Sofia Laine
Adjunct Professor in Youth Research (University of Tampere). She holds a PhD in Development Studies. She’s currently a member of Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR) in the youth partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe. Her multidisciplinary research has focused on young people, political engagements and democracy in multiple European, Mediterranean and global settings. More lately she has also studied young refugees, volunteer work, art education and cultural engagement of young people.
She currenly works in an Acadey of Finland funded research project What works? Youth transitions from education to employment in the Middle East and North Africa (2019-2022, University of Tampere), that explores the dynamics of transitions to adulthood from the perspective of young people in the Middle East and North Africa. The project also examines the young asylum seekers’ and refugees’ employment paths in Finland.
She has earlier been member of research consortium that examined political processes and opportunities for engagement from the perspective of young people in Africa (2012-2016). It was a joint project of the Finnish Youth Research Network and University of Helsinki - first Development Studies, and from 1.1.2015 the Swedish School of Social Science (Sociology) - funded by the Academy of Finland (YoPo [258235] Pl: E. Oinas). The consortium contributed with new knowledge on contemporary societal changes in contexts where the rapidly growing majority of population is young and questions of political participation, citizenship, livelihoods and frustrations require urgent attention. The study was carried out in five different African countries (Tunisia, Egypt, Somalia, Kenya, Zambia and South Africa) and in France (focusing on migration), using ethnographic methodologies. The cases reveal different aspects of what ‘politics’ may mean in unstable contexts: they differ in terms of state formation and democratic structures, post-conflict developments, NGO involvement, donor funding and global connections. Final product of the project was the open-access book What Politics? Youth and Political Engagement in Africa (Brill).
Laine also worked as a scientific work package coordinator on youth mobilization and political participation in the SAHWA Project (2014-2016): Researching Arab Mediterranean Youth: Towards a New Social Contract (no 613174, funded by FP7, European Union). Project brought together 15 partners from Europe and Arab Mediterranean countries to research youth prospects and perspectives in a context of multiple social, economic and political transitions in five countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon). The thematic axes of the project were social inclusion, political mobilization and participation, culture and values, international migration and mobility, gender, comparative experiences in other transition contexts, and public policies and international cooperation. Project was coordinated by Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, CIDOB. All scientific articles, policy briefs and reports are open-access: http://www.sahwa.eu
Laine was also involved as a university researcher in an ‘ERA.NET Plus with Russia’ -funded multi-disciplinary project Livingmemories: Living together with difficult memories and diverse identities funded by the Academy of Finland (1.10.2015-30.9.2017, IP: Kirsti Salmi-Niklander) that focused on different memories and diverse identities related with conflicts in Russia, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Germany and Turkey. It addressed the questions: How can people live together after violent conflicts and with traumatic memories? How it is possible to allow difficult memories instead of silencing them? The project interrelated public acts of memory work to more private ways of remembering by applying multidisciplinary methodological frame. Project was coordinated by Kirsti Salmi-Niklander from the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Arts, Folklore Studies. Final book of the project is under evaluation. Laine and Salmi-Niklander also wrote together an open-access article from their pilot study "Volunteer work among asylum seekers and refugees in Finland from 2015 to 2017" (Gränslös, 2017).
Address: Finnish Youth Research Network/
Asemapäällikönkatu 1
00520 Helsinki
Finland
She currenly works in an Acadey of Finland funded research project What works? Youth transitions from education to employment in the Middle East and North Africa (2019-2022, University of Tampere), that explores the dynamics of transitions to adulthood from the perspective of young people in the Middle East and North Africa. The project also examines the young asylum seekers’ and refugees’ employment paths in Finland.
She has earlier been member of research consortium that examined political processes and opportunities for engagement from the perspective of young people in Africa (2012-2016). It was a joint project of the Finnish Youth Research Network and University of Helsinki - first Development Studies, and from 1.1.2015 the Swedish School of Social Science (Sociology) - funded by the Academy of Finland (YoPo [258235] Pl: E. Oinas). The consortium contributed with new knowledge on contemporary societal changes in contexts where the rapidly growing majority of population is young and questions of political participation, citizenship, livelihoods and frustrations require urgent attention. The study was carried out in five different African countries (Tunisia, Egypt, Somalia, Kenya, Zambia and South Africa) and in France (focusing on migration), using ethnographic methodologies. The cases reveal different aspects of what ‘politics’ may mean in unstable contexts: they differ in terms of state formation and democratic structures, post-conflict developments, NGO involvement, donor funding and global connections. Final product of the project was the open-access book What Politics? Youth and Political Engagement in Africa (Brill).
Laine also worked as a scientific work package coordinator on youth mobilization and political participation in the SAHWA Project (2014-2016): Researching Arab Mediterranean Youth: Towards a New Social Contract (no 613174, funded by FP7, European Union). Project brought together 15 partners from Europe and Arab Mediterranean countries to research youth prospects and perspectives in a context of multiple social, economic and political transitions in five countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon). The thematic axes of the project were social inclusion, political mobilization and participation, culture and values, international migration and mobility, gender, comparative experiences in other transition contexts, and public policies and international cooperation. Project was coordinated by Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, CIDOB. All scientific articles, policy briefs and reports are open-access: http://www.sahwa.eu
Laine was also involved as a university researcher in an ‘ERA.NET Plus with Russia’ -funded multi-disciplinary project Livingmemories: Living together with difficult memories and diverse identities funded by the Academy of Finland (1.10.2015-30.9.2017, IP: Kirsti Salmi-Niklander) that focused on different memories and diverse identities related with conflicts in Russia, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Germany and Turkey. It addressed the questions: How can people live together after violent conflicts and with traumatic memories? How it is possible to allow difficult memories instead of silencing them? The project interrelated public acts of memory work to more private ways of remembering by applying multidisciplinary methodological frame. Project was coordinated by Kirsti Salmi-Niklander from the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Arts, Folklore Studies. Final book of the project is under evaluation. Laine and Salmi-Niklander also wrote together an open-access article from their pilot study "Volunteer work among asylum seekers and refugees in Finland from 2015 to 2017" (Gränslös, 2017).
