Finnish Youth Co-Operation - Allianssi

General
History
Activities
Structure
Allianssi member organisations

General

Allianssi

is an umbrella organisation for Finnish youth organisations
is an interest organisation for Finnish youth and organisations
is a service organisation for those, who work with young people on the local or regional level and in youth organisations, and
is a service organisation directly for young people.

Allianssi is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation independent of any political and denominational affiliation. Membership is open to all democratic nation-wide organisations dealing with youth issues.

History

Allianssi was established on the basis of three former national youth organisations; one of them produced various services for the whole youth work field, the other was the service and interest organisation of local youth workers while the third was the umbrella organisation for traditional youth organisations and represented Finland in international cooperation as the National Youth Council.

Due to many overlapping members, activities and interests, it was decided to have only one organisation for youth workers and youth organisations and thus the Finnish Youth Cooperation Allianssi was established in 1993.

Activities

Unlike most European national youth councils, Allianssi carries out a great variety of activities; this is largely because it inherited them from the constituent organisations. Allianssi not only provides a discussion forum for its members and excercises youth policy influence towards authorities, but also provides a wide range of services.

Allianssi

offers educational services to local youth workers and organisations. The educational provision varies from organisational economics through multicultural education to training on street work.
runs a Youth Policy Library. It is the only one of its kind in the Nordic countries. Its collections include research literature and other publications which deal with young people. It is intended for researchers and for anyone interested in young people's affairs. The collection contains some 13 000 publications and 200 volumes of journals and reviews.
maintains Youth Info House -web service. Its mission is to facilitate access to youth studies resources as well as to promote internet skills and networking among youth workers and those interested in the field.
provides information for young people. It produces independent information for local youth information centres and arranges relevant training. Allianssi represents Finnish youth information centres in international contexts and is a member of the European Youth Information and Counselling Agency ERYICA.
publishes a youth research magazine, Nuorisotutkimus (The Finnish Journal of Youth Research), which is the only comprehensive publication of its kind in Finland. It is a contact forum for youth workers, teachers and other people who work with young people. The topics range from topical legislation to trends in youth culture.
manages youth exchanges. Each year over one thousand young people go abroad to work through the Allianssi Youth Exchanges. The programmes offer both stimulating long-term jobs and summer jobs. Possibilities range from au pair work in the USA and 15 European countries to jobs in European hotels, from 2-weeks work camps to voluntary work in developing countries. Moreover, Allianssi participates in the European Voluntary Service programme organised by the EU.
administers the Euro<26 youth card system in Finland. It is a member of the European Youth Card Association EYCA.
publishes different kind of guidebooks on youth work for organisations and municipalities. Allianssi publishes a yearbook with several articles and a directory of all its member organisations. Allianssi also publishes an educational magazine Youth Work (Nuorisotyö), eight times per year. For its member organisations Allianssi provides a newsletter called AllianssiExpress twice a month.
promotes youth policy. Together with the Advisory Council for youth affairs (former State Youth Council), Allianssi arranges shadow elections since 1995 for young people between 15 and 18, who elect their own "youth parliament". In a project designed to alleviate youth unemployment, Allianssi compiled and passed on young people's own ideas for employment. Allianssi has also been involved with the Finnish youth work strategy from the beginning. The strategy is designed to promote youth work and activities, with a special emphasis on young people's living conditions.
administers international youth co-operation in Finland. It is a full member of the European Youth Forum (YFJ). It also co-operates closely with its Nordic counterparts:
AESI - Iceland , DUF - Denmark , LNU - Norway and LSU - Sweden
Allianssi's international policy and activities are co-ordinated by the general assembly and the Board, as well as the international subcommittee, international seminars and study visits for its member organisations and also arranges them itself. Through Allianssi it is possible for the courses and seminars throughout Europe. Allianssi has actively participated in the Council of Europe campaign against racism, antisemitism, xenophobia and intolerance and is a member organisation of the Europeanwide network against rasism UNITED. Presently the main emphasis is in the promotion of multicultural youth work both nationally and internationally.

Structure

Allianssi has almost one hundred member organisations. Nearly all national youth organisations - interest, hobby and political youth organisations - are members in it. In addition, the membership includes other organisations and youth field professionals.

Allianssi holds a general meeting twice a year. The autumn meeting elects a chairman and a Board and approves the budget and action plan for the following year. The spring meeting approves the accounts for the previous year and discharges the outgoing Board from liability. The member organisations have votes according to the number of members.

The Board consists of a chair, a vice-chair and 14 members and their personal deputies. A deputy can take part in the meeting only if the acutal member is absent. In addition, the board includes the Secretary General of Allianssi and operational secretaries when needed.

The Board appoints an executive committee to prepare matters for it and to implement matters assigned by the Board. On application, the Board can set up other committees and subcommittees according to need.

Allianssi has about 20 employees. The office is directed by the Secretary General. The activities fall into five teams: administrative team, international team, youth exchange team, information service team and development team. Each team is headed by a team manager. The board and its chairs work without remuneration.

FINNISH YOUTH CO-OPERATION ALLIANSSI
Olympiastadion, FIN-00250 Helsinki, Finland
tel +358-0- 348 2422
fax +358-0- 491 290
e-mail info@alli.fi