ESC: Volunteering in Orivesi, Finland

Marttinen Youth Center Virrat is one of nine youth centres supported and supervised by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The work of Finnish youth centres is based on the Youth Act and the goals of the national youth work and policy program, which are based on values of internationality, equality and inclusion, and educational activities that encourage these. The service role of youth centres is also determined by the Youth Act. The main year-round task of youth centres is to provide guided / educational adventure, nature, environmental, cultural or camping activities for young people (Section 20 of the Youth Act). The youth work of youth centres also promotes the internationalization and sustainable development of young people. The Marttinen Youth Center is a pioneer in its field as an actor in youth work, and our strategic goal is to continue to play an increasingly strong role as a regional developer of youth work, a youth policy actor, a promoter of internationalization and an enabler of international activities for young people. In this role, our strong expertise in youth work and our extensive network with actors in Pirkanmaa and neighboring regions are emphasized. Marttinen's main activities are: - Organization of pedagogical camp activities (Social youth work / coaching for outreach youth work and workshops, camp schools, penitentiary camps, thematic camps and events, training, youth exchanges, voluntary projects) - Pirkanmaa Municipal Youth Work Coordination (AVI) - Adventure and environmental education projects (NOW !, Adventure and environmental education network) - Projects promoting the inclusion of young people in the region (Youth Voice project) - Coordination of international activities in the region - General development and cooperation in the youth field All activities are often linked to each other in terms of their themes and measures (eg volunteering and environmental education, youth inclusion project and youth exchanges -...) Since 2017, Marttinen has been developing forms of international youth work in its area, aiming to implement and produce international youth work services, identifying needs and increasing field expertise in the field of international work. The goals achieved in previous years have laid the foundation for future regional project co-operation, in which Marttinen's role is to act as an expert and as a co-ordinating and quality-supporting body for projects that benefit the region. Previous measures have been very successful, bringing together key players in the youth field who are interested in cooperating in the field of international work (under Erasmus + and ESC funding), and have strongly supported the development of their skills (including training and parallel project advice) and regional networking. among themselves. Networking is also being developed in an increasingly international direction, with increasing efforts being made to transfer ownership to regional players. Young people have also been the main beneficiaries. The current operational resource has produced the first several pilots and experiments that can be replicated and disseminated through a new project. Activities funded by Erasmus + and ESC bring international added value to our existing pedagogical youth center activities, as well as directly to young people. In addition, Marttinen has coordinated the study visits offered to the field of youth work, training, supported projects born in the region and started regular network meetings of actors interested in international activities, where the needs discussed should also be used as a basis for our project.