Address: Finnish Youth Research Network/
Asemapäällikönkatu 1
00520 Helsinki
Finland
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Papers by Sofia Laine
Hip hop -kulttuurin elementtejä on hyödynnetty suomalaisessa nuorisotyössä jo yli 30 vuoden ajan, organisoidummin noin 1990-luvun puolivälistä (Nieminen 2019, 340, 343). Hip hop mahdollistaa omaehtoisesti itsensä näkyväksi tekemisen ja samalla kuulumisen johonkin suurempaan kokonaisuuteen - yhdessä tekemisen joukkoon - mutta myös hip hop -kulttuuriin. Kuten nuorisotyössä laajemminkin, myös tässä nuorisotyön muodossa toiminnan ytimessä on kuulla nuoren kiinnostuksen kohteet ja osallistaa tämän tiedon avulla hänet mukaan toimintaan. Yhdessä tekemisen kautta nuori oppii uusia taitoja, ja onnistumisten myötä itsetunto sekä rohkeus uusien asioiden kokeilemiseen kasvaa (Nieminen 2019, 343). Kirjoituksessa tarkastelen toimintaa nuorisotyön neljän pilarin kautta sekä vertaan toimintoja koulunuoriosotyön erilaisiin tehtäviin.
Journal: Gränslös https://journals.lub.lu.se/grl/article/view/16996
Book homepage: https://www.routledge.com/Youth-at-the-Margins-Perspectives-on-Arab-Mediterranean-Youth-1st-Edition/SANCHEZ-MONTIJANO-SANCHEZ-GARCIA/p/book/9781857439663
y los circuitos culturales juveniles de
participación política en cinco países árabes
mediterráneos: Túnez, Egipto, Marruecos, Argelia
y Líbano. Mediante la triangulación de
los datos de la SAHWA Youth Survey 2016
(2017) y el SAHWA Ethnographic Fieldwork
2015 (2016), se analizan las experiencias
de participación política de la juventud árabe
mediterránea en la «era post-Primavera
Árabe». Los datos –analizados aplicando la
teoría de los cronotopos del lingüista Mijail
Bajtín– constatan que existen brechas generacionales
en la participación y el diálogo político.
Los «espacios-tiempo» donde las agencias
juveniles (capacidades de decisión y acción)
pueden prosperar son las calles físicas y
virtuales, así como las cafeterías, las cuales
permiten construir una identidad fuera de la
tradición, la autoridad y la familia (es decir,
de las generaciones mayores).
To do this we begin with the four basic questions that any scientific project must take into account. Why we research (academic, social and political reasons that warrant this study); what we research (the delimitation of our object of study in their thematic framework, and geographic context); how we deal with the complexities (the methods and techniques that we are going to use to collect representative data); and for what reason (the results that we expect, especially those of an innovative character or which shed light on theoretical, applied and contributory knowledge).
These four basic questions serves as starting points to produce a ‘know-how’ perspective, which facilitates combining qualitative and quantitative methods, to shape a polyphonic ‘mosaic’ of youth population in Arab Mediterranean countries to contribute to providing primary data and outputs for researchers, the youth themselves and policy-makers in the region.
In this paper, we draw on rich qualitative and quantitative material collected in the framework of the EU-funded SAHWA research project. From our analysis, the most important element to highlight is the impact of the marginalisation of young people: the absence of political tools to influence the management of state affairs and resources and the grave challenges blocking the way to attaining hoped-for life chances due to structural obstacles to the labour market. There is also a need to open new horizons of non-violent civic engagement for young people and to facilitate confidence-building measures by offering meaningful roles in public debates and decision-making processes. This can only be achieved in the more inclusive societies that the Arab Mediterranean youth aspire to build. Euro-Med Youth Cooperation can play a part in achieving this ambitious goal. Doing so, however, necessitates a profound reshaping of these cooperation policies in the near future.
Although the EU is in the process of implementing its Youth Strategy (2010-2018) and mainstreaming cross-sector initiatives in this regard, the youth dimension remains to be mainstreamed in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), which affects its cooperation with countries on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean.
Keywords: Arab Mediterranean countries (AMCs), Euro-Med Youth Cooperation, young people, political participation, inclusion.
This policy report sets its horizon to 2021, or a decade after the popular uprisings. It examines the following questions:
1. What kind of future scenarios can be forecast for a region afflicted by social, economic and political uncertainties?
2. In what ways can young people engage in the processes that shape their preferred futures?
To answer these questions, this paper identifies the present tendencies and processes affecting young lives with the aim of recognising possible future trends. It also discusses the power structures and actors that are involved in the construction of their preferred futures.
This paper is based on the analysis of research materials collected by the project Researching Arab Mediterranean Youth: Towards a New Social Contract (SAHWA) in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Lebanon. Although plural and affected by local and national contexts, the current youth predicament can be characterised as a triple marginalisation: social, economic and political.
