International youth work increases tolerance and helps overcome one's own insecurities

There are not many international encounters in Nurmes, so Hyvärilä’s international youth work enables local young people to meet people of different nationalities. Young people do not always understand in advance why English is needed, but through these encounters, their understanding expands that we are part of Europe and that a common language is needed to act.

Teachers of local youth have noticed that after participating in Hyvärilä’s international youth work projects, the young people have become more confident in communicating in English. The young people have also formed friendships with the young people they met during the exchange and keep in touch with them even after the projects.

It has been observed in Hyvärilä, that young people become more confident and are able to make decisions more easily and gain strengths for job search. The activities always include self-reflection sections, where young people reflect on what they like, what they are good at and what they have learned. They learn to identify and talk about their strengths.

Enrolling and coming to Finland helped me become a more independent and confident person. I can make decisions without the insecurities that limited me before. I am also more open at school and at work than I was before. It is easier to make new acquaintances.

– Young person who participated in the activity

International youth work increases tolerance and breaks down perceptions of difference. The work enables encounters between people of different nationalities, as well as between people of different ages and socio-economic positions. Older people guide young people into crafts, young people prepare food together with the long-term unemployed. People communicate without a common language and participate in the same program as equals.

The activities have a long-term impact on young people’s lives. Young people have said that they moved to another country for love or to pursue their studies and to find their own field. The experiences have also been useful in job hunting. One young Portuguese person said that he got a job in Eastern Finland because the employer was able to trust the young person to know where he was applying and what it was like to live in Finland. Another young Finnish person has just spent nine months on exchange, got a job in this country and stated that he will not return to Finland just yet.

The experience had and still has a big impact on my life. The week was the best of my entire life. Many people, from different countries, how similar we are. I can use my experiences and the techniques I learned to make other people’s lives a little better. I also started to like teamwork.

– Young person who participated in the activity

The activities also have an impact on the local level. A local young person with a foreign background has become enthusiastic about studying English after participating in various international activities at Hyvärilä. He has developed in many ways and made friends from Nurmes and around the world. Through the cooperation with the Lieksa Somali Family Association, the activities have offered the opportunity to represent Finland to young people whose background may be in Somalia, Iran or even Yemen. Through this, the young people have also become familiar with the fact that people may have ties to several countries: they have citizenship in one country but live in another.

Hyvärilä also aims to increase the impact of international youth work by sharing its own expertise with others. Hyvärilä employees train other Eastern Finnish youth work professionals in international youth work. Employees provide guidance in launching and planning international activities. There are few international actors in the field of youth work in Eastern Finland, but the need will potentially increase, so developing expertise in the area is very important.

Information

Young people from several EU countries, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, as well as from elsewhere, have participated in Hyvärilä’s international youth work. 200–300 young people participate in the activities annually, and over 2,000 people participate in events and workshops annually. Hyvärilä’s international youth work activities are based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and are planned based on local needs.

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