Tallinn University Rakvere College organizes thematic discussion evenings for the target group, i.e. for family members living in Estonia while their significant others have moved to Finland to work. The discussion group evenings, with the cover title „I love you from far away“, will be organized as part of the REGI project activities. Gatherings are organized twice this spring and also twice coming autumn.
The topics that will be focused on during the meetings are
Childcare and different activities for children will be arranged during the meetings. REGI project has started to collaborate with a project Inequalities in Motion: Transnational Families in Estonia and Finland (implemented by University of Eastern Finland and University of Tartu and funded by the Kone Foundation). The three-year project will explore processes of inequality that occur in the context of migration and commuting between Estonia and Finland. The research is concerned with the subjective and affective dimensions of mobility: ways in which mobility, transnational family life and inequalities related to it are experienced and narrated by grown-up migrants as well as by children of different age, by family members staying behind and return migrants who for one reason or another have moved back to their home country or to third countries.
The project Inequalities in Motion: Transnational Families in Estonia and Finland had an opening event Räägi oma Soome lugu on 14th of April in Tartu, Estonia. REGI project team participated in the event and presented the REGI project and its themes. Estonian news about the event: http://uudised.err.ee/v/eesti/cd569b12-ac97-4f3e-80e9-627ae69fa3bd/tartus-hakatakse-koguma-soomes-elavate-eestlaste-lugusid http://kuku.postimees.ee/?pid=24&nid=17708&jsback=1 http://tartu.postimees.ee/3654263/suurprojekt-kogub-kokku-eestlaste-lood-soomest Read more about the Inequalities in Motion project: https://estfinblog.wordpress.com/
On the 11th of February REGI's Estonian team invited all social-workers of West-Viru County to Rakvere Smart House in order to give an overview of the REGI project, its activities and goals.
Also, the meeting served the purpose of conducting a group interview with social workers in order to map the problematic areas of professionals working with the issue. We intended to find out how the professionals and specialists of the social work field regard the topic in general, which problems they usually encounter and also what kind of training or assistance they expect to receive in order to work efficiently with the families that are separated by the work migration. The only Estonian partner in the project is Tallinn Unversity Rakvere College. As as a research and educational institution of the region we are able to contribute to the regional development through research of this emerging social challenge – the challenge brought along by work-migration. Our activities during the project are:
Rakvere College is currently in the middle of conducting the survey among the schools and social workers of the county. While the schools (36 schools alltogether) of Lääne-Viru County have received a written questionnaire to reply to, the social workers are interviewed in a group and individually if necessary. The next gathering of the social workers will be held on the 11th of February in a new and recently inaugurated Competence Hub Smart House where also the Municipality of Rakvere holds its offices. The researcher conducting the surveys is Kersti Kriisk, PhD student in Social Sciences. The results and summary article will be published in the end of February and shared also right here, on REGI’s website! Project REGI has had really productive first four months: we’ve organized and participated in different events, spread our knowledge and messages and conducted a survey to map the needs of local Estonians. Doing all this we had great help from the students of Turku university of applied science. They had an important role reaching hundreds of target group members and informing them about our project, its goals, activities, but also about the situation of Estonians in Finland on a broader scale. In December our students shared their experience with other students and with broader audience at a fair organized at Turku AMK. It were the students who created our mascot, granny Helmi, who is a familiar figure for both Estonians and Finns – they just love their grannies! During first months of year 2016, we’ll focus on group activities, trainings for both migrants and professionals and arranging useful materials for different target groups. In autumn, we are planning to organize a bigger event. So stay tuned and enjoy your Christmas! First week of December turned out to be a really busy on for project REGI. We had a pop-up information day and a party for local Estonians in Turku. Pop-up event on Thursday (3.12) at Skanssi shopping center attracted over 120 people who were treated with mulled wine and gingerbreads, but also informed of our project, its background, goals etc. In return we received a lot of positive feedback, good wishes and great stories about Estonians and Finns. Our stand was just in front of Monitori, a place where you can handle almost all your official businesses and get advice in your own language. Two days later, on Saturday (5.12) over 80 local Estonians joined to hold a party with a band from Estonia. There was plenty of dancing, laughing and having fun. The big idea, nevertheless, was to make Estonians more coherent, guide them to be more active and interested in mutual activities. It is fair to say that this party helped us to move towards these goals because new plans and ideas what and how to do next just poured in. We have published our questionnaire for Estonians living in Turku and Southwest-Finland area to share their thoughts on how to improve activities and services. Feedback received through this questionnaire will be used to tailor events and activities for Estonians, but also to map the needs, expectations and background of Estonians living this area. Link to the questionnaire (in Estonian) is here. Let us also remind you that the goal of the REGI-project (Reacting to Growing Immigration – Strengthening social inclusion of Estonian migrant families in Finland and Estonia) is to give a contribution in solving problems and challenges related to work migration. During the project social work professionals together with the main target group will develop solutions best suitable in supporting families of Estonian work migrants in Finland and ways to solve related problems. These solutions will be implemented and complemented together with members of target groups. Also social work professionals and volunteers will be trained to notice challenges related to work migration before they grow to be problems. REGI-project can thus be called a pilot-project, because if the goals are achieved, the same solutions can be used on more general basis. The end result is better and healthier communities both in Estonia and in Finland.
Project REGI will participate at the International Book Fair of Turku from 2.-4. October as part of the Estonian Department. Our project representatives will be present during the whole fair and every day there will be presentations done by the students of the Turku University of Applied Sciences who also participate in the project. So on Friday you should be there at 11.00, on Saturday at 16.00 and on Sunday at 12.00. For information about the book fair check out http://www.kirjamessut.fi/english/ |