The paper recommends that more substantial regional cooperation and conflict resolution is needed in order to achieve social, economic, and political sustainability and the construction of young people’s preferred futures. Therefore, we frame the following recommendations in
regard to the “Alliance scenario” developed by Silvia Colombo (2010), which outlines positive future prospects predicated on increasing cooperation between AMCs and the EU- 27 countries (Groenewold & de Beer, 2013):
1 Coherent policymaking is needed to tackle youth marginalisation;
2 Young people should be involved in the decision-making processes that shape their future lives;
3 Measures should be taken to build confidence in political institutions among young people;
4 Solutions to youth marginalisation need to involve cross-sectoral cooperation and policymaking;
5 Each young individual needs a meaningful life and future and a non-violent environment in which to engage meaningfully.
Keywords: Arab Mediterranean countries (AMCs), young people, youth engagement, inclusion, marginalisation, desirable futures
KEYWORDS: Young people; political engagement; disengagement; demobilisation; Arab Mediterranean countries
Agora chronotopes have representational importance. When doing research on transnational political meetings the event site and timing politics are crucial in many different ways. To study micropolitics calls attention to methodological mix of image and movement analysis, participatory observation and interviews, i.e. different techniques and equipment to capture the microworld (Connolly 2002, Scheff 1990). With this kind of a mix the Agora chronotope types and their narrative description become visible for the readers. Agora chronotopes are spots that realise itself at certain time and space, rich in cosmopolitan micropolitical action and actors, global culture that the researcher tries to catch.
kehitys- ja nuorisopolitiikan hallinnonalojen rajat ylittävä tietoon perustuva johtaminen ja toimeenpano voisivat parhaimmillaan mahdollistaa, jos siirtyisimme kehitysyhteistyömäärärahojen rajuista muutoksista huolimatta kohti globaalimpaa nuorisopolitiikkaa.
Moreover, it can be observed that local decision-making rarely has the ability to utilize the messages generated by such youth activity. This publication comprehensively highlights the political engagement of youth. Using practical examples, it presents in addition to representative democracy, the forms of direct, participatory, deliberative democracy and progressive activism as well as counter-democratic activity. The significance of social media is also emphasized. Additionally, the publication considers whether the versatility of youth participation and its scope of impact are sufficiently supported by European policy documents concerning youth participation, the guidelines based on such documentation, internationally ratified codes of practice and national legislations. The recommendations given in the publication support the many different forms of youth participation and the increase in impact of such participation in the future."
Press release
January 28, 2014
Children and youth are strengthening democracy in a multitude of ways in Europe
Based on material gathered from 22 European countries, direct, participatory, deliberative democracy as well as progressive counter-democracy is being extensively implemented in a variety of ways within youth and children’s regional and local activities. Although these forms of democracy are also acknowledged in the European documents and contracts that direct social and political engagement amongst youth and children, the general recommendations concerning Europe often highlight only representative democracy.
As the emergent examples of good practices from the material indicate, traditional representation does not exemplify the whole range of current democratic activities. This thought acted as a spring-board for the Finnish-Belgian research group who examined the numerous modes and opportunities of social and political engagement amongst youth and children in Europe today. The outcome was a publication that illuminates with a variety of examples, the different ways in which democratic activity manifests itself. In addition to representative democracy the publication covers direct, participatory, deliberative, and progressive counter-democracy.
The study is connected to the desire of the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Union (EU) to examine and develop opportunities for youth to participate and wield influence at a regional and local level in Europe. For the purposes of the study the researchers used a variety of examples of local and regional good practice in engaging youth and children from 22 countries in Europe.
According to the researchers, increasing the visibility of the whole spectrum of child and youth social and political activities and supporting them would reinforce democracy across Europe. In fact, the researchers propose 16 concrete recommendations within the different areas of democracy to strengthen child and youth engagement. To be fully realised, democratic activity cannot simply remain in the hands of representatively selected operators but a powerful democracy requires constant interaction between, dialogue with and opportunities for different age groups and those who are active in other ways to be heard. Children and young people are actors of peaceful social change, and at the same time stronger political support and trust from decision-makers and policy practitioners towards more versatile forms of social and political engagement is a necessity.
The internet publication Youth Participation Good Practices in Different Forms of Regional and Local Democracy (Anu Gretschel, Tiina-Maria Levamo, Tomi Kiilakoski, Sofia Laine, Niina Mäntylä, Geoffrey Pleyers & Harri Raisio) can be ordered at the price of printing (12 euros) from the Youth Research Network web store www.nuorisotutkimusseura.fi/catalog. ISBN 978-952-5994-45-2, ISSN 1799-9227. 74 pages. Finnish Youth Research Network, internet publications 69. Internet address for the publication: http://www.nuorisotutkimusseura.fi/julkaisuja/youthparticipation_goodpractices.pdf.
Contact information
Senior Researcher, Anu Gretschel Ph.D, email: [email protected], tel. 040 516 9189.
Hip hop -kulttuurin elementtejä on hyödynnetty suomalaisessa nuorisotyössä jo yli 30 vuoden ajan, organisoidummin noin 1990-luvun puolivälistä (Nieminen 2019, 340, 343). Hip hop mahdollistaa omaehtoisesti itsensä näkyväksi tekemisen ja samalla kuulumisen johonkin suurempaan kokonaisuuteen - yhdessä tekemisen joukkoon - mutta myös hip hop -kulttuuriin. Kuten nuorisotyössä laajemminkin, myös tässä nuorisotyön muodossa toiminnan ytimessä on kuulla nuoren kiinnostuksen kohteet ja osallistaa tämän tiedon avulla hänet mukaan toimintaan. Yhdessä tekemisen kautta nuori oppii uusia taitoja, ja onnistumisten myötä itsetunto sekä rohkeus uusien asioiden kokeilemiseen kasvaa (Nieminen 2019, 343). Kirjoituksessa tarkastelen toimintaa nuorisotyön neljän pilarin kautta sekä vertaan toimintoja koulunuoriosotyön erilaisiin tehtäviin.
