Oulu for All Project’s Actions

An equality survey will be organized for the city of Oulu personnel with the goal of mapping out diversity. The survey results will be analyzed, and development needs will be identified in cooperation with strategic leadership. Based on this, goals for increasing equality and non-discrimination will be set and a concrete, realistic and scheduled action plan will be compiled. The plan could include, for example, training programmes, anonymous recruitment trials, mentoring programmes, and positive discrimination. 

The actions will be implemented and their effectiveness will be monitored with personnel surveys and interviews. Workshops for different professional groups will be organized where their views and experiences of racism and discrimination are heard. The collected data will be used in planning tailored trainings, and equality and anti-racism trainings will be organized for personnel working in different administrative sectors. The effectiveness of the trainings will be measured with initial and final surveys. 

Dialogue events are organized in two neighborhoods in Oulu. The goal is to create encounters between population groups through facilitation and improve interaction and population relations between the groups. Local interest groups and representatives of neighborhoods will be engaged in the planning and implementation. 

Additionally, discussion events between non-Finnish speakers and the city of Oulu’s office-holders and decision-makers will be organized. The goal of the events is to ensure that the voices of immigrants and non-Finnish speakers is better heard in the decision-making process. A multi-party structure is established in which Oulu region’s influencers are invited to participate in a multisectoral influence network. The network’s goal is to advocate for equality and non-discrimination as well as to promote anti-racism work. Citizens of Oulu from different professions, age groups, political alignments and origins will be invited into the network. 

An anti-racism support centre will be established in Oulu which offers guidance and advice for victims of racism and helps in authoritative processes. The services are implemented with the low-threshold principle and multilingually if needed. The support centre’s operations are evaluated together with the steering group and the service is instilled permanently into the city’s activities. The support centre also produces current information about experiences of racism and discrimination.  

The project’s goal is to introduce views on racism and equality through experiential trainings. Methods previously used in youth services for shaping the thoughts and attitudes of young people will be utilized effectively. A theme / marketing campaign will be implemented which reaches young people in their environments. An experiential training package will be developed which offers young people an illuminating experience of racism and discrimination, highlighting the significance of their prevention in society.  

A knowledge-based anti-racism work model will be developed during the project and adopted as part of the city of Oulu’s equality and non-discrimination work. The project develops the city of Oulu’s diversity and knowledge-based leadership as well as promotes equality and inclusion in the city’s services. The project will result in a knowledge-based and replicable local-level anti-racism operational model.  

The local-level anti-racism work operational model’s development produces a handbook that can serve as a tool for anti-racism work development for other cities. It will include an extensive guide for getting different actions through. The handbook will include suggestions of multisectoral, cross-administrative and communal anti-racism work. The material will be produced in two languages, English and Finnish, to ensure that the results are legible for the widest possible audience. The operational model’s handbook will be published and circulated widely.