Good Practice in Urban Development

TAMPERE, FINLAND BACKGROUND INFORMATION PROJECT TITLE Tampere together (Tampere yhdessä – pienhankkeet ja pienhankekoordinaatio) Beneficiary City of Tampere and voluntary organisations and non-profit associations via grants supplied by the city to run small projects. Duration of project 8/2008–2/2012, 42 months + an extension of 3/2012–12/2013, of 22 months Member State Finland, Western Finland, Tampere Geographic size Population of the City of Tampere: 215 000 Size of the city of Tampere: 690 km² Target area in Tampere (9 districts): 50 000 inhabitants Funding Budget consists of two budgets: (1) budget for the coordination of the mini- projects; and (2) budget for the mini-projects. Budget for coordination €172 700 + extension €87 850 of which - ERDF 40 % - national budget 20 % - regional budget (city of Tampere) 40 % Budget for mini-projects €96 000 (+ extension budget pending) - ERDF 60% - regional budget (city of Tampere) 30% - own share from project implementers 10% Mini-project funding varies between €3 000 and €10 000. Operational ERDF programme for Western Finland Programme CCI 2007 FI 16 2 PO 003 Managing Authority The Council of Tampere Region (Pirkanmaan liitto) The Council of Tampere Region acts as regional development and regional planning authority. Cohesion Policy Regional Competitiveness and Employment Objective: Main reason for Tampere Together is an interesting example how a city can push the Highlighting this case boundaries of community work, to reach disengaged citizens with small ‘hands- on’ mini-projects, low-threshold funding and good coordination and facilitation. Tampere Together is an experimental low-threshold grassroots citizen project, addressing various forms of exclusion and citizen activation. It was able to establish real contact with disengaged citizen groups which are traditionally very difficult to reach and activate: immigrants, disabled people, the long-term unemployed, people with mental problems and substance abuse issues, and those living in deprived areas of the city. It provided voluntary associations with new ideas and service concepts, and the city with a new ‘mini-project’ concept combined with coordination. Key contact person Johanna Kurela Project Manager Puutarhakatu 11, P.O. Box 487 FI-33101 Tampere, Finland Tel: +358 40 800 4625 [email protected] www.tampere.fi Keywords/Tags Grassroots, empowerment, combatting exclusion, citizen activity, Social inclusion, equal opportunities, demographic change

1. PROJECT DESCRIPTION Overall objective / The project as a whole targets suburbs in Tampere where there are more goals problems and challenges than on the average in terms of unemployment, social exclusion, ageing, immigration, low income and low education. The project as a whole aims to combat exclusion and deprivation and increase social cohesion and positive pride in the targeted areas. The project consists of 18 grassroots mini-projects, each addressing different aspects of better social inclusion. With these mini-projects, the aim was to take community work to a more intimate and hands-on level. Description of The city of Tampere has been active for decades in addressing the more activities deprived areas and neighbourhoods of the city, where there are above-average levels of immigrant population, unemployment, aged people, and low income and education. With this project, and with ERDF funding, the city wanted to experiment whether community work could be taken a step further – really to the grassroots level of citizen initiatives and activity, which without special facilitation and coordination seldom or never surfaces into the world of project funding and the knowledge of the city. The mini-projects in Tampere Together are about small-scale, grassroots activities and initiatives of the citizens themselves, encouraged, coached and nurtured by very close coordination, and provided with small ’seed money’-type funding. The project consists of 18 grassroots ‘mini-projects’, run by local associations, parishes and non-profit organisations, together with local citizens, addressing various deprived target groups and suburbs in Tampere, lowering the thresholds of participation in the communities and bringing people together to overcome prejudices and barriers, and to generally activate people in the targeted areas. Facilitation and coordination was an important success factor. The set of mini- projects was supported and facilitated by project coordination (a full-time project manager), by helping making proposals and reporting, with hands-on coaching and facilitating, taking care of ‘project bureaucracies’, and maintaining contact with the ERDF and the city officials. Because the project activities are spread among mini-projects, and they are very different, the only way to describe the activities is to put them in context, and briefly describe some of the most interesting ones. The activities fall under three main types of promoting social engagement and cohesion: (1) activating people with an immigrant background, (2) activating people with various disabilities and diminished capabilities and (3) enhancing social cohesion in neighbourhoods. I Projects addressing people with immigrant backgrounds: Privet – Understanding Russian culture Small Finland sits next to gigantic Russia, and historically the relations between the nations have tensions and traumas. The aim of this mini-project was to diminish prejudices towards, and exclusion of schoolchildren from a Russian background and to raise interest in Russian culture and language. Seen against the historical and current problems and prejudices, diminishing these tensions is highly significant in Finland. This was done by arranging cheerful and colourful cultural performances and interactive events in pre- and elementary schools by a local non-profit Russian Club. The project was run together with schools and day-care centres in three city districts. The project was very well received in the schools and got positive exposure in local and national media, and in international events on Russian culture. There was clear evidence of positive reactions and raised self-esteem among the Russian background children and their families, and of similar positive spillover effects to other immigrant background children. The project was so successful that the Russian Club has taken it on as a permanent method, and the idea is