Journal: Gränslös https://journals.lub.lu.se/grl/article/view/16996
Book homepage: https://www.routledge.com/Youth-at-the-Margins-Perspectives-on-Arab-Mediterranean-Youth-1st-Edition/SANCHEZ-MONTIJANO-SANCHEZ-GARCIA/p/book/9781857439663
y los circuitos culturales juveniles de
participación política en cinco países árabes
mediterráneos: Túnez, Egipto, Marruecos, Argelia
y Líbano. Mediante la triangulación de
los datos de la SAHWA Youth Survey 2016
(2017) y el SAHWA Ethnographic Fieldwork
2015 (2016), se analizan las experiencias
de participación política de la juventud árabe
mediterránea en la «era post-Primavera
Árabe». Los datos –analizados aplicando la
teoría de los cronotopos del lingüista Mijail
Bajtín– constatan que existen brechas generacionales
en la participación y el diálogo político.
Los «espacios-tiempo» donde las agencias
juveniles (capacidades de decisión y acción)
pueden prosperar son las calles físicas y
virtuales, así como las cafeterías, las cuales
permiten construir una identidad fuera de la
tradición, la autoridad y la familia (es decir,
de las generaciones mayores).
To do this we begin with the four basic questions that any scientific project must take into account. Why we research (academic, social and political reasons that warrant this study); what we research (the delimitation of our object of study in their thematic framework, and geographic context); how we deal with the complexities (the methods and techniques that we are going to use to collect representative data); and for what reason (the results that we expect, especially those of an innovative character or which shed light on theoretical, applied and contributory knowledge).
These four basic questions serves as starting points to produce a ‘know-how’ perspective, which facilitates combining qualitative and quantitative methods, to shape a polyphonic ‘mosaic’ of youth population in Arab Mediterranean countries to contribute to providing primary data and outputs for researchers, the youth themselves and policy-makers in the region.
In this paper, we draw on rich qualitative and quantitative material collected in the framework of the EU-funded SAHWA research project. From our analysis, the most important element to highlight is the impact of the marginalisation of young people: the absence of political tools to influence the management of state affairs and resources and the grave challenges blocking the way to attaining hoped-for life chances due to structural obstacles to the labour market. There is also a need to open new horizons of non-violent civic engagement for young people and to facilitate confidence-building measures by offering meaningful roles in public debates and decision-making processes. This can only be achieved in the more inclusive societies that the Arab Mediterranean youth aspire to build. Euro-Med Youth Cooperation can play a part in achieving this ambitious goal. Doing so, however, necessitates a profound reshaping of these cooperation policies in the near future.
Although the EU is in the process of implementing its Youth Strategy (2010-2018) and mainstreaming cross-sector initiatives in this regard, the youth dimension remains to be mainstreamed in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), which affects its cooperation with countries on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean.
Keywords: Arab Mediterranean countries (AMCs), Euro-Med Youth Cooperation, young people, political participation, inclusion.
This policy report sets its horizon to 2021, or a decade after the popular uprisings. It examines the following questions:
1. What kind of future scenarios can be forecast for a region afflicted by social, economic and political uncertainties?
2. In what ways can young people engage in the processes that shape their preferred futures?
To answer these questions, this paper identifies the present tendencies and processes affecting young lives with the aim of recognising possible future trends. It also discusses the power structures and actors that are involved in the construction of their preferred futures.
This paper is based on the analysis of research materials collected by the project Researching Arab Mediterranean Youth: Towards a New Social Contract (SAHWA) in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Lebanon. Although plural and affected by local and national contexts, the current youth predicament can be characterised as a triple marginalisation: social, economic and political.
The paper recommends that more substantial regional cooperation and conflict resolution is needed in order to achieve social, economic, and political sustainability and the construction of young people’s preferred futures. Therefore, we frame the following recommendations in
regard to the “Alliance scenario” developed by Silvia Colombo (2010), which outlines positive future prospects predicated on increasing cooperation between AMCs and the EU- 27 countries (Groenewold & de Beer, 2013):
1 Coherent policymaking is needed to tackle youth marginalisation;
2 Young people should be involved in the decision-making processes that shape their future lives;
3 Measures should be taken to build confidence in political institutions among young people;
4 Solutions to youth marginalisation need to involve cross-sectoral cooperation and policymaking;
5 Each young individual needs a meaningful life and future and a non-violent environment in which to engage meaningfully.
Keywords: Arab Mediterranean countries (AMCs), young people, youth engagement, inclusion, marginalisation, desirable futures
KEYWORDS: Young people; political engagement; disengagement; demobilisation; Arab Mediterranean countries
Agora chronotopes have representational importance. When doing research on transnational political meetings the event site and timing politics are crucial in many different ways. To study micropolitics calls attention to methodological mix of image and movement analysis, participatory observation and interviews, i.e. different techniques and equipment to capture the microworld (Connolly 2002, Scheff 1990). With this kind of a mix the Agora chronotope types and their narrative description become visible for the readers. Agora chronotopes are spots that realise itself at certain time and space, rich in cosmopolitan micropolitical action and actors, global culture that the researcher tries to catch.
kehitys- ja nuorisopolitiikan hallinnonalojen rajat ylittävä tietoon perustuva johtaminen ja toimeenpano voisivat parhaimmillaan mahdollistaa, jos siirtyisimme kehitysyhteistyömäärärahojen rajuista muutoksista huolimatta kohti globaalimpaa nuorisopolitiikkaa.
