Verso Partnership Project between the City of Rovaniemi and the Settlement of Rovala European Social Fund (ESF), The Finnish State,City of Rovaniemi, Settlement of Rovala

Resources ESF Operational Programme in Mainland Finland. The aim is to promote the functioning of the labour market and lifelong learning. To develop active education and training as well as labour policy in order to tackle unemployment and to prevent social exclusion. Duration of the Project in Rovaniemi: Funding €1,9 million approx. (of which ESF €1.7 million approx.) 7 employees Project aims to reach 500 immigrants during operational period of

The Verso Project aims to… Implement pro-active and early integration measures for 500 immigrants Develop early integration processes Model the process for early integration in partnership with: local social welfare office, municipal immigration personnel, and representatives of the local authority according to local strategy for internationalisation and local integration program

The Verso Project aims to... Model operational processes of the Project and create service products Co-operate nationally, network, inform of the project findings and share operational models (such as ALPO project) Provide varied activities including: Taylor-made activities to address individual needs, Finnish language skills, Multicultural training, Guidance in ’everyday life in Finland’ Workshop tutoring Develope groups to the early start of settling

Operational methods Workshops To be organised according to the interests and needs of the participants. Organised within the project or in partnership with local actors ( eg., handicrafts,IT-workshop, art and music workshop, cooking workshop) Workplace Workshops To be organised to assist in progression into the labour market Workshops held in Non-Government Organisations (NGO), public sector and private companies

Co-ordination and tutoring of the Finnish language Tutoring is organised based on individual needs and language abilities of participants Learning is supported by functional activity groups Development of methods and models to support early learning of Finnish language

Development of new ways to use webcourses to enhance learning, in conjunction with other projects Verso project can acquire training from outside the project according to the needs of the participants Co-ordination and tutoring of the Finnish language

Co-ordination of activities for identified target groups Services for mothers, the elderly, young people and people with a disability Group activities and camps will be organised for young people together with local actors Inviting mothers to attend available activities, developing specific contents to participants when needed

The elderly and disabled persons are offered activities which they can attend according to their own resources Group activities are implemented in co- operation within local networks There will be special groups produced or purchased to effectively meet the needs of identified target groups Co-ordination of activities for identified target groups

Multicultural training The Finnish language co-ordinator is mainly responsible for informing different communities and networks on multicultural issues Multicultural info sessions and seminars and training will be organised according to the needs Main emphasis of the training is on promoting tolerance

Other activities Activating participants to take independent part in the activities of the Finnish society. Project will utilise possibilities to influence attitudes towards immigrants and create an enviroment that will support integration

Stakeholders/Interest groups Municipal immigration office, Moninet (Settlement of Rovala), local social welfare office, local Employment and Economic Development office, Employment and Economic Development Centre, national immigration projects, and local associations and companies

Project Personnel/Staff Juha Seljänperä, Project Manager Eeva Jokkala, Co-ordinator of mandated groups Sanna Piuva, Co-ordinator of group activities Elina Pietilä, Co-ordinator for Finnish language studies and multi-cultural tutoring Tom Serratti, Workshop tutor Antonina Varonen, Workshop tutor Sofiane Azab, Workshop tutor