2 spreading to other parts of Tampere as part of the city’s efforts concerning other cultures. About 240 people in schools saw performances. Somalia tutuksi – Acquaint yourself with Somalia Somalis are the underdogs among immigrants in Finland, so addressing this issue is highly significant. The Somali mini-project was targeted at Hervanta, where a lot of Somalis live. The aim was to diminish prejudices between Somalis and other groups living in Hervanta by distributing knowledge about Somalia and Somali history and culture in interactive events. The events were arranged at the local library and also at a larger Tampere cultural week event, and the cooperation continues. The project turned out to be especially meaningful for the young Somalis themselves, whose ties to their original culture have weakened. The project got a lot of publicity in the local press and other media, and the material was distributed to other immigration organisations in the region, and via social media and the library. Biriani – Exercise project for women This mini-project aimed to integrate immigrant women and girls better into society – where women from a Moslem background are often not reached at all. The project was run by a non-profit organisation. The target group was immigrant women in Hervanta and the most successful activity was water exercise (swimming), which turned out to be an important way through which Muslim women could better integrate into Finnish society. This is for two reasons: Finland is a country of tens of thousands of lakes, and socialising and swimming at the lakeside provides a popular and natural way of meeting people. The other reason is that the project also acquainted the women with the Finnish sauna, which, again, is a very important way to socialise with native Finns. This way of addressing women and girls from these groups was inspirational for Tampere’s services, and is on its way to becoming a regular activity and method. Monikulttuurinen tanssiryhmä Elo – Elo multicultural dance group The aim of this mini-project was to promote multiculturalism, tolerance and integration of immigrants in the suburb of Hervanta by producing a multicultural community dance performance, where immigrants and native people performed together. The project was run by a non-profit organisation. A dance group of about 20 people was assembled, of different ages, and with different ethnic, health, educational, employment – and dance skill – backgrounds. With the assistance of professional coaching, a dance performance was produced, using a community dance approach, emphasising participation. The dance was a ‘narration’ of the experiences of moving into the suburb as a newcomer, and getting to know people. It was performed in a service centre and a shopping mall, and enjoyed a very positive response, which encouraged the city and the voluntary organisations to continue with this kind of an approach. II Projects addressing disabilities: Kohti sujuvaa vuorovaikutusta – Towards fluent interaction with deaf-blind people In Hervanta there is a Deaf-Blind Activation Centre (one of two of the kind in Finland), and that is why there are more deaf-blind people in the area than in the average city. Two mini-projects addressed engagement of and with the deaf-blind. The projects were run by a foundation and association for deaf-blind people. The target groups were deaf-blind people and volunteers in Hervanta, as well as service providers (shops, libraries, health centres and others) in the area – people providing the services were acquainted with how to communicate with deaf-blind people. The aim was to lower the various thresholds for deaf-blind people in participat- ing in the community and to recruit more voluntary helpers. Twenty-four volunteers were trained and a special information package was compiled, and the possibility of the deaf-blind people to move about the community and meet new

people increased. The service centre opened up to new networks in the area, as it never had before. Valon etsijät – Searchers of light People suffering from mental problems, like depression, which is an increasing problem in society, typically get disengaged and are difficult to reach and activate. A foundation specialised in open care in mental health, with its local association providing open care services for people with psychological problems, ran a mini-project addressing this important challenge. The activity was a poem and music performance tour performed by the recuperating mental patients themselves, with professional help. The patients had been writing poems, and with ERDF Tampere Together funding, and the encouragement of the coordinator, plus professional help, this poem-writing activity transformed into a new service concept, where the association and the patients ‘went into the outside world’ in a way never done before. It developed into an empowering poem performance experience for both the patients and the association itself, and sparked a continuation of the concept. Papparyhmä ponnistus – Aged men exercising Men in general are often a challenging target group for activation, especially the deprived or unemployed, so a ‘gender specific’ project addressing men was a novelty, and the success that followed pointed to a considerable untapped need and possibility. The target group was 55+ unemployed men, and the aim was to activate them into a healthy way of life and exercise, and increase their involvement in the community. A local association ran the project. It started with 14 people in a pilot group. Various activities including exercises, lectures, discus- sions and helping elderly people to move around the area were arranged. The project took off surprisingly well, the men formed a friendship group, and the project had a snowball effect: more and more men participated and new activities were found, and the association found it had a new service concept, which has continued to develop. III Community cohesion building: Tesoman kiertävät tarinat – Stories of Tesoma by a circulating community theatre Tesoma is one of the suburbs with a bad reputation because of a history of problems. The ‘Stories of Tesoma’ mini-project was targeted at this part of Tampere, especially at its young people. The aim was to increase social cohesion and the feeling of togetherness and seeing one’s neighbourhood in a new way. The project was run together with housing committees, pupils from schools, youth centres, voluntary organisations and a professional theatre group specialised in community oriented theatre, doing an experiment with this kind of theatre. The core group went into the gardens of Tesoma, where residents were invited to talk about their everyday life and tell stories about Tesoma in written, picture and music form. A circulating theatre performance, performed by the people themselves, as a story around a Tesoma family from 1960 to 2010, was assembled from these stories, with professional help, and performed several times in gardens and at events of Tesoma. The result was both increased cohesion in Tesoma, and the development of the community theatre concept. Nekalan yhteisöpuutarha – Nekala community garden The local parish in Nekala, where there are immigrants, unemployed and pensioned people under the threat of exclusion, wanted to run a community cohesion and refurbishment project. The parish had a community house and a piece of land in the middle of the housing area, and by chance and effort pieces of a new community work concept fell together by combining environmental work with community work. The local parish, together with an association for the unemployed, a residents association and an agricultural college, organised a mini-project which arranged small-scale ‘city gardening’ on parish land in the suburb. ‘Mini-gardens’ in wooden boxes on legs one metre square were set up