Moreover, it can be observed that local decision-making rarely has the ability to utilize the messages generated by such youth activity. This publication comprehensively highlights the political engagement of youth. Using practical examples, it presents in addition to representative democracy, the forms of direct, participatory, deliberative democracy and progressive activism as well as counter-democratic activity. The significance of social media is also emphasized. Additionally, the publication considers whether the versatility of youth participation and its scope of impact are sufficiently supported by European policy documents concerning youth participation, the guidelines based on such documentation, internationally ratified codes of practice and national legislations. The recommendations given in the publication support the many different forms of youth participation and the increase in impact of such participation in the future."
Press release
January 28, 2014
Children and youth are strengthening democracy in a multitude of ways in Europe
Based on material gathered from 22 European countries, direct, participatory, deliberative democracy as well as progressive counter-democracy is being extensively implemented in a variety of ways within youth and children’s regional and local activities. Although these forms of democracy are also acknowledged in the European documents and contracts that direct social and political engagement amongst youth and children, the general recommendations concerning Europe often highlight only representative democracy.
As the emergent examples of good practices from the material indicate, traditional representation does not exemplify the whole range of current democratic activities. This thought acted as a spring-board for the Finnish-Belgian research group who examined the numerous modes and opportunities of social and political engagement amongst youth and children in Europe today. The outcome was a publication that illuminates with a variety of examples, the different ways in which democratic activity manifests itself. In addition to representative democracy the publication covers direct, participatory, deliberative, and progressive counter-democracy.
The study is connected to the desire of the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Union (EU) to examine and develop opportunities for youth to participate and wield influence at a regional and local level in Europe. For the purposes of the study the researchers used a variety of examples of local and regional good practice in engaging youth and children from 22 countries in Europe.
According to the researchers, increasing the visibility of the whole spectrum of child and youth social and political activities and supporting them would reinforce democracy across Europe. In fact, the researchers propose 16 concrete recommendations within the different areas of democracy to strengthen child and youth engagement. To be fully realised, democratic activity cannot simply remain in the hands of representatively selected operators but a powerful democracy requires constant interaction between, dialogue with and opportunities for different age groups and those who are active in other ways to be heard. Children and young people are actors of peaceful social change, and at the same time stronger political support and trust from decision-makers and policy practitioners towards more versatile forms of social and political engagement is a necessity.
The internet publication Youth Participation Good Practices in Different Forms of Regional and Local Democracy (Anu Gretschel, Tiina-Maria Levamo, Tomi Kiilakoski, Sofia Laine, Niina Mäntylä, Geoffrey Pleyers & Harri Raisio) can be ordered at the price of printing (12 euros) from the Youth Research Network web store www.nuorisotutkimusseura.fi/catalog. ISBN 978-952-5994-45-2, ISSN 1799-9227. 74 pages. Finnish Youth Research Network, internet publications 69. Internet address for the publication: http://www.nuorisotutkimusseura.fi/julkaisuja/youthparticipation_goodpractices.pdf.
Contact information
Senior Researcher, Anu Gretschel Ph.D, email: [email protected], tel. 040 516 9189.
Tämän selvityksen tarkoituksena on tuottaa alustavaa tietoa verkkonuorisotyön vaikuttavuuden mittaamisesta. Selvityksessä kartoitetaan nuorisotyön ammattilaisten näkemyksiä siitä, millaista vaikuttavuutta verkkonuorisotyöllä koetaan olevan, millaisia vaikuttavuuden arvioinnin menetelmiä on tällä hetkellä käytössä ja miten vaikuttavuuden arviointia tulisi jatkossa kehittää. Ammattilaisten näkemysten pohjalta esitetään suosituksia verkkonuorisotyön vaikuttavuuden arvioimisen aloittamiseksi ja kehittämiseksi. Tutkimuksen tilaajatahona on digitaalisen nuorisotyön osaamiskeskusta koordinoiva Verke, jonka kanssa tutkimuskysymykset on muotoiltu.
Aineistonkeruu toteutettiin kahdessa vaiheessa. Ensimmäinen vaihe koski organisaatioiden johdon ja työntekijöiden näkemyksiä siitä, millaisia vaikutuksia verkkonuorisotyöllä tavoitellaan, millaista vaikuttavuutta verkkonuorisotyöllä nähdään olevan ja millä tavoilla vaikuttavuutta arvioidaan organisaatioissa tällä hetkellä. Yksilöhaastatteluja tehtiin 15. Aineistonkeruun toisessa vaiheessa tarkasteltiin nuorisotyön organisaatioiden edustajien näkemyksiä siitä, millä tavoilla verkkonuorisotyön vaikuttavuutta pitäisi ja voitaisiin systemaattisesti arvioida. Fokusryhmähaastatteluita tehtiin neljä, joista kuhunkin osallistui kolmesta viiteen henkilöä; informantteja oli yhteensä 16. Tulokset raportoidaan anonyymisti, jolloin haastatteluun osallistuneita tahoja ei mainita tunnistettavasti.
Aineistoa peilattiin analyysivaiheessa vaikuttavuusketjun (Anoschkin 2019) eri osa-alueisiin, jotka ovat tarve, visio, tavoite, resurssit, toimenpiteet, tulokset ja vaikuttavuus. Aineiston perusteella vaikuttavuusketjun eri osa-alueiden systemaattinen ja tietoinen määrittäminen vaatii verkkonuorisotyötä tekeviltä organisaatioilta vielä panostuksia, jotta vaikutusten ja vaikuttavuuden mittaaminen mahdollistuisi tulevaisuudessa. Verkkonuorisotyön tarve, visio ja vaikuttavuus on syytä määritellä laajemmalla areenalla, sillä ne kuvaavat yhteiskunnallista tasoa. Vaikuttavuusketjun konkreettisen toiminnan osat (tavoite, resurssit, toimenpiteet ja tulokset) voivat olla enemmän yksittäisten toimijoiden tai kuntien määriteltävissä, kun yhteisistä tarpeista, visiosta ja vaikuttavuuden arvioinnin mittaristosta on yhdessä sovittu. Vaikuttavuuden mittaamisen kehittämistyössä on siis syytä edetä osa-alue kerrallaan keskittymällä ensin verkkonuorisotyön tavoitteiden määrittämiseen ja positiivisten vaikutusten todentamiseen.
