minna, Author at Maailmanvaihto ry

New Volunteer Project at FIXtv: Join the Ekenäs Community!

FIXtv

New volunteer project at FIXtv: join the Ekenäs community!

Number of open positions: 1
Volunteer period: 17.2.2025 – 16.2.2026 (12 months)
Location: Ekenäs, Finland
Application deadline: october 28, 2024

FIXtv is looking for a volunteer to support the web-tv channel, created by people with intellectual disabilities together with a mentor. Their goal is to provide positive visibility for people with disabilities in society through engaging programs that can be viewed on our website, fixtv.fi.

The volunteer will assist clients in the daily activities, help organize events, and actively contribute to our film projects. This experience will not only improve your organizational and social skills, but will also allow you to make a significant impact on the lives of people with disabilities by fostering inclusion and community connection.

The ideal volunteer for this project is someone who enjoys working with adults (18-60 years old) with various intellectual disabilities, is socially active, flexible and motivated to engage with clients. It is also important to be open to learning Swedish and tolerate rapidly changing situations. It is of benefit to have experience in filmmaking and be familiar with the editing program Premiere Pro or a similar one. We encourage people who are passionate about creativity and inclusion to apply!

If this project inspires you, you can apply through Maailmanvaihto – ICYE Finland, direct applications to FIXtv will not be accepted. For more information, visit the main article and follow the application guidelines.

New Volunteer Project at Nicehearts: Join the Espoo Community!

Number of open positions: 1
Volunteering period: 14.1.–14.7.2025 (6 months, 2 last weeks being holiday)
Location: Espoo, Finland
Application deadline: 28th October 2024

Nicehearts is looking for a volunteer to contribute to support activities at the Community House (Yhteisötalo) in Espoo, a vibrant and dynamic space where classes, events, and recreational activities are organized for people of all ages.

The volunteer will support the activities of the Espoo Community House, organizing events, activities for children and youth, and offering support to participants. This experience will not only enrich your organizational and social skills, but also give you the opportunity to actively contribute to the social inclusion of people from diverse cultural and social backgrounds.

The ideal volunteer for this project is someone who enjoys working with children and youth, independent, friendly and patient and is important to be open to learning the principles of safe spaces and anti-racism and willing to contribute creativity and initiative. Nicehearts encourages the participation of women and non-binary people.

If this project inspires you, you can apply through Maailmanvaihto – ICYE Finland, direct applications to the voluntary workplace will not be accepted. For more information, visit the main article and follow the application guidelines.

Join Nicehearts and help create a more inclusive community!

Volunteers, Buddies, and other friends of Maailmanvaihto, join the outdoor activity on 21st September!

Welcome all Maailmanvaihto’s friends to our outdoor activity on Saturday 21st of September! 🍂

We will organise the activity simultaneously in Lahti and in Seinäjoki. The plan is to meet at Lahden matkakeskus (in Lahti) and at S-market Jouppi (in Seinäjoki) at 12 pm. It’s good to check the weather beforehand and take enough clothing in case of wind, cold or rain. 🌞

The idea of the activity is to have a relaxing and energizing, around three hour nature walk around Lahden urheilukeskus (in Lahti) and Jouppilanvuori (in Seinäjoki). In addition we get to know each other! You can have snacks with you and Maailmanvaihto will also provide some. ✨

We welcome to the activity all Maailmanvaihto’s volunteers and Buddies as well as other friends of our NGO. Come and bring your friends, too! In the gathering, we will follow Maailmanvaihto’s guidelines for safer spaces.

If you would be interested to join or have further questions on the accessibility of the routes, for example, please contact buddies@maailmanvaihto.fi

Practice languages in Maailmanvaihto’s Language Café in Autumn

Would you like to practice speaking in Spanish or Finnish in a relaxed atmosphere? Would you like to support others in learning these languages by sharing your language knowledge? Join in Maailmanvaihto’s Language Café for young people!