to grow useful plants, and professional coaching involving local agricultural students was arranged to train local people to grow plants and use them. The project was targeted especially at the unemployed, pensioned, young people and immigrants. The aim was to promote social cohesion, provide useful knowledge and refurbish the area. This concept brought people of different ages, unemployed and employed alike, pensioners, young people, school children, families and immigrants naturally together. It proved to be a huge success, and provided a new and expanding service concept for the parish. Refurbishing neighbourhoods for better cohesion Several mini-projects addressed the refurbishment of different neighbourhoods in order to promote cohesion. One of them addressed the divide between people with mental problems and other ‘normal’ people in the area, a second had the schoolchildren making photos, models and drawings about how to make the environment more attractive, and a third refurbished playing grounds so that whole families could use them. People with mental and substance abuse problems, and ex-convicts returning to normal life, are housed in dormitories, halfway houses and day centres. In this suburb there are several residential and activation centres for deprived people, such as short-stay homes for ex-prisoners returning to normal life, people recuperating from substance abuse and mental problems. These centres, and their residents, are quite often resented, even feared, by the rest of the people living in the area. Overcoming these barriers is often difficult. The project was targeted towards Viinikka-Nekala residents, especially the socially excluded, and their ‘normal’ neighbours to increase social cohesion. The aim was to bring the better off and more deprived together by arranging an open, intoxicant-free and free series of garden party events with performers and artists from the area, together with circus and theatre performers. A similar aim and target group figured in another mini-project, where the gardens of a former mansion, now a safe haven for people facing mental problems and homelessness, run by an association, were renovated by the residents themselves and people from the neighbourhoods, who were invited to restore the mansion to its former glory, so that it could function as a meeting place for all the people of the area. Recipients Recipients were citizens in the more deprived Tampere neighbourhoods, including special attention given to Somalis, members of the Russian minority, and other immigrants, unemployed, aged, disabled and socially excluded people via mini-projects run by local non-profit organisations. Mainstreaming of The projects addressed gender issues and non-discrimination in many ways, by gender equality and paying special attention in some projects especially to women, and in others to non-discrimination men, and promoting social cohesion and participation in all projects. One project addressed immigrant women and girls, another unemployed men, one aged people, one severe disabilities (deaf-blindness), and some projects mental problems and social exclusion, where the share of men was high. Intended outputs and The project was aiming for both results for the end-users, the citizens, in terms results of quality of life, but also at results on a ‘meta-level’, in terms of testing a concept of ‘mini projects’ with close coordination. The project as a whole had the goal of raising the quality of life and engagement of citizens in some of the more deprived areas of Tampere by combatting exclusion and deprivation and increasing social cohesion and positive pride and social cohesion in the targeted areas. As a result local associations and citizens were empowered and better engaged, and found several sustainable new activities, contacts and service concepts. 2. POLITICAL AND STRATEGIC CONTEXT Tampere, the second largest city in Finland, is the most industrialised city of the nation, nicknamed the ‘Manchester’ of Finland, with more than the average share of both the good and bad sides of strong industrial development. This has

resulted in persistent long-term unemployment, and other forms of deprivation, low income and education, which are concentrated in some parts of the town. The city of Tampere has a city strategy, ‘Tampere Flows’ (Tampere virtaa), where promoting the well-being of its citizens, social cohesion, multiculturalism and combatting social exclusion are clearly spelled out, as they are in the strategies of the various departments. The ‘pockets’ of deprivation have been addressed by the city over several decades, especially in one of the suburbs, Hervanta, with quite good results. Under the umbrella of Tampere Flows, and the strategies of the different service departments derived from it, the city wanted to see if citizen engagement could be taken even further in challenging target groups and more deprived areas of the city. The city had earlier experience from the 1980s onward particularly from projects concerning Hervanta, a suburb with social problems like higher rates of unemployment and immigration, and lower rates of income and education. This time, true to the city strategy goals, Tampere wanted to see if citizen engagement could be taken yet another step forward by really ‘hands-on’ and citizen-oriented, low-threshold mini-projects. This was the beginning of Tampere Together, where the department of Tampere city responsible for EU affairs made a proposal to use ERDF funds to launch such a low-threshold experiment, executed by third sector actors, and based on citizen initiatives coming from the more deprived areas of Tampere. This initiative suited the managing authority of the OP on the regional level, the Regional Council of Pirkanmaa, which in its own strategy emphasised third- sector effort. This time the city wanted to try something somewhat different: could the threshold of citizen engagement be lowered even further than in the earlier experiences in Hervanta? This was facilitated in particular by putting in place a permanent coordinator, who acted as a go-between on the one hand between the citizen and association initiatives, and on the other between the mini- projects and the city and ERDF project management, The planning context The project was planned under the umbrella of the city strategy, the department responsible for EU affairs grabbing the opportunity to launch an experimental low-threshold third sector project. The task of further planning and execution was given to Cultural and Quality of Life Services, one of the departments of the city of Tampere, which then acted as the host of the Tampere Together project. It recruited the coordinator, who started to scout for proposals, offered help in making them, and later helped in the execution, contacts and reporting of the projects. 3. IMPLEMENTATION 3.1. PROJECT The idea of the Tampere Together mini-projects as an experiment came from DESIGN AND the Cultural and Quality of Life Services of Tampere, as a continuation of the PLANNING experiences in the suburb of Hervanta, and as an the implementation of the city strategy of promoting social cohesion in the city. Each mini-project, in turn, had its own initiators and roots from very different origins, partly described in the description of activities in section 1 above. In the first phase, in planning the project, the social profiles of the different parts of the city, based on key statistics on employment, age, income, immigration, education, and other information, were used by Tampere city officials to identify five target suburbs, where new steps to promote social cohesion would be pertinent. Then in the project application and approval phase, each mini-project was assessed by the steering committee against the purpose of the project. The managing authority assessed the overall project proposal, and the batches of mini-projects, against the project criteria of the ERDF. This was considered by the city of Tampere as an experiment in whether community work could be taken a step further by mini-projects and close