Verkkonuorisotyön vaikuttavuuden mittaamisen kehittämistyö tulee tehdä yhteistyössä kuntien, seurakuntien ja järjestötahojen kesken yhteisellä areenalla, johon myös valtakunnalliset kehittäjät ja rahoittajat voivat osallistua. Verkkonuorisotyön tavoitteiden yhteinen määrittely valtakunnallisella tasolla on välttämätöntä, jotta vaikuttavuusmittareita voidaan yhteisesti rakentaa. Kehitystyössä on huomioitava verkkonuorisotyön realiteetit, kuten nuorten anonyymius ja toiminnan lyhytkestoisuus. Vaikuttavuuden mittaaminen ei saa nostaa nuorten kynnystä osallistua verkkonuorisotyön eri toimintamuotoihin.
Sofia Laine (ed.)
Break the Fight! – Breikkaa koulukiusaamista vastaan (Breakdance against bullying) is a set of art education actions launched by Arja Tiili Dance Company in 2014, which includes art workshops for 6th–9th graders and professional dance performances which upper comprehensive school students can go and see. The aim of this study was to follow up and evaluate "the Break the Fight! valtakunnallinen kiertuetuki- ja mallinnushanke" project, which was funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and carried out in 2017–2018 in four municipalities outside the capital region. Engagement workshops for young people were also organised in two municipalities, as well as discussions with decision-makers as part of the action research. The main aims of this study were to follow up and evaluate the breakdance workshops, the professional dance performance "Break the Fight – I was here!", the engagement workshops and the discussions with decision-makers as a whole and as individual activities.
The central research questions were how well these individual activities or combinations of them can reduce school bullying, and whether they increase young people’s wellbeing in one way or another. Participant observation, feedback forms (833 written feedback forms were received from the pupils participating in breakdance workshops alone), action research and interviews were used to collect the research
material. On the basis of the follow-up, evaluation and action research, various recommendations are presented in order to improve the activities.
The researcher has also created models for short and longer working processes in the future. The main result that emerged from the study was the importance of long-term work with the same pupils instead of single interventions. In future, through longer processes, it will be easier to have a positive impact on the school’s atmosphere, and thus reduce school bullying.
The engagement workshops should be integrated into the art workshops’ process in the future. This way the young people’s views on how the school’s atmosphere could be improved and how school bullying could be reduced, would be expressed to decision-makers through many voices, and potentially also by the use of arts performances that the young people have built themselves. It would also be worth including the young people in the rehearsal and building stages of the professional dance performances – to show them that incompleteness, failure and mistakes also exist in the working processes of top artists. Everyone makes mistakes, but through mistakes one can also find something completely new and unique that can be used in arts and expressions.
Keywords: hip hop, bullying, art education, evaluation research, political
engagement, young people
All the contributors propose a very critical engagement with the reality of young refugees in today’s Europe, where tolerance levels for negative phenomena, such as human rights violations, hate speech and discrimination, are on the rise. However, there is also an underlying message of hope for those willing to engage in a human rights-based youth work practice that ensures safe spaces for being young, no matter who, no matter where. Practices and reflections deal with democracy, activism, participation, formal and non-formal education and learning, employment, trauma, “waitinghood” and negotiating identities.
We hope this book as a whole, and each individual contribution, will inspire youth policy makers and practitioners to take on board the complex realities of unfinished transitions and borderland experiences and create a positive environment for an enriched and transformed youth work for the inclusion of young refugees in their host communities.
PARTICIPATION IN THE ART TESTERS CAMPAIGN
Sofia Laine & Maaria Hartman
In this study funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, senior researcher Sofia Laine and researcher Maaria Hartman from the Finnish Youth Research Network examined young people’s experiences of art visits and their cultural participation in the Art Testers Campaign. Over the years 2017–2020, the Art Testers Campaign is offering every eighthgrade pupil in Finland two art visits: One visit will take place in their own region and the other in the Helsinki area – and for those living in the capital region, a trip elsewhere will be arranged. The activities have been initiated and funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Swedish Cultural Foundation, and the campaign is coordinated by the Association of Finnish Children’s Cultural Centres.
The research started with a pilot study in spring 2018, and the actual study material was collected over the 2018–2019 academic year in 10 schools selected from all over Finland: participating in the study were the largest towns in the regions of Uusimaa, Southwest Finland, North Karelia, Central Finland and Lapland. From each of these regions, a smaller town with a much narrower selection of culture services than the largest in the region also participated in the study. Initial and follow-up interviews were carried out on the same pupils who had consented to the study at each participating school. The total number of pupils interviewed in the study is 116. In addition to the interviews, the researchers also performed ethnographic observation by travelling with two classes to the art destinations in the Art Testers Campaign and by carrying out observation at other art destinations in the study in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area during visits by the study classes. Three students from the Johdatus etnografiseen arviointitutkimukseen [Introduction to ethnographic evaluation research] course organised by the University of Helsinki also assisted in carrying out the study in the case of the research material for Helsinki.
