News

The Integration partnership programme is building an open nationwide network of actors involved in the work related to integration and social inclusion. In a few months, more than 140 actors promoting integration, refugee reception and social inclusion have registered for the partnership programme. Registration is continuous on the kotouttaminen.fi website.

The integration partnership programme of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment builds a national network of operators involved in the work related to the integration and social inclusion.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is preparing a partnership programme on the promotion of integration and the receptiveness of society. Different actors’ views on cooperation in promoting integration are examined in a survey conducted as part of the partnership programme.

The virtual Integration 2020 event will bring together those engaged in advancing immigrant integration and refugee reception on 25–26 November 2020. This major national integration event will be held for the second time and there are hopes to make it a permanent cooperation forum in the field of integration. The event programme has now been published.

A study called MigCOVID will research the impact of the coronavirus epidemic and related restrictive measures on people who were born abroad. The information collected during the study will support the development of services and the evaluation of social impacts. The study will be conducted by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

Materials published on the OSH website can be used in teaching, for example. An event to provide information on employees’ rights will be held in English in November.

The calls for applications for funding from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Internal Security Fund (ISF) have been opened. Allocations available for projects implementing the programmes under the funds amount to approximately EUR 12 million. In Finland, the Ministry of the Interior is responsible for the calls for applications. Applications will be accepted until 30 October 2020 at 16.15.

Different regions and organisations have done a lot of valuable work to promote integration but it is not often that operators in the field get to meet each other. Because of this, they are not always able to share good practices for promoting integration in the most effective way possible. The Integration 2020 event will continue the work started during the first integration event in 2018 and strengthen partnerships between public authorities, the third sector and businesses.

A recent report proposes that ministries, together with the actors in the interpretation sector, should prepare national guidelines or recommendations for high-quality public service interpreting. The report focuses on public service interpreting in the context of immigrant integration.

According to a report by organisations, municipalities had very few and infrequent direct contacts with customers after the emergency conditions began. Despite this, the majority of those interviewed for the report felt that they had received sufficient information and instructions regarding the coronavirus. Elderly foreign-language speakers reported that they had coped independently in their everyday activities during the emergency conditions. The exceptional situation caused concerns and fears among those interviewed regarding the wellbeing of relatives and social isolation.

During the autumn, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment will provide opportunities to participate in the preparation of the report on integration. The first consultation on the role of organisations in the work to promote integration was held on Friday 11 September, and an event for researchers on Monday 14 September. Consultations are part of the inclusive preparation process for the report addressing the need for a reform in integration promotion services.

A recent report presents three reforms aimed at improving the educational and employment paths of immigrants. The report offers a more in-depth discussion of two reforms: the so-called “establishment programme” and the fast track. The third reform focuses on wage subsidies and is still ongoing.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation to gather views on actions to promote integration. The public consultation will be available in all EU official languages until 21 October 2020.

The act on the processing of personal data by migration authorities will enter into force on 1 September 2020 and replace the Act on the Register of Aliens, which is more than 20 years old. The new act will respond to needs in areas such as digitalisation, data protection and information management. In addition, the act will incorporate other provisions concerning the processing of personal data laid down in other acts that apply to the migration authorities.

Finnish Education Evaluation Centre FINEEC has published an evaluation report on the impacts of reforms aiming to accelerate the educational pathways of immigrants. The report provides an over-view of these impacts on literacy training in liberal adult education, adult basic education, and vocational education and training. According to the report, it would be important to focus on building stronger basic skills in training and education provided to students with an immigrant background.

Multilingual support in the coronavirus situation is available for women, children and families. Support is available for many situations such as distance learning, or being a victim of domestic violence or crime. Due to the coronavirus situation, support services for women, children and families are provided via remote service or telephone. We have put together useful links to be shared and suggested in customer service situations.

Guidance and counselling services for immigrants in Finland are fragmented in terms of accessibility, service provision and resourcing. Access to services is not equally provided to customers in all parts of the country. These were the conclusions of the final report of the study on low-threshold guidance and counselling services for immigrants commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. The report also makes recommendations for the development of the service network.

Authorities and municipalities have opened telephone helplines providing instructions and guidance on coronavirus in different languages. Multilingual telephone helplines provided by various organisations are also functioning as usual. We have put together a news item listing the availability of multilingual instructions and guidance on coronavirus (telephone helplines and chat services). Provide access to services.

Due to the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak, contact teaching in liberal adult education institutions and adult basic education has been suspended. Educational institutions provide distance teaching, taking into account students’ learning abilities and other opportunities available. The Centre of Expertise for Immigrant Integration has put together multilingual materials for independent studies in subjects such as languages and social studies, and for supporting integration.

Many authorities and municipalities may have no previous experience of having communications material translated into languages other than Swedish and English. The online editorial staff of Infofinland is used to having information translated into 12 different languages, and put together some useful tips for multilingual communications.