coordination, so it was understood that a relatively high risk of failure might be present. This was dealt by the close coordination and monitoring of the project manager and the reporting to the steering committee. Throughout the process, the mini-projects were encouraged and helped to engage with the local and national media, to publicise their activities and results, and often achieved quite remarkable success in this. Also, the associations, which had connections to other parts of the city and to their national organisations, were encouraged to spread their experiences and new service concepts. Some of the mini-projects would have been launched even without ERDF funding, but the overall value added by ERDF was the hands-on coordination and flexible methodology of small seed-money-type funding, which together lowered the threshold for association and citizen activities. The project is funded only by the ERDF, not by the ESF. 3.2. MANAGEMENT, The project ‘hub’ in the city of Tampere is the Department of Cultural and MONITORING AND Quality of Life Services. The project has a steering committee of nine people, EVALUATION representing the Departments of Cultural and Quality of Life Services (chair), SYSTEM Health and Youth Work, Employment, Local Democracy, the Library and Tampere Parishes

The project consists of 18 grassroots mini-projects, run by non-profit local associations. It is managed and facilitated by a project coordinator (a full-time manager located in Cultural Services), acting as an active go-between, helping make proposals and reports, taking care of ‘project bureaucracies’, maintaining contact with the ERDF and the city officials, and reporting to the steering committee. The steering committee of nine people has met 16 times, two hours at a time. The project manager (coordinator) has been in post for 43 months by 30.3.2012 In the mini-projects 21 people-months have been worked. The coordinator monitors and supports the work of the mini-projects regularly, and reports to the steering committee by giving a qualitative report based on observations, interviews, participation rates in events, attention in media, etc. External evaluation has not been arranged so far. 3.3 GOVERNANCE: The project is a partnership between the city of Tampere and each association PARTNERSHIP, running the mini-projects. Mini-projects received between €3 000 and €10 000, PARTICIPATION AND with 10% real own funding. The associations had first to provide the entire EMPOWERMENT funding, and they were then reimbursed. The city manages the ERDF funds via its Department of Cultural and Quality of Life Services and the non-profit organisations apply for these funds and then, when approved, run the project. The city provides coordination via the Tampere Together project coordinator, residing in Cultural and Quality of Life Services. The interest for the city derives from its strategy and need to combat social exclusion. For the non-profit organisations the interest derives from promoting the well-being of the particular citizen groups and purposes they are associated with, and the possibility to develop their activities and service concepts further through citizen engagement. The citizens were strongly involved in the low-threshold mini-projects in various ways as initiators, planners and actors. The project is a conscious part of the city strategy, and management and political support is channelled via the large steering committee representing different departments of Tampere city. Overall strategic leadership is provided by the steering committee and practical

leadership by the chairman of the committee (the manager of Cultural and Quality of Life Services) working in close co-operation with the project coordinator, who provides the essential hands-on leadership to the project in cooperation with the leaders of the mini-projects. This steering structure has performed well. 4. INNOVATIVE ELEMENTS AND NOVEL APPROACHES 4.1 INNOVATION New approaches come from most of the mini-projects. A thread running through all the approaches is a combination of real citizen involvement facilitated by professional input and expertise. In the most innovative cases the associations 4.2. KEY were able to establish new contacts in their respective areas to other IMPLEMENTATION associations, services and citizens, and to develop new kinds of service CHALLENGES AND concept, which meant opening up to the community in ways not done before. PROBLEM-SOLVING PRACTICES Tampere has addressed citizen engagement, deprived neighbourhoods and social inclusion before, together with voluntary organisations, non-profit associations and citizens themselves, often with considerable success. In this

sense Tampere Together is not something completely new. But the ability to go a step further, into a more intimate, hands-on, creative and devoted way of working, is the achievement of Tampere Together. Here continual, devoted hands-on facilitation, encouragement and coordination turned out to be one of the key factors, together with the existing devotion of the various associations to working with their respective target groups. Without this

