Nicehearts: Building a community of change agents

Nicehearts is a non-governmental organisation based  in Finland that aims to support the community’s self-reliance, equality and promotion of activities for girls and women. The organisation started in the City of Vantaa, and now has expanded its services and activities to the cities of Helsinki and Espoo as well the South Karelia region. At the moment, the organization employs a staff of 19 working in 4 different service models – Girls Space, Strong Woman, We-house, and the Neighbourhood mothers.

During the visit, Nicehearts’ executive director Johanna Sjöholm, welcomed the participants with a brief introduction to the organization. Nicehearts was founded in 2001 and has been involved in various national and international projects in Finland over the past 15 years. The activities developed in Nicehearts aim to create long-term networks and promote a place of encounter between girls and women of different cultures and ages on a daily basis. Their mission is to enable women’s active participation in the society, to promote gender equality and to strive towards the betterment of girls’ and women’s lives and living conditions in Finland. Nicehearts has received several recognitions and awards for the outstanding work with women and girls as well as for its active and commendable work in supporting the integration of migrants as well as in promoting equality in the society.

The Neighbourhood mothers project’s training coordinator, Meg Sakilayan-Latvala, presented how the model was developed in Finland. The project is funded by the European Social Fund, the cities of Vantaa, Espoo and Helsinki as well as the South Karelia social and healthcare district. Neighbourhood mothers is targeted to women who are active or want to be more active in the society, currently unemployed or outside of working life (i.e., due to child care or family reasons). Neighbourhood mothers are active women taking charge and taking responsibility in making the community a better place for everyone. The common denominator between the individual neighbourhood mothers is their desire to help other women in need.

The Neighbourhood mothers model originated in Germany, and was replicated in Denmark. Nicehearts together with other representatives from the City of Vantaa went on a study trip to Denmark in 2014, and through this, the idea of replicating the project to the context of Finland started. The process began with a preliminary research in order to establish the needs and the necessary partnerships within the city. This was followed by a pilot phase in Vantaa, Espoo and Lappeenranta. During the pilot phase, the Danish model was put into practice and was continuously evaluated in order to develop the model within the context of Finland. In the next 2 years (2017-2018), the Finnish model of the Neighbourhood mothers was implemented in Vantaa, Espoo, Helsinki and South Karelia region.

The fundamental goal of the Finnish model is to train active Neighbourhood mothers to become change agents empowering their communities. The Neighbourhood mothers are involved in the project from planning to implementation, giving them the idea, the space and the voice to design, plan and implement the changes that they would want to see in their communities. The idea is that, by providing active women a safe space where they can learn and try to do new things, they will be able to actively pursue their personal and career goals. Empowerment brings changes and most often than not, it also leads to jobs and more sustainable career choices. Apart from this, the sense of community brought about by participating in the project also provides the Neighbourhood mothers a valuable support system and build friendships.

There are currently a total of 63 Neighbourhood mothers in Vantaa, Espoo and Lappeenranta. 60% of the Neighbourhood mothers have found jobs, study places and internships in their own field of expertise.

 Friba Majeed, one of the Neighbourhood mothers in Vantaa, shared with the Arrival Cities conference participants her experience of moving to Finland as a refugee and how the Neighbourhood mothers project and Nicehearts has not only changed her life, but also helped her in integrating into the Finnish society. As a former director of the Ministry of Women in Afghanistan, she is now ready to continue her work in Finland by being a Neighbourhood mother – always ready to help other women and families in need. Friba’s story is a very good and inspiring message on how an action, no matter how small scale it is, changes things. Neighbourhood mothers are change agents empowering communities, one woman at a time.