Girl work, which means work with or among girls and young women, is a quite new field in Finland.  Girl work with the focus on multiculturalism is as an area that has not yet been given much attention.  

The main goals of this case study were to define multiculturalism within the Girls’ House in Helsinki and to develop an action plan for its further development. The Girls’ House is a youth centre open for girls and young women between 10 to 25 years old. This study was made within the framework of action research, emphasizing collaboration and active participation both by the participants, staff members, and by the researcher.  The researcher Lina Laurent worked at the Girls’ House as a trainee for 4 months in the fall 2003 and she actively participated in the everyday activities of the centre. The research, methods included participant observation and interviews. Theme interviews were held with the 6 staff members who worked at the Girls’ House at the time of the study. 

The research findings and analyses of the data resulted in a proposal for a multicultural action plan. The action plan includes practical recommendations for developing multicultural activities at the Girls’ House.  The action plan proposes employing staff members with immigrant backgrounds, training in intercultural issues both for the staff members and for the girls visiting the house, various channels of marketing, and continuing the multicultural girls’ groups. The research findings indicate that the prerequisites for developing multicultural youth centre are good. However, there are many areas that could still be improved. This case study was focused on the organization and in future studies it will be essential to also include girls and young women who visit the centre as active participants. 

City of Helsinki Urban Facts
Finland
http://www.hel2.fi/tietokeskus

Tyttöjen talo (The Girls' House)
Porthaninkatu 2
00530 Helsinki
Finland
Phone: + 358 9 824 052 22
tyttojentalo@tyttojentalo.fi
http://www.tyttojentalo.fi
Ms. Mari Uusitalo (Manager), tel. + 358 50 363 8563

01/12/2004

case

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Integration of social groups

Ethnic minorities, Young people