kind of ‘go-between’ facilitation, help and encouragement, and also special professional input, the small initiatives, either from the associations or the citizens themselves, would run the risk of never surfacing or of dying out. Promoting the integration of all people in society, in particular those on the margins, is a fundamental goal of the Europe 2020 strategy. The benefits of the European Union should reach all parts of the society. Ethnic minorities are often subject to discrimination. Employment is a key factor in promoting social 4.3 Thematic focus inclusion, but disadvantaged individuals often need more comprehensive support strategies, which include personalised support. Mini-projects reflect the local dimension of the European Employment Strategy and foster the social capital of a territory. The mini-projects in Tampere Together (as well as the overall strategy – Tampere Flows – behind these mini-projects) enable the direct participation of disadvantaged groups and individuals (and partly groups threatened by discrimination and social exclusion, like Somalis or the Russian minority) in deprived neighbourhoods of a big Finnish city. With a small amount of money, hard-to-reach people have been supported in taking up action for their own purposes. The mini-projects empower people, and foster social inclusion and social cohesion in a very personalised and bottom-up way. Thus they support integration, improve access to work and contribute to an inclusive society accessible to all and in particular to various marginalised groups and individuals. 5. FUNDING The budget consists of two parts: (1) the budget for the coordination of the mini- projects; and (2) the budget for the mini-projects themselves. Budget for coordination: €172 700 + extension €87 850, of which: - ERDF 40% - national 20% - regional (city of Tampere) 40% Budget for mini-projects: €96 000 (+ extension budget pending), of which: - ERDF 60% - regional (city of Tampere) 30% - own share from project implementers 10% Mini-projects received between €3 000 and €10 000, with a 10% share of real

own funding. The associations had first to provide the entire funding, and they were then reimbursed. 6. PROJECT ASSESSMENT 6.1. FINANCIAL Many aspects of the work of the project are being continued in the work of the SUSTAINABILITY associations, and the city of Tampere is considering making this kind of coordination and flexible, low-threshold funding a permanent institution. The project has been extended 3/2012–12/2013, for 22 months. 6.2. The projects in Hervanta, a suburb with many challenges concerning TRANSFERABILITY immigration and deprivation, were indirectly a predecessor of Tampere Together. The project is not a direct continuation of an ERDF or ESF project as such. Each sub-project has its own distinctive background in the work of the associations. Many elements, ideas and practices have already been transferred from the different mini-projects, and continue to be so, spreading to other parts of Tampere, and in some instances, to the national level via nationally operating organisations. The cultural tour of the Russian club in schools has acted as a model for other immigrant groups, and for cultural approaches in schools and beyond. The same holds for the Somali project, the work with deaf-blind and with the aged men – all providing inspiring examples to be disseminated. The poem performance by people suffering from psychic problems was a positive surprise for both the people themselves, and the service providers in the association, and was taken up as a new service concept. The same holds for the small city gardens of the parish, which formed a new community work concept combining environmental and social work, which is now spreading to other parishes. The various events and cultural happenings arranged in the suburbs, such as the theatre performances, have provided a source of inspiration and empowerment for both the organisations and the citizens themselves. 6.3 ISSUES AND No major conflicts or barriers have been encountered. Some mini-projects were PROBLEMS never launched, because the people responsible moved to other jobs. Also the ERDF practice of post-funding was an obstacle or caused difficulties for some of the actors. First the associations had to cover the costs themselves, and then they were reimbursed afterwards, minus their 10% own share. For voluntary organisations, with scarce funding, this can cause problems. Although no major problems have occurred, it is on the other hand evident that intimate small-scale projects like Tampere Together are fragile beings, ‘shy creatures’, and rely for the existence on the ‘hearts and minds’ of devoted people, whether in the coordination, the executing associations, or the citizens themselves. This was of course the core of the whole experiment – whether something like this is possible with mini-projects. But it is a big challenge to ‘showcase’ the kind of work done in Tampere Together. The good practices are ‘embedded’ in the stories and intimate happenings with people, and unless those stories are told, decision -makers will not be able to understand what the results have been.

