erik häggman

Outreach Youth Work in Finland

Shortly brief, background and activities

Tallinn 5th october 2010

Tallinn 5th October 2011 1Senior Adviser, Youth Affairs, Erik Häggman

Background and some definitions

NEETS in a European contextNot in education, employment or training Bridging the Gap Tony Blairs Government 1999 Scandinavien discussion, Sweden 2003 – Unga

UtanförNow its on discussion all over Europe an a European

problemThe Finnish discussion started in 2007 PM on

polarisation More about NEETS later


Oureach Youth Work

Roots in Salvation Army in late 1880 have many names changing over time; street work,

detached work, outreach work, mobile youth work No common general description different target groups, different mandates etc ”The modern outreach youth work combine all this

metodhs


Why NEETS are in Focus

The demograpihc changes in Europe and especially in Finland

Time – One or two years outside education, labourmarket and other services increases the risk for being outside for a long time or whole life ( Norway and Swedish research)

The costs for the society ( Estimated to 1 milj euro in lifetime (Finland) and thats only the costs

Lack of labourforces For the youngster itself

Tallinn 5th October 2011Senior Adviser, Youth Affairs, Erik Häggman 4

Back to situation in Finland

discussion started in 2007 about young people outside work and education (NEETS)

There have been different opinions how many they are Now the four central ministries in children and youth

policy adapt this fact as a base for governments children and youth policy


NEETS IN FINLAND – CALCULATION


Young unemployed people an a Calculation of young people oputside work and educationFacts/Calculations 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Unemloyed under 25 35631 31173 26881 22567 22305 36105 34627

1:0,5 Outside 17816 15587 13441 11284 11153 18053 17314NEET 1:0,5 53447 46760 40322 33851 33458 54158 51941

1:1 Outside 35631 31173 26881 22567 22305 36105 34627NEET 1:1 71262 62346 53762 45134 44610 72210 69254

1:1,2 Outside 42757 37408 32257 27080 26766 43326 41552NEET 1:1,2 78388 68581 59138 49647 49071 79431 76179

1:1,5 Outside 53447 46760 40322 33851 33458 54158 51941NEET 1:1,5 89078 77933 67203 56418 55763 90263 86568

OUTRERACH YOUTH WORK IN FINLAND

Started (Street-work in 70) in 2008 as a Ministry of Education project

Based on the national discussion on NEETS Experiences and evaluations from Youth Workshops


Outcomes in Outreach Youth Work 2008 – 2010


Year Con-tacted youth

Reached youth

Projects Municipalities % Only Primary

education

In services

2008 Not asked 1999 57 147 37 % 70 % 73 %

2009 8200 3363 65 131 40 % 70 % 70 %

2010 10968 5724 125 207 63 % 81 % 70 %

State support to Outreach Youth Work2008 - 2011


Outreach Youth Work in Youth Act

With the experiences from 2008 and 2009 Ministries started a work to renew the Youth Act from 2006

Basic starting points; holistic approach change the way of thinking towards a knowledge based children and youth policy to get an outreach approach in all administration and

service for young people


Renewed Youth Act 2010

1. Cross-sectorial cooperation between local authorities

2. Outreach Youth Work into Youth Act as primary service for youth, if needed

3. Rules for transferring information about young people between authorities


Youth Act - Purpose

The purpose of this Act is to support young people's growth and independence, to promote young people's active citizenship and empowerment and to improve young people's growth and living conditions. social empowerment means measures targeted at

young people and geared to improve life management skills and to prevent exclusion;


Chapter 3. Local youth work and youth policy

Section 7. Development and implementation of youth work and youth policy Youth work and youth policy are part of the local authority's responsibilities. The

implementation of youth work shall be the responsibility of local authorities, youth associations and other organisations doing youth work. Youth services may also be produced regionally by local authorities in cooperation.

The local youth work and youth policy shall comprise educational guidance of young people; facilities and hobby opportunities; information and advisory services; support to youth associations and other youth groups; sportive, cultural, international and multicultural youth activities; young people's environmental education; and, where needed, youth workshop services and outreach youth work or other forms of activity suited to the local circumstances and needs. (Amendment 693/2010)

Youth work and youth policy shall be implemented as cross-sectoral cooperation and as cooperation with young people, youth associations and other organisations doing youth work. (Amendment 693/2010)


Chapter 3. Local youth work and youth policy Section 7 a. Cross-sectoral cooperation (Amendment 693/2010)

For the planning of cross-sectoral cooperation between local authorities and for the

development of implementation, the local authority shall have a youth guidance and service network (coordination body my comment) with representation from the local educational, social and health care, and youth administrations and from the labour and police administrations. In addition, the network may include representatives of the defence administration and other authorities. The network shall work in interaction with organisations providing youth services. Local authorities may also set up a joint network. The network shall not address matters concerning individual young persons.


