Hi! Would you like to know what is going on with our community? You are in the right place.
As you might know IWWOF is a vibrant community of Internationally minded women. We want to co-create a more integrated, diverse and inclusive Finnish Society promoting empowering, enriching, and enabling opportunities for all.
This first quarter of 2021 has been eventful, and we are looking forward to all the exciting events and conversations in the future. We have taken some time to plan and to get organized while our community is growing. New IWWOF board was elected in January and you can find more information on our inspiring board HERE (link to http://gtg.zzt.mybluehost.me/team/ ).
Today we have over 5600 members on our Facebook group and we have active chapters in 5 cities: Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Hämeenlinna and Lappeenranta; plus we are excited to tell you Jyväskylä is planning to host their first event this month! Check it here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1083998295419634
Have you hear about our EMPOWER WEDNESDAY? Running weekly until May and open to all, the Empower Wednesday program is designed for international talents in Finland. We partnered up with different organization like City of Turku, Turku Business Region and Humak University to support them in their integration process and to provide key information for helping them find their path to working life in Finland. Learn more here https://careerinsouthwestfinland.fi/empower-wednesday-for-international-talents/
IWWOF RY is already recognized as an important community and our opinion is not only wanted but also listened to. Finnish government is preparing an operational program to develop our immigration policies. The government is presenting their statement to Finnish parliament this spring and the Ministry of Employment and the Economy has asked IWWOF board’s review on the statement before it is presented.
We are honored to have been mentioned in the latest edition of the Talent Boost Cookbook by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (Finland): “Starting up the Turku group helped to gather international talents, employees, students, spouses, job seekers etc. that add to the local talent pool. The new activities also strengthened collaboration among the local projects working with highly educated immigrants (MESH Mentor program by Turku University of Applied Sciences, TEMPO project by Humak University of Applied Sciences, and City of Turku Työpiste).”
Check it here yourself: https://tem.fi/documents/1410877/0/Talent+Boost+Cookbook+Finland_2.0_FINAL.pdf/137bb163-1029-66ce-ce7d-1e81cf764775/Talent+Boost+Cookbook+Finland_2.0_FINAL.pdf?t=1615875183962
And last but not least IWWOF has been included in the Finnish Changemaker Map!
A Changemaker mapping is been processed by Ashoka, the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs and changemakers. The digital map visualises connections between Finnish changemakers and evaluates trends.
The project is a collaboration with Sitra: the Finnish Innovation Fund. Sitra is an independent public foundation which operates directly under the supervision of the Finnish Parliament.
At IWWOF we are proud to be recognized as a Changemaker in the Finnish Society.
We particullary agree with Ashoka’s words:
Instead of only focusing on who the changemakers are, we should find out what kind of support they need for impact. From the Ashoka interviews it becomes clear that the changemakers need:
– stronger networks and focus on inclusion,
to showcase the impact they achieve and inspire others to act, development of more flexible funding models for systems
https://www.ashokanordic.org/finland-changemaker-map
We are very proud of what we have achieved considering that we are ALL volunteers!
So if you have some extra time in your hands and you want to contribute to IWWOF community by offering some voluntary based work on our projects, please get in touch: zahra@iwwof.com.
Ideas/suggestions/wishes are always welcome: share them with us at contact@iwwof.com
And do not forget to let your network know about us!