The study found that the young people’s experiences of art visits in the Art Testers Campaign were very varied. Thus, a holistic approach is important when studying the experiences: everything that happens before the art visit, at the location and after the visit all define the young person’s experience of the art. Individual and social factors must also be considered, especially the fact that the project is being implemented in the context of a school and class. The research publication examines young people’s cultural participation on a four-level model of participation. The research results show that the Art Testers Campaign achieves the first two levels of participation: availability and accessibility of art and reception of the art and culture. Some young people in the Art Testers Campaign also have the opportunity to get involved in the planning, implementation and development of the art or making decisions about it. However, these young people only make up a small minority.
According to the study, the lack of young people’s possibilities to reflect the art experiences after the visits is the major obstacle in strengthening the young people’s art experiences. Most of the art institutions produce high-quality educational materials for schools, but, for one reason or another, the schools hardly ever complete this work, in particular the assignments that is meant for post-visit phase. A separate event where young people could analyse their experiences of an art visit would be necessary in addition to any audience discussion that is arranged at the art location. Reflection and analysis of the experience produced by the visit would help to deepen the young people’s experience of the art. The follow-up interviews in this study gave the study participants an opportunity to discuss their experiences: the young people first recalled their experiences independently and then discussed them in a peer group.
muun muassa teemasta ”Liikuntapaikkojen vastaavuus
eri väestöryhmien tarpeisiin”. Tässä rahoitusta saaneessa hankkeessa tarkastelu tehtiin neljästä eri näkökulmasta. Ensimmäisenä tavoitteena selvitettiin keskustelupäivämenetelmän soveltuvuutta liikuntapaikkojen
laadun arviointiin. Menetelmä todettiin toimivaksi ja sitä kautta täyttyi myös toinen tavoite: eriikäisten kuntalaisten ja erityisryhmien kokemustiedon kerääminen liikuntapaikkojen laadusta. Kolmantena tasona tutkimuksessa sidottiin kuntalaisten tekemät kehittämisehdotukset osaksi liikuntaa koskevaa kunnallista päätöksentekoa. Neljäntenä tasona otetaan kantaa siihen, kuinka kuntalaisten kokemustieto tulisi jatkossa paremmin huomioida välttämättömänä osana paikallista ja valtakunnallista peruspalveluiden arviointia ja päätöksentekoa.
Tutkimuksen suorittivat Nuorisotutkimusseura ry:n alaisen Nuorisotutkimusverkoston tutkijat. Tutkimustiimiin kuului eripituisin työsuhtein kolme tutkijaa ja tutkimusapulaisia. Tutkimukseen pyydettiin mukaan kolme erikokoista ja maantieteelliseltä sijainniltaan erilaista kuntaa: Vantaa, Oulainen ja Mikkeli. Tutkimus toteutettiin toimintatutkimuksena. Tutkijat osallistuivat keskustelupäivien, toisin sanoen eri-ikäisten ja
erityisryhmien arviointitilaisuuksien sekä kuntalaisten ja päättäjien välisen keskustelun järjestämiseen kuntalaisten kutsumisesta alkaen. Keskustelupäivien jälkeen tutkijat keräsivät kunnista aktiivisesti tietoa kuntalaisten ja päättäjien sopimien kehittämistoimenpiteiden edistymisestä kunnan päätöksenteon
eri areenoilla: asioiden valmistelusta, päättämisestä ja toteuttamisesta viranhaltijoiden, lautakuntien, hallitusten
ja valtuuston toimesta. Tutkijat informoivat sekä kuntalaisia että päättäjiä asioiden edistymisestä heti keskustelupäivän jälkeen sekä noin viiden kuukauden kuluttua keskustelupäivän järjestämisestä.
Ensinnäkin tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että Suomessa kehitetty deliberatiivisen demokratian keskustelupäivämenetelmä sopii hyvin kuntalaisten kokemustiedon tavoittamiseen liikuntapaikkojen käyttäjinä. Menetelmän avulla kerättyjen kuntalaisten mielipiteiden ja heidän niiden pohjalta päättäjille
valmistelemien puheenvuorojen perusteella voidaan todeta, että eri-ikäisten ja erityisryhmien näkökulmat ovat liikuntapaikkojen suunnittelussa ja tarjoamisessa heikosti huomioituja. Esimerkiksi uimahalleissa ei oteta riittävästi huomioon lasten ja nuorten tarpeita hupiuintiin ja toisaalta esimerkiksi ikäihmisillä on vaikeuksia saada käyttöönsä liikuntasalien vuoroja. Tutkimus
osoittaa, että jokaisella ikä- ja erityisryhmällä on myös omia, muista ryhmistä erovia liikuntapaikkatoiveita, kuten puhtaan lumen leikkipaikat (lapset), skeittipaikkojen kunnostaminen (nuoret), erilaisten reitistöjen kehittäminen (aikuiset), sporttikortin ikärajojen laventaminen (eläkeläiset), liikuntatapahtumien
tulkkaukset tai vammaisystävälliset uimarannat (erityisliikuntaryhmät). Erityisryhmien tarpeiden huomiointi
suunnittelussa ja isojen liikuntapaikkakohteiden käyttäjinä vaihtelee eri kohteissa jopa yksittäisen paikkakunnan sisällä.
Keskustelupäivissä esitettiin yhteensä 73 kehittämisehdotusta, joihin kunnat suhtautuivat jopa yllättävän myönteisesti. Ehdotuksista 23 (32 %) toteutui heti tai syksyn 2012 aikana. Kuuden asian (8 %) arvioitiin melko varmasti toteutuvan viiden vuoden sisällä. Näin ollen kuntalaisten esiin nostamista teemoista 29 (40 %) toteutuu tutkimuskunnissa melko varmasti. Toisaalta
12 ehdotusta (16 %) ei melko varmasti tule toteutumaan. Loppujen osalta (32 asiaa eli 44 %) asioiden käsittely kaupungin hallintoelimissä tai muiden tahojen toimesta on vielä kesken tämän raportin valmistuessa.
