The present research report is a concrete result of the cooperation between Helsinki City Urban Facts and the University of Helsinki. The starting point of this research came from practice: The Immigration Unit of the Social Services Department in city of Helsinki needed a study on migrant youth to help improve family work and to support youth leaders in their work.

One of the motives of the study was a concrete concern for tensions between youth groups in Helsinki, tensions that were feared to lead to violence. Some pieces of strategic advice can now be given regarding, in particular, multicultural youth work.

The project planning became more detailed in spring 2004, when researchers Tuula Joronen and Erkki Korhonen at Helsinki City Urban Facts assembled a research team for the study. Many other people were also involved. During 2004, the work group studied what kind of research had previously been conducted in Finland on migrant youth and their families, and various experts were heard. At the end of the planning phase, researcher Veronika Honkasalo joined in. She has analysed the material and written the report. The actual field work, 53 interviews, were done by students at researcher courses at the university departments involved.

Veronika Honkasalo:
Monikulttuurinen nuorisotyö helsinkiläisellä nuorisotalolla
'Multicultural Youth Work in Helsinki'

Helsingin kaupungin tietokeskus, Tutkimuksia 2007:3
City of Helsinki Urban Facts, Research series 2007:3

Interviews with youth workers gave clear evidence of a conviction that the transfer to multiculturalism at the youth clubs is best done if all young people are treated equally. Interviews with young people, on the other hand, suggested that if there have been conflicts between youth groups it is the migrant young people that have had to step aside and refrain from coming to the youth clubs. This is worrying because the threshold for joining the activities of the centres seems to be higher among immigrants anyway.

It would be important for multicultural youth work to make gender-sensitive work an integral part of activities at all youth centres, not just some. The situation of migrant girls is something that worries some of the interviewed youth workers. A gender-sensitive approach in the multicultural youth work implies that the special situation of girls is taken into consideration and that youth centres carefully look at the role of their female youth workers. This requires that equality education is given to boys, too, at the youth centres. To migrant boys, Finnish equality ideals may seem strange and contradictory.

City of Helsinki Urban Facts
Finland
Tuula Joronen (Researcher)

02/05/2007

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research

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Community development

Capacity building