6.4 PROJECT Tampere Together is an experiment about how a city can achieve good results OUTPUTS & with disengaged citizens, through small ‘hands-on’ projects, low-threshold RESULTS funding and good coordination and facilitation. At best the project was a surprising success both to the citizens and the service providers themselves, opening up new avenues, contacts and a service concepts, for instance working with mental patients, providing cultural experiences in schools, and assembling people in new ways around community gardening. In all, the mini-projects enriched the ways of involving citizens in positive activities. As a whole the project was able to establish real contact with disengaged citizen groups, which are traditionally very difficult to reach and activate: immigrants, disabled people, the long-term unemployed, people with mental problems, substance abusers and those living in deprived areas of the city. The project was successful on many counts: exclusion was diminished, voluntary organisations were empowered and prejudices and fears in the local communities were lessened. Examples of results: Towards fluent interaction with deaf-blind people was enabled to recruit new volunteers, acquaint services in the community with deaf- blindness, make it possible for the deaf-blind to make new contacts, and open up the work of the deaf-blind association in a new way to the community. The Searchers of Light were able to make a major breakthrough with mental patients, making new contacts in the outside world and transforming the service concept of the association. Aged Men Exercising was able to launch a permanent and expanding group of aged men into new, healthy and socially oriented activities. Stories of Tesoma by a circulating community theatre was able to both develop further the new method of community theatre and to activate people and increase social cohesion. Nekala community garden (Nekalan yhteisöpuutarha) was able to generate surprising enthusiasm for small-scale city-gardening, and thus empower people and bring them together in a new, sustainable way. Many other mini-projects succeeded in lowering the barriers between deprived people and others in the area. 7. CONCLUSIONS: KEY SUCCESS FACTORS AND LESSONS LEARNED (1) Continuity of community work in Tampere. Tampere Together could build on the experiences of earlier work in the neighbourhoods. (2) Strategic embeddedness. Tampere Together was run under the umbrella of the city strategy, Tampere Flows, which emphasises community work and cohesion. (3) Hands-on and devoted coordination and facilitation. The Tampere Together project could not have succeeded without a kind of ‘go-between’, continual coaching, encouragement and facilitation by the project manager. (4) Broad coalition and cooperation within the city. A broad coalition of various departments of the city was represented in the steering committee, which was not only a rubber stamp, but a real steering body. (5) ‘Hearts and minds’ devotion to the mini-projects by both citizen activists and people from non-profit associations. 8. FURTHER INFORMATION

Bibliography City of Tampere: http://www.tampere.fi/english/index.html Tampere city strategy (Tampere Virtaa – Tampere Flows): http://www.tampere.fi/hallintojatalous/kaupunkistrategia/strategianuudistaminen. html Tampere Together (in Finnish): http://www.tampere.fi/kulttuurijamuseot/kulttuuripalvelut/kaupunginosa/tamperey hdessa.html Finnish Deaf blind Association: http://www.kuurosokeat.fi/en/

Pirkanmaan Sininauhaliitto (Pirkanmaa Blue Ribbon Association, a Christian charity organisation for rehabilitation from substance abuse): http://www.pirkanmaansininauha.fi/uusi/index.php/fin Sopimusvuori, Association for Mental Rehabilitation: http://www.sopimusvuori.fi/

Contact Johanna Kurela Project manager Puutarhakatu 11, P.O. Box 487 FI-33101 Tampere, Finland phone +358 40 800 4625 [email protected] www.tampere.fi Name of expert Robert Arnkil

AEIDL has been contracted by the European Commission in 2012 in order to provide 50 examples of good practice in urban development supported by the European Regional Development Fund during the 2007-2013 programming period (contract reference 2011.CE.16.0.AT.035). The views expressed by AEIDL remain informal and should not under any circumstance be regarded as the official position of the European Commission.

Tampere, Finland

Tampere Together: flowing in the right direction Tampere together is an interesting example how a city can push the boundaries of community work, to reach disengaged citizens with small ‘hands-on’ mini-projects, low-threshold funding and good coordination and facilitation. The project was able to establish real contact with people who are traditionally very difficult to reach and activate: immigrants, disabled people, the long-term unemployed, people with mental problems, substance abusers and those living in deprived areas of the city.

Tampere Together: flowing in the right direction The city of Tampere in southern Finland has been active for decades in addressing its more deprived areas and neighbourhoods, where there are more than the average number of immigrants, unemployed people, aged people, and people with a low income and education. With this project, and with ERDF funding, Tampere wanted to find out whether community work could be taken a step further – really to the grass-roots level of citizen initiatives and activities, which without special facilitation and coordination seldom come to the surface where they can come to the city’s notice and gain project funding. The mini-projects in Tampere Together are about small-scale, grass-roots activities and initiatives of the citizens themselves, encouraged, coached and nurtured by very close coordination, and provided with small ‘seed money’ type funding. The mini-projects were run by local associations, parishes and non-profit organisations, together with local citizens, addressing various deprived target groups and suburbs in Tampere, lowering the thresholds of participation in the communities and bringing people together to overcome prejudices and barriers, and to generally activate people in the targeted areas. ‘It was unbelievable – we went out to the community like never before. We would never have done this without this project,’ said a long-term worker from the open care foundation, ‘and we were encouraged to continue like this.’

