NYS and Service Learning
FINLAND
REPORT ON NATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE IN FINLAND
Olli Saarela
Ministry of Education, Youth Division
Comparing Finland with IANYS countries, Finland does not have any specific
National Youth Service or programme. However, it can be found some components,
which are close to the idea of National Youth Service.
One type of young people's voluntary service is so-called non-military
service system. As a substitute for 245 - 330 days of required
military service young men can perform 395 days of civilian service. Approximately
2000 people each year choose civilian service instead of military service.
For instance, civilian service can take place in governmental, municipal,
inter-municipal and national church institutions and workplaces. It is
also possible to serve in various organisations that promote general welfare,
like the Finnish Red Cross, Amnesty International, Nature Union and WWF,
to name few. Because of the linkage with military service, a person undergoing
non-military service receives the same pay and social security as their
counterparts in the military service.
At the moment the popularity of the military service is firm among the male
population. For women the possibility to perform the military service started
in 1995. However, it has not been very popular among the young women (only
few hundreds / year) after a very successful beginning.
In the 1990s when the unemployment rate was very high, the Ministry of Education
began to develop youth workshops as a new form of
activity. The workshops are mainly run by local authorities (90%), and they
offer training and work for young people for a period of six months. The aim
is to motivate and encourage young people for training, self-employment and
work by providing the necessary knowledge and skills. Unemployed young people
can voluntarily apply for training and work at the workshop. A young person
working at the youth workshop receives the same benefit from the state as unemployed
young people. At present there are 220 youth workshops. Annually about 10 000
youngsters take part in activities of youth workshops.
Young voluntary workers and those performing the civilian service are also
working in the youth workshops. It seems, that the youth workshops have stabilized
their position. The meaning is to develop the workshops to a Youth Workshop
Centres as this adds a dimension of youth service to them. The intention is
to develop the Youth Workshop Centres during 2003 - 2007, as during this period
their European Union social fund financing will decrease and the national financing
will grow.
International voluntary work organisations, like International
Civil Service, operate in Finland too. However, they concentrate
mainly on organising voluntary work camps abroad.
KEPA, the Service Centre for Development Cooperation, is a body whose participating
partners are Finnish non-governmental organisations working in the field of
development cooperation or otherwise concerned with issues to do with developing
countries and
globalisation. It is ideologically and politically non-aligned and non-denominational.
Today there are nearly 200 organisations participating in KEPA. KEPA's task
is to encourage, support and organise Finnish civil society to work to bring
about a global sense of collective responsibility.
Different types of civic organisations and associations are very important
in the field of voluntary civilian service. Nowadays there are about 100 000
registered civic organisations and associations in Finland. In some of them
National Youth Service issues can play a very important role, organisations
like the Scouts, the Finnish Red Cross, the Finnish 4H Association, to name
few.
Finland has been able to take advantage of the European Voluntary
Service Programme through the European Union. In 2001 Finland
sent 77 voluntary workers within the framework of the programme (71 persons
to EU countries and 6 persons outside the EU countries). Finland received
53 young people with the allowance of the year 2001.
In addition to European Union countries, the new countries in the European
Voluntary Service Programme are Hungary (3), Poland (1), Slovakia (1), Czech
Republic (1) and Romania (1). Finland has also received young voluntary workers
from Honduras and from Israel in the framework of this programme.
The voluntary work period lasts from 6 to 12 months. The financing is arranged
so that the receiving party will get 600 € + 300 € per month and
190 € of "pocket money" per voluntary worker.
The popularity of the Voluntary Service Programme is growing among the young
people and the Finnish Ministry of Education considers that the development
of the programme is very important. The development is implemented by CIMO,
the Centre for International Mobility, which is operating under the Finnish
Ministry of Education.
The Youth Division of the Finnish Ministry of Education organised a seminar
cruise for the Finnish youth organisations: "Seminar on Development of Voluntary
Youth Work" 10. -11.5.2001 in m/s Cinderella. The main speakers were Mr Donald
Eberly, President of the IANYS -organisation and Mr Reuven Gal, President of
the The Carmel Institute for Social Studies, Israel. In this seminar the theme
was considered from various aspects, and also due to this seminar the Finnish
Nature League has developed a project, where the questions related to the voluntary
service are dealt very broadly. Also many other organisations got and will
get very important information related to IANYS.
All in all it seems that the possibility for a long-term (12 months and over)
voluntary youth service should be established also in the Nordic welfare states.
This kind of voluntary activity would be a school of adulthood; it would be
a school of collectivism, a school of service, a school of the improvement
of the quality of life. Actually, it would be a real school of life.
The programme should be implemented so that the so-called normal labour market
would not be disturbed, and so that it would be understood and accepted that
this kind of Voluntary Service is a complementary element to the normal labour
markets.
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