The schedule of the spring season 2024:

12th September 2024 at 17:30–19.30
11th October 2024 at 17:30–19.30
14th November 2024 at 17:30–19.30
12th December 2024 at 17:30–19.30

The meetings will be held at Maailmanvaihto’s office, in the address Oikokatu 3, Helsinki. The office is situated about 10 minutes walk away from the Helsinki central railway station.

The Language Café is open to all interested, and you are welcome to join once or several meetings. We welcome to the Language Café both participants of Maailmanvaihto’s activities and new people. The Language Café is free of charge.

The Language Café is hosted by volunteers Isa and Mikaela. Isa created the Language Café for Maailmanvaihto as a part of their European Solidarity Corps volunteering period in Maailmanvaihto.

Safer space and accessibility

We wish to build in all Maailmanvaihto’s activities an atmosphere in which all participants can feel welcome as themselves. To support this, we will follow at the event Maailmanvaihto’s Safer space principles.

Inside Maailmanvaihto’s office, it is possible to move around with a wheelchair, but the office space is not completely wheelchair accessible: there is an approximately 7 cm doorstep at the entrance, and the toilet is not big enough for a wheelchair. Assistance dogs are welcome. If needed, we will gladly give you further information: tiedottaja@maailmanvaihto.fi.

How to join

Register for the meetings of the Language Café via e-mail: tiedottaja@maailmanvaihto.fi. We hope to receive your registration in order to know how much coffee and tea to make for the participants.

Warm welcome!

Maailmanvaihto Office closed on the Midsummer Eve 21st of June

Maailmanvaihto office will be closed on Friday 21st of June. We wish you all a sunny Midsummer Weekend!

Volunteer with ICYE next year in Ghana, Mexico, or New Zealand, for example – apply soon!

Are you wishing to volunteer abroad next year? Good news, you still have time to apply for the January-February 2025 departure of the International Cultural Youth Exchange program!

There are places available in Ecuador (6 months only), the Philippines, Ghana, Indonesia, Morocco, Mexico, Peru (6 months only), Tanzania, Thailand, New Zealand and the Philippines.

The ICYE program gives you the opportunity to volunteer in the local community, immerse yourself in everyday life abroad, and develop your skills. The aim is a shared learning experience, where your worldview expands and new faces become friends.

ICYE volunteers are hosted by organisations in many sectors. Find volunteering opportunities on the ICYE network’s search engine (icye.org), where you can browse volunteering opportunities by country and work theme, including:

education
environment
health
human rights
office work
socially excluded groups
sport/culture

You will get training for your volunteering experience. There is a participation fee for the program. Besides training, the fee includes accommodation, daily meals, and insurance, for example.

Find out more about the program
Application instructions and the application form

“I volunteer at a camp centre and have done a lot of maintenance and activities for children and young people. The most rewarding part has definitely been watching the children learn new skills and find their inner courage. I would recommend international volunteering to anyone who is interested, as you get a completely different experience of cultures and people.” These greetings Niilo sent us from New Zealand this season. If you would like to experience ICYE volunteering next season, apply now!

We will fill positions as and when we find suitable applicants, and the closing date for applications is 1 September 2024.

Maailmanvaihto – ICYE Finland is a youth exchange organisation founded in 1958. Through Maailmanvaihto, young adults can travel to and from Finland for 6–12 months of international volunteering. Through intercultural learning for a more equal world, is our vision. Our organisation is religiously and politically non-attached.

Join the Pride parade and picnic with Maailmanvaihto on 29 June 2024!

Dear people of Maailmanvaihto and our friends, Pride is here again! Join us to celebrate the culmination of Pride Month and Helsinki Pride Week with the joyful and colorful Pride parade and the park picnic on Saturday 29 June 2024! Together, let’s show our support for the rainbow community by marching proudly for equality, diversity and sexual and gender minority rights.

The themes of the year are peace and hope – two things we also want to promote in Maailmanvaihto’s activities. Through Maailmanvaihto, young people from all over the world interact with new cultures and meet people through international volunteering. We want to encourage global responsibility, peace and the building of a more equal world through intercultural learning.

