fördern, damit sie sich
in der nordischen Kooperation stärker
engagieren und von den NORDBUK-Beihilfen für
Jugendorganisationen und -projekte profitieren.
Das Projekt EtNorden, das 2003 von der
schwedischen Präsidentschaft initiiert und
seither von NORDBUK finanziert wurde, hat
Konferenzen und Informationsveranstaltungen
organisiert, die die Netzwerkbildung zwischen
jungen Menschen mit unterschiedlichen
ethnischen Hintergründen und zwischen
Jugendorganisationen erleichtern, die sich mit
50
Forum 21
den Beziehungen zwischen den Ethnien
befassen.
Während seiner Präsidentschaft im Nordischen
Ministerrat im Jahre 2007 hat Finnland weiter in
Maßnahmen zur Förderung der Vielfalt investiert.
Dazu zählte die Organisation des Seminars zu
„Nordischem Respekt - Stärkung der
zweiseitigen Integration im Jugendbereich”, das
vom 28. bis 30. September 2007 stattfand. Am
Seminar, das von Allianssi mit Unterstützung des
Nordischen Ministerrates und des
Bildungsministeriums organisiert wurde, nahmen
Vertreter aus Verwaltungen und
Jugendorganisationen sowie Wissenschaftler aus
den nordischen und baltischen Staaten teil.