The Finnish Children and Youth Foundation (FCYF) is committed to improving the lives of children and young people. A fundraising and grant organization, FCYF aims to promote and support programmes that advance the conditions of children and young people in Finland and abroad. FCYF is an independent organization which shares a global partnership with the International Youth Foundation (IYF) and the European Children and Youth Foundations Network (ECYN).

FCYF’s mission is to ensure and promote positive development in the lives of children and youth; to take preventive action and to encourage Finnish companies to consider their corporate social responsibility to children’s and young people’s potentials.

The focus of FCYF is in preventative care and support for children. FCYF aims to promote young people’s projects with work in four main areas:

• Education — to ensure that children and youth have access to quality education and increased opportunities for learning;
• Health — to improve children’s health and provide youth with the knowledge and skills needed to make informed, healthy choices;
• Employment — to build young people’s employment and entrepreneurial skills so that they can secure jobs and livelihoods in which they find dignity and earn an income that meets their needs;
• Civic Participation — to promote opportunities for young people to exercise their full potential in order to effect positive change in their communities.

Partner of IYF and ECYN

FCYF is a registered, independent organization which operates under Finnish law. Internationally, FCYF maintains a partner of the International Youth Foundation (IYF) and The European Children and Youth Foundations Network (ECYN).

FCYF collaborates with IYF to support youth development programmes in several countries including India, Argentina, Ecuador, Palestine, the Balkans, Colombia and Venezuela. In addition, the Zest programme is part of IYF’s global Make a Connection programme.


 

Activities in Finland

Corporate Social Responsibility programmes are one of FCYF’s major activities in Finland. The programmes and other projects advanced by FCYF promote integration, tolerance, diversity and employability. Nokia, Fortum, Manpower, Deloitte, Elcoteq, Pfizer, Veritas, Metso, UPM-Kymmene, TVO and Wärtsilä are companies FCYF works or has been working with in Finland and adjoining regions. In addition to its regular grant funding, FCYF administers its own programmes:

Zest - The Life Skills Programme in Finland

 “Zest, Make a Connection Life Skills” programme, has recruited eight prominent Finnish personalities to visit 7th through 9th graders in schools around the country, talking with them about self-confidence, talents and life skills. “Zest” has benefited over 180 000 students to date.

Another target group, besides the young, is teachers and other educational specialists who work with young people. Our experts and team members have presented the Zest programme at different events and during the first four and a half years over 17 000 adults have heard about Zest. Zest has also produced teaching material for teachers to support the school visits. The material helps to deepen the contents of Zest.

OK! Immigrants Programme

The aim of the project is to help immigrants integrate into Finnish society through practical activities, guidance and employing. The OK! -programme is targeting immigrant youth in Finland with the objective to seek integration through employment and new, increased capacities. In addition to education and life skills training special focus is put on direct cooperation with companies and a broad follow up and coaching even after a job placement. The programme sets off in the capital area.

“Särmää” (“Edge”)

is a campaign to raise awareness and acceptance of diversity, multiculturalism and tolerance for students in upper-level schools. The campaign was launched by the FCYF in 2007 by sending the booklet Särmää to all upper-level schools in Finland (7th-9th grades) together with a teacher’s manual on how to make the most of the booklet and discuss the issues in class. Särmää challenges readers to understand the richness of diversity and shows that attitudes can be changed, and that everyone can learn to be open-minded. The booklet also fills a gap in the material available for Finnish schools on issues such as diversity and multiculturalism. The campaign continued in 2008 by sending the upper-level schools an educational film on attitudes and otherness. The campaign is primarily funded by the Association of Finnish Lions Clubs and Deloitte Finland.

Promoting media-awareness

The FCYF has decided to promote media-awarness among 7th to 9th graders. A media educational booklet, which will be sent to all upper-level schools in Finland, will give students the chance to

• learn media-awarness and media criticism
• hear about the possibilities and dangers of the internet
• discuss the power of news and advertising, and 
• learn to handle the surrounding media culture.
  
  
   

International activities include cooperative projects and development programmes with funding by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. These ventures are aimed at improving the lives of children and youth in developing and transitional countries, in addition to the Karelian Child program.

Karelian Child programme

Launched in 2004, the Karelian Child programme supports local projects that improve the circumstances of young people and to promote employment of children at risk in the Republic of Karelia in Russia. 

Emphasis is placed on preventative projects that address the needs of the most vulnerable children and youth (ages 5–25) at risk – especially orphans, handicapped and those coming from families suffering from poverty and alcoholism. The objective is to have an impact on young people in suburban and rural areas of Karelia as well, not just in the main city of Petrozavodsk. Projects range from one-month summer camps to a series of training workshops for youth leaders. The programme consists of several independent projects with a variety of target groups but within the objectives of the programme.

By 2007 the programme has reached over 11 000 young Russian Karelians, up to 10 % of all children and young people at risk in the area, and has had a positive impact on lives of more than 15 000 other inhabitants of the Republic. In addition, the programme has remarkably increased the operating capacity and the respect enjoyed by the collaborating Karelian organisations.

The implementation is in accordance with the principles of Finnish cooperation with adjacent areas. The objectives and framework of FCYF activities are designed to be in compliance with the goals of Global Partner Network of the International Youth Foundation.
 

Development Cooperation

Development cooperation improves the lives of children and youth in developing and transitional countries. In addition to the Karelian Child programme, FCYF collaborates on development cooperation projects with a number of organizations in the Global Partner Network of the International Youth Foundation. Development cooperation is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland as well as corporate and individual donors.

More information on the development cooperation projects

The Finnish Children and Youth Foundation (FCYF) was established in 2001 by The Association of Finnish Lions Clubs, Folkhälsan, Children of the Station, Pär Stenbäck and Heikki Järvenpää.