Viimeisenä eli neljäntenä tasona analysoitiin kunnille annetun informaatio-ohjauksen laatua kuntalaisten huomioimisessa kuntapalvelujen arvioijina. Kuntalaisnäkökulmaa ei ole juuri huomioitu valtiovarainministeriön aluehallintoviranomaisilta tilaamassa valtakunnallisessa peruspalvelujen arvioinnissa. Tämän tutkimuksen valossa kuntalaisten kokemustiedon arvon
ymmärtäminen palvelujen laadun arvioinnissa näyttäytyy valtakunnallisena, jatkuvana ja kunnan toimialoja läpileikkaavana tarpeena. Analyysin perusteella voidaan todeta, että valtakunnallisten ja paikallisten arviointien välille tarvitaan yhteys. Tulee pohtia, miten valtakunnallisesti tai alueellisesti useissa kunnissa koottu arviointitieto saatetaan paikalliseen keskusteluun
ja saadaan kytketyksi paikallisiin arvioihin ja päätöksentekoon. Ja toisaalta sitä, miten systemaattisesti mahdollistetaan paikallistason signaalien kasaantuminen eri puolilta vahvoiksi viesteiksi ja välittyminen valtakunnalliseen päätöksentekoon. Tämä yksittäinen tapaustutkimus tarjosi eri tason välisille kytkennöille vain hetkellisen ratkaisun.
In this research the diverse field of youth political participation in transnational agoras is studied by using a cross-table of cosmopolitan resources (or the lack of them) and everydaymakers – expert citizen dichotomy. First, the young participants of the EU Presidency youth event are studied as an example of expert citizens with cosmopolitan resources (these resources include, for example, language skills, higher education and international social network). Second, the study analyses those everyday-makers who use performative politics to demonstrate their political missions here and now. But in order to make the social movement global they need cosmopolitan resources to be able to use the social media tools and work globally. Third, the study reflects upon the difficulties of reaching those actors who lack cosmopolitan resources, either everyday-makers or expert citizens. The go-along method and the use of the interpreters are shown as ways to reach these young people’s political missions. Fourth, the research underlines the importance of ‘contact zones’ (i.e. spaces or situations where the aforementioned orientations and their differences temporarily disappear or weaken) for deeper democracy and for boosted dialogue between different kinds of participants.
This book describes a theoretical and practical approach to the health literacy of young people with a focus on youth cultures, health policy and prevention programs. This forms a broad thematic area, and thus the 20 articles in this book consider many different questions concerning youth, health and health promotion. Thematically organized, this book frames the discussion of health literacy around four topics: youth and body, drugs and alcohol, implications for health prevention and sports.
http://www.talouselama.fi/kirjat/kupillinen+nicaraguan+kultaa/a2054049
http://www.kommentti.fi/lukukokemuksia/kahvia-nicaraguasta
Mitä on tehtävä? Nuorison kapinan teoriaa ja käytäntöä näkee nuoret aktiiviset toimijat erityisinä ihmisinä ajassa eikä vain jonkin liikkeen toiminnan hetkeen valokuvan lailla pysäytettyinä hahmoina. Siksi monet artikkelit keskustelevat toistensa kanssa: Millaista radikaalien toimijoiden nuorten toimijoiden myöhempi elämä on ollut? Miten eri liikkeet esittäytyvät sukupolvien välisessä dynamiikassa? Millaisia kokemuksia ja johtopäätöksiä toimijat itse vetävät liikkeiden historian ja omien kokemustensa limittyessä? Näitä teemoja käsitellään sekä tutkimuksellisin ja teoreettisin että haastatteluaineiston ja aikalaisanalyysin keinoin. Teos tarjoaa tuoreita näkökulmia ja uutta tietoa nuorten kanssa työskenteleville, yhteiskunnallisia liikkeitä ja kulttuuri-ilmiöitä tutkiville, nuorison kapinan eri muodoista kiinnostuneille sekä aktivisteille itselleen. Se soveltuu oppimateriaaliksi yliopistoihin ja ammattikorkeakouluihin."
I closed my public lecture in the PhD defence with this two minute video where I give a voice to one of the bravest informant I met during this study. In the video clip you will hear human rights activist Jyri Jaakkola’s voice that is copied from an interview (youtube.com/watch?v=tMy7yTvFiNU). The interview has been recorded few weeks before Jaakkola’s trip to Mexico, where he was murdered while he was carrying humanitarian aid to an insular village in Oaxaca.
What you will see is my experiment: a kinaesthetic study of Jaakkola’s solidarity movements across the planet. Zodiak, the Centre for New Dance (Helsinki, Finland), had a project (fall 2011) for non-professional dancers where nine people made their End of the World choreographies.
For me this dance was an experiment to understand Jaakkola’s faith and courage to act for global justice, but also to approach violence. In more general terms, with this choreography I wanted to study the possibilities of a political dance as an approach to performative social science (see more: qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/issue/view/10). As I state, political dance is always a social movement and a political performance. This dance is my (i.e. researcher’s) in-depth study on how the social movements move. Like Ron Eyerman (2005) has crystallised social movements move inside and outside the movement: a performance focuses on corporality and presence. In order to be successful the performance should move both the actors and audiences.
With this choreography I also wanted to make a political statement – and celebrate the life-work of Jaakkola once more.