Tampere Together – flowing in the right direction The city of Tampere wants to be a pioneer in citizen services in Finland, and to push the boundaries of citizen engagement in deprived neighbourhoods and with challenging citizen groups. With Tampere Together, a bottom-up citizen engagement project funded by the European Regional Development Fund, it scored a hit. It succeeded with immigrants (especially women), with long- term unemployed men, with people with mental problems and handicaps like deaf-blindness, and with ex-convicts trying to find their way back into society. If you can get good results with these people, something is flowing in the right direction. But what was the secret? Let’s take a short trip back in time to understand the context. Tampere was destined to become the second largest, and the most industrialised, city of Finland, thanks to the power of water. In 1820 an industrious Scottish engineer-entrepreneur named James Finlayson built a cotton mill powered by the Tammerkoski rapids, and in his wake came other en- trepreneurs. By the beginning of the 20th century, Tampere was the industrial centre of Finland, and by 1950 the rapids had spawned the biggest industrial complex in the Nordic countries. With the growth of industries came both wealth and problems, still to be felt today. The city grew rapidly, and was over the decades exposed to domestic and international economic cycles, often resulting in high rates of unemployment and other social problems. Even today, although a flourishing city in many ways, Tampere suffers from higher unemployment, lower incomes, and lower educational attainment, especially among immigrants, than other big cities in Finland. The problems tend to be concentrated in certain parts and suburbs of the city, where an above-average share of the population suffer from various societal problems. New strategy – Tampere Flows The city’s strategy for 2009–2020, called Tampere Flows alluding to its birth by the rapids, sets out the intention to become both a cutting-edge know-how city and a pioneer of customer-oriented services in Finland. Figure 1. The Finlayson mills and power station at Tammerkoski The city has had decades of experience in addressing the challenges of industrialisation, and has devised both city strategies and broad regional collaborations to promote employment and social inclusion. One of its trouble-spots was the suburb of Hervanta, a ‘concrete desert’ built rapidly in the 1970s, with a concentration of social problems, and initially a bad reputation. Tampere has carried out several bottom-up community programmes in Hervanta over the decades, with considerable success, and building on this experience the city has continued to push the boundaries of citizen engagement. Under the umbrella of Tampere Flows, the city wanted to see if citizen engagement could be taken a step further by Tampere Together, an experimental European Regional Development Fund project. But what could be done to reach the citizens, especially those in the more deprived areas, who often faced multiple problems in finding their way and place in society? After all, they are often labelled as ‘hard to reach’. Only the more active tend to participate in ‘activation’, and it is people without problems who turn up at community events and voluntary activities. In addition, funding for citizen and community initiatives tends to be ‘hard to reach’ too – even for voluntary organisations and associations, and often only experienced professionals are able to wade through the red tape of making proposals, not to mention running and reporting on projects. It is precisely here that Tampere Together was able to make a difference.

New citizen engagement with the Tampere Together project

I am fumbling in the dark no more I am enlightened By the approving glances

– a poem written by a recovering mental patient in Searchers of the Light, one of the Tampere Together mini-projects Tampere Together is a partnership between the city of Tampere and voluntary and non-profit associations to run mini-projects in the more deprived areas of Tampere. The areas were chosen because they showed higher than average unemployment, low income, an immigrant population and a history of social problems. The activities promote social engagement and cohesion under three headings: activating people with an immigrant background; activating people with various disabilities and diminished capabilities; and enhancing social cohesion in neighbourhoods. Voluntary organisations had of course been engaging with citizens before, and the city has had area-based community work running on a permanent basis for a long time, and has funded third sector projects addressing social deprivation and other problems before. But even experienced people in voluntary and non-profit organisations were surprised at what happened when Tampere Together came along. ‘We would never have dared to come out into the community like this, without Tampere Together,’ was an expression often used. In Tampere Together small changes made a big difference. In order to find and facilitate small, but meaningful, initiatives coming from individual citizens, organisations or neighbourhoods, a full-time hands-on coordinator was employed. From a total EU-funded budget of €260 000, small grants – from €3 000 to €10 000 – were announced for citizen initiatives. The coordinator made all possible efforts to facilitate the emergence of these initiatives. This meant really walking the talk, engaging with the associations in the neighbourhoods, encouraging and elaborating the initiatives, helping to draw up proposals, keeping a watchful eye for support for further stages, and helping to prepare reports and publications. All this was done with devotion, humour and zest. ‘They are like my children,’ said the coordinator smiling, ‘and I like to see them grow up.’ This hands-on facilitation proved to be one of the vital success factors. Another success factor was finding dedicated people from the voluntary and non-profit organisations, and the neighbourhoods, and hooking them up with professionals like theatre people, gardeners, teachers and health-care workers. Being embedded in a city strategy, Tampere Flows, and the political will and cross- departmental cooperation of the city services and management, was another pair of success factors. Down-to-earth and bottom-up mini-projects like Tampere Together cannot boast spectacular and easily visible results. Things happen on a small scale, but can make a big difference for the people, and can transform the activities, attitudes and service concepts of public, private and third sector services alike. Let us look at some examples. Getting Finns to like Russians Historically the relations between Finland and Russia have not been without their tensions and traumas. The aim of the mini-project Privet (‘hello’ in Russian) was to diminish prejudices towards, and exclusion of, schoolchildren from a Russian background and to raise interest in the Russian culture and language. The method was that a local non-profit Russian club put on cheerful and colourful cultural performances and interactive events in nurseries and primary schools. The project was run together with schools and day-care centres in three city districts. ‘The Russian- background children started to shine,’ said the teachers, ‘and this raised positive interest in other cultures, too.’ ‘How does a dog bark in your language?’ the small schoolchildren of different backgrounds would ask each other. The project was so successful that the Russian Club has taken it on as a permanent method, and the idea is spreading to other parts of Tampere concerning other cultures.