Task for cross-sectoral group

Section 7 a. Cross-sectoral cooperation (Amendment 693/2010)

With the purpose of improving the inter-operability and impact of services geared to young people, the guidance and service network shall:

– compile information about young people's growth and living conditions and, based on this, assess young people's situation in support of local decision-making and planning;

– promote the coordination and impact of services geared to young people with the aim of providing sufficient accessible services of high quality;

– plan and enhance joint procedures in guiding young people to services and, where necessary, for transferring young people from one service to another;

– promote the flow of information relating to the provision of youth services by planning common procedures for different authorities.


Outreach Youth Work in Youth ActSection 7 b. Outreach youth work (Amendment 693/2010)

The purpose of outreach youth services is to reach a young person in need of support and help him or her to find services that will promote his or her growth and independence and his or her access to education and to the labour market. Outreach youth work is primarily based on information provided by the young person and on his or her own estimate of the need for support.

In arranging outreach youth work, the local authority shall designate a local post-holder or a person employed by the local authority as the official responsible for implementing outreach youth work. The outreach youth worker must have necessary education and experience of working with young people. Outreach youth work may be provided by one local authority or by several local authorities in collaboration. The local authority may also arrange outreach youth work by commissioning services from an organisation providing youth services, in which case the local authority shall be responsible for the compliance of these services with this Act.


Modern outreach work

Outreach work is a networking and resource-orientedSocial activities directed to groups, which are often difficult to reach by other ways and who need support provided in an accessible way in environments and contexts, which the worker not self organize or control.

Methods can be street work, detached youth work, mobile youth work or outreach youth work depending on target groups and environments

The aim is to get into a position with the youngster that enables social and personal changes and escort them to needed services and support and reactivate them


Supply of information for outreach youth workSection 7 c. Supply of information for outreach youth work (Amendment 693/2010) The supply of information for outreach youth work shall be conditional on the consent of the

young person concerned, unless otherwise provided in this Act or elsewhere. Notwithstanding statutes on the confidentiality of data, identification and contact information on a

young person shall be delivered to the local authority of his or her home municipality as follows:– an education provider must deliver information about a school-leaver who has not sought or

gained entry to post-compulsory education;– an education provider must deliver information about a person under 25 years of age who

discontinues studies in vocational or general upper secondary education;– the Defence Forces and the Non-military Service Training Centre must deliver information

about a person under 25 years of age who has exemption from military or non-military service owing to non-fitness for service or who discontinues the service.


Experiences, knowledge and challenges so far…. In outreach youth work

Need for a good and cross-sectorial discussion between ministries in developing outreach youth work

Time that everybody adapt the existence of NEETS on every level in every sector and how many they are. Outreach work made the NEETS visible

The “Nordic and European welfare model” counts on that after primary school the youngsters themselves understand and manage to ask for the right services and support. Do they?

The need to be open in many directions. The “new” outreach youth work met in the beginning contradictory feelings and doubts about professionalism from “traditional” outreach work

The strength in Outreach Youth work lies on the fact that it has no legal rights require young people to anything, it only depends on the yopung persons voluntary participation


Experiences, knowledge and challenges so far…. In outreach youth work The first step in local outreach youth work is to build up a network between

authorities which can support the youngsters and give services Outreach youth work is a hard work, the person needs skills and years of

experiences, but first of all is a question of personality Time is an important factor in outreach youth work Young people want services and a trustworthy adult who can orient then

through the support jungleChallenges One challenge is to build up a system with Code of Ethics for Out Reach

Youth Work To teach the workers, organisations and superiors in use of reflective

methods


Experiences, knowledge and challenges so far…. In outreach youth work Who are the NEETS, why are they NEETS, Where do they come from ?

What's their own story and background ? Etc We need knowledge about the youngsters


What we want to to do…


erik häggman

Documents

youth affairs

mobile youth

youth policytallinn

youth workshopstallinn

erik hggmansenior adviser

erik hggmanoutcomes

erik hggmanbackground

erik hggmanneets