cultural activities
21
finnish cultural foundation
annual report 2012–2013
Partnerships with NGOs in Turku
T
he Turku pilot project was the sec-
ond biggest in Finland. All the in-
tegration paths were used to teach
everyday skills and introduce students to
the local culture. In Turku, quality crite-
ria were also developed for the integra-
tion training for immigrants.
Numerous partners, among them educational establishments, immigrant or-
ganisations and the City of Turku, were
involved in the Turku project. There are
many NGOs and societies providing assis-
tance for the city’s close on 16,000 immi-
grants, and the City of Turku offered them
various forms of training to strengthen the
partnership.
“THERE
were modules in the immigrant’s
own language providing basic informa-
tion about life in Finland for those not yet
able to obtain it from sources in Finnish.
Because even if they can’t speak the lan-
guage, they still have to live here, to get
around the city, to cope at the health centre
and bank,” says
Elina Mäntylä
, the City of
Turku coordinator for immigrant projects.
“These courses were especially im-
portant for Somali immigrants, because
there’s no comprehensive Finnish-Soma-
li-Finnish dictionary. And the structure of
society in Somalia, Afghanistan and many
other countries is quite different from that
in Finland.”
THE COURSES
were led bymotivated immi-
grants who got on well with others; they
had been living in Finland for a long time
and were highly familiar with the issues
dealt with on the courses. Many already
had previous teaching and counselling ex-
perience. The students felt they had ben-
efited from the courses and would have
liked them to continue for longer. They also
requestedmore information about such is-
sues as children and marriage.
The integration training began by pro-
ducing two booklets for immigrants: a
magazine called Welcome to Turku in six
languages and a booklet in 17 languages
about students’ rights and obligations.
THE TURKU
Cultural Centre planned and
implemented services telling immigrants
about Finland to support their linguistic
and cultural integration. Among other
things this generated theme days spot-
lighting various cultural establishments
in the city, cultural integration groups, a
fluent-reading circle, and literary work-
shops. The events were attended by thou-
sands and won the praise of both immi-
grants and their trainers. When the pro-
ject ends, they will become a regular City
of Turku service, as will the language train-
ing for housewives and the collaboration
with NGOs.
IMMIGRANTS
in Turku are keen to enter
into politics. In autumn 2012, three im-
migrants were elected to the City Coun-
cil; one of them had sat on the Council in
the previous electoral term.
Katrin Sammelselg and
Monika Ventsel were among
those who attended a course
run by the City of Espoo.