From underdogs to pride in one’s roots Somalis are the underdogs among immigrants in Finland. The Somali mini-project was targeted at Hervanta, where a lot of Somalis live. During the project, the Somalis distributed knowledge about Somalia and Somali history and culture at interactive events. The project turned out to be especially meaningful for the young Somalis themselves, with weakened ties to their original culture. It got a lot of publicity in the local press and other media, and the material was distributed to other immigration organisations in the region, via social media and through the library. Becoming a citizen of the country of a hundred thousand lakes Try to be a full member of Finnish society without a sauna – impossible! And with the sauna come the thousands of lakes and swimming. This is where the Briani mini-project, which involved exercise for women, including teaching women to swim and use a sauna, made a difference – and a huge difference, especially to women with a Moslem background. This new way of engaging with women has now become a permanent part of Tampere’s services. Would you believe it – older long-term unemployed men exercising? So women could be reached in new ways, but how about men? Men in general are often a challenging target group for activation, especially the deprived or unemployed, so getting older (55+) unemployed men together to exercise – and to form new sustainable friendships – was a novelty. Not only did the original 20 men continue getting together after the project ended, but also new, and even older men wanted to join, and the men started to take elderly people for outings in the area. So from a hands-on start with community organisation help, the activity snowballed to a sus- tained activity. Putting your neighbourhood on the map Tesoma is one of the suburbs of Tampere that has a bad reputation because of a history of problems. The Stories of Tesoma mini-project was especially for young people and it aimed to help them see their neighbourhood in a new way – and even become proud of it. The project was run together with housing committees, pupils from schools, youth centres, voluntary organisations and a professional theatre group specialising in community-oriented theatre. The core group went to Tesoma, and invited people to talk about their everyday life and tell stories about Tesoma – whether in words, pictures or song. A circulating theatre performance, performed by the people themselves, as a story around a Tesoma family from 1960 to 2010, was assembled from these stories, with professional help, and performed several times in yards and at events in Tesoma. Pride in Tesoma increased, and the Community Theatre got something to tell their theatre col- leagues. The deaf and blind are among us Have you ever met a person who is both deaf and blind? How would you communicate with him or her? In the suburb of Hervanta there is a deaf-blind Activation Centre (one of two of the kind in Finland), and that is why there are more deaf-blind people in the area than on average in the city. But the deaf-blind people hardly move about the community, and people do not know how to communicate with them. This is where the Interaction mini-project made a difference by acquaint- ing people in various services – hairdressers, libraries, health-centres and others – with how to communicate with the deaf-blind people. ‘This opened up our work, and especially the world of the deaf-blind, in a new way to the community,’ said a representative of the Activation Centre. ‘We made coaching videos and material that is now available all over Finland.’

I am enlightened by approving glances This was the expression of a participant in her poem in Searchers of Light, a mini-project run by a foundation specialising in ‘open care’ (care in the community) for patients recuperating from mental illnesses. Depression is the plague of modern societies, and light is difficult to find at the end of the tunnel. But in Searchers of Light something unforeseen happened. The activity was a poem and a music performance tour performed by the recuperating mental patients themselves. The patients had been writing poems as part of their open care, and with Tampere Together funding, and the encouragement of the coordinator, plus professional help, this poem-writing activity was transformed into a new service concept, where the open care association and the patients went out to community events to perform. ‘It was unbelievable – we went out into the community like never before. We would never have done this without this project,’ said a long-term worker from the open care foundation, ‘and we were encouraged to continue like this.’ Getting something green to grow The parish in Nekala, where there are immigrants, unemployed people and pensioners under the threat of exclusion, wanted to do something good in the community and refurbish the area. It had unused land and a meeting place right in the middle of the residential area. The idea that emerged combined community work and gardening. The parish, together with an association for unemployed people, the residents’ association and a nearby agricultural college, organised a mini-project to create small ‘city gardens’ on some parish property. One-square-metre ‘mini- gardens’ were set up in wooden boxes on legs, and local people were coached by local agricultural students in how to grow and use useful plants. The people loved it. The concept brought people of different ages, unemployed and employed alike, pensioners, young people, schoolchildren, families and immigrants naturally together throughout the year: planning in the winter, planting in the spring, weeding in the summer and having a harvest party in the autumn. 'The height of this success for me,' said the parish project leader, 'was when a fragile old lady emerged from the houses, delighted by the mini-gardens, and joining the process. She used to be a professional gardener.’ The flow continues The benefits of the European Union should reach all parts of society, and Tampere Together, in its own unassuming but meaningful way, is an example of this. Ethnic minorities are often subject to discrimination. Employment is a key factor of social inclusion, but disadvantaged individuals often need more comprehensive support strategies, which include personalised support. Mini-projects like Tampere Together reflect the local dimension of the European Employment Strategy and foster the social capital of a territory. The mini-projects in Tampere Together, as well as the overall Tampere Flows strategy behind them, enabled the direct participation of disadvantaged groups and individuals in new ways in deprived neighbourhoods of a big industrialised Finnish city. With a small amount of money, hard-to- reach people have been supported in taking up action for their own purposes, and the voluntary and non-profit organisations, together with city services, were encouraged to take even further steps in fostering citizen participation.

AEIDL has been contracted by the European Commission in 2012 in order to provide 50 examples of good practice in urban development supported by the European Regional Development Fund during the 2007-2013 programming period (contract reference 2011.CE.16.0.AT.035). The views expressed by AEIDL remain informal and should not under any circumstance be regarded as the official position of the European Commission.