Allianssi Youth Exchanges
Allianssi Youth Exchanges is a non-profit and non-governmental body working for global understanding and youth empowerment.
We are an established organisation working with a wide variety of international mobility programs. We believe cross border mobility and intercultural exchanges enhance the work and life skills of young adults remarkably. We work in close co-operation with our international partners in order to offer interesting programs for learning, volunteering, training or working in different countries. The purpose of our work is to promote intercultural learning, global awareness and enhance the employability of young people.
We work in many national and international networks. We are the Finnish member of the Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations and work in close co-operation with members and partners of the network especially in the field of global short and medium term voluntary exchanges. In long term volunteer exchanges we have a wider range or partners, especially in EU-funded programs such as European Solidarity Corps. We have both incoming and outgoing voluntary programs. In addition to short term volunteer projects in Finland we co-ordinate long term European Solidarity Corps volunteers to our hosting partner organisations around Finland. Allianssi Youth Exchanges is also a partner in the Eures network in Finland and member of Eurodesk network in Europe.
We also have own outgoing EU funded projects for vocational education. In these programs we work vocational studens and recent graduates to provide them with tailored work experience after graduation. At the moment we co-operate with about 10 European countries in these outbound programs.
Most of our participants are 18-30 years old, but there are also possibilities for 16-17 years old and in many programs we have older participants as well. Due to wide variety of learning programs we can offer interesting alternatives to people with different backgrounds and needs.
In addition to working, learning, training and volunteering programs we are active in different international projects. We have participated in various strategic partnership projects both in European and global level. We also take part in youth worker mobility projects, youth exchanges, trainings and other projects which we find worthwhile for our work and priorities. Please contact us in case you would be interested in working with us.
Our office is in Helsinki in Allianssi House and we are affiliated with the Finnish National Youth Council Allianssi which is the national youth council of Finland and a service and advocacy organisation in the field of youth work. The Finnish National Youth Council is a non-profit NGO with over 140 national member organisations and the Finnish member of several European youth networks, for example the YFJ (European Youth Forum) and ERYICA (European Youth Information and Counselling Agency). Allianssi organises annually a YOUTH event. The next National Days of Youth Work will be held in Jyväskylä on 18-20 April 2023. The event offers a place to network, get inspired and develop one’s expertise for as many as 300 youth sector professionals, decision-makers and actors. More information please see www.nuorisoala.fi
General information about Finnish Youth work and youth
- A summary of Finnish Youth Barometer (published in English on 28.6.2019)
- Ministry of Education
- Youth act
- Finnish Youth Work Statistics
- Finnish youth research society
- State Youth Council
- Youth Wiki, Finland
Interesting further reading about the topic
- Forkby, T. & Kiilakoski, T. (2014) Building capacity in youth work: Perspectives and practice in youth clubs in Finland and Sweden. Youth & policy 112.
- Gretschel , A. (ed.) (2016) Studying the Impact of International Youth Work.
- Höylä, S. (2012) Youth Work in Finland.
- Kiilakoski, T. (2014) Entrepreneurial Learning and Ethos of Youth Work: reflections on a difficult relationship. in Pantea, M. (ed.) Young People, Entrepreuship & Non-formal learning.
- Kiilakoski, T. (2017) Saying, doing, relating – thinking about youth work practice in Finland. in Thinking seriously about youth work. And how to prepare people to do it.
- Kiviniemi, J. & Tuominen, S. (eds. (2017) Digital Youth Work – A Finnish Perspective.
- Nieminen, J. (2013) A Finnish perspective: features of the history of modern youth work and youth organisations. In History of Youth Work, Vol. 3.
- Nieminen, J. (2014) History of youth work as a profession in Finland. In History of Youth Work in Europe, vol. 4.
- Nieminen, Juha & Gretschel, A. (2018) The “Social” in Youth Work: Snapshots of Finnish Youth Work Policy and History. In History of Youth Work, Vol. 6.
- Nöjd, T. & Siurala, L. (2015) Youth Work Quality Assessment. The Self and Peer Assessment Model.
- Peltola, M. (2010) Youth Work in Finland – Finding Ways for intercultural Opening.
- Siurala, Lasse & Sinisalo, Juha (2018) Impact of Youth Work in Finland. In The Impact of Youth Work in Europe: A Study of Five European Countries.
- Wrede-Jäntti, Matilda & Wester, Cecilia (2018) CSYP in Finland –Essential elements, strategies and functionality within the youth guidance and service networks. In Needles in Haystacks.