For us, caring and inclusiveness are important values that help create safer spaces for all. We want our work to be increasingly sensitive to gender and sexual diversity. Come as you are and if you wish, take a friend with you!

What? Helsinki Pride is the largest human rights and cultural event in Finland. June is the official Pride month, culminating in Helsinki Pride week from 24–30 June 2024, with the traditional parade and Kaivopuisto picnic on Saturday 29 June. Read more on the Helsinki Pride Community website: https://pride.fi/en/.

Where and when? The parade starts from the Senate Square. We will meet on the side of the square, in front of the main entrance of the National Library (Unioninkatu 36) at 12. We will join at the end of the parade. Most probably, it will take some time for the parade to get going, so it is advisable to consider the weather conditions!

The parade route: Senate Square > Aleksanterinkatu > Mannerheimintie > Pohjois- Esplanadi > Fabianinkatu > Eteläinen Makasiinikatu > Kasarminkatu > Neitsytpolku > Kaivopuisto Park. The route of the parade is about 2,8 km long. On the website of Helsinki Pride, you can find instructions and accessibility information.

The picnic will take place in Kaivopuisto park, where the parade ends. There we will settle down together after the walk to relax and enjoy snacks together. If you wish, you too can bring a small vegetarian dish or drink to share. We will bring a small blanket, but bringing your own blanket or mat is also recommended.

Please note that Maailmanvaihto cannot cover travel costs to the event for the participants. Stay tuned for more info and see you then!

Join us! Welcome people of Maailmanvaihto and friends of our organization! If you would like to join us, we hope you will let us know in advance at harjoittelija@maailmanvaihto.fi so we know who to expect.

If you cannot find us, you can call or text our office intern Ilona: +358 50 346 0965. Please note, though, that it is expected that many people will join the parade and the picnic in general, due to which the connection and the audibility may be weak.

Join the on-arrival training camp team 22.-28.8.2024

Are you looking for a volunteer activity for the summer? Do you live in Finland? Are you passionate about camp life and cooking for groups? Join the team of the on-arrival training camp!

Maailmanvaihto will organise an on-arrival training camp from 22 to 28 August 2024 for young people coming to Finland from abroad for volunteering. The camp will be held at Metsäpirtti camping centre in Tuusula. We are now looking for enthusiastic kitchen team members to join us. The kitchen team prepares the daily meals for the participants.

At this Maailmanvaihto training camp, you will get to know volunteers from all over the world and see how the camp is built. At the heart of the camp are intercultural learning and conflict resolution. We will also learn about cultures and society in Finland. The camp language is English.

We provide bus transport to the camp from Helsinki. For camp team members arriving from other parts of Finland, we will reimburse the cost of travel by the cheapest public transport. The camp will be organised by Maailmanvaihto’s Programme Coordinator, the office team volunteer and interns, 2–3 volunteer camp instructors, the kitchen team leader, and 4–5 kitchen team members. The tasks of the kitchen team members at the camp are voluntary activities and a certificate will be issued if desired.

We are looking for committed individuals who share the values and mission of Maailmanvaihto. Our values are global responsibility, intercultural learning, and equality. Caring and inclusivity, reliability and responsibility, and transparency are important principles in our work. Read more about the operating principles of Maailmanvaihto

We try to organise a planning and briefing meeting for kitchen team members before the camp. The kitchen leader informs the team members about practical matters. The camp follows Maailmanvaihto’s guidelines for safer spaces.

To become a kitchen team member

We expect kitchen team members to have basic cooking skills, but no specific cooking skills are required. The most important thing is responsibility and motivation to cook for a large group over several days.

How to get involved

Send us a free-form application stating that you are applying to the kitchen team and why you are interested in working in this voluntary position at the camp. We will put together a team as and when suitable participants are found.
Please send your application to Mari Takalo, the organisation’s secretary, at hosting@maailmanvaihto.fi. Mari will be happy to provide more information, e.g. on accessibility, by email and phone: 044 318 0888.

We look forward to hearing from you, join us to create an unforgettable camp experience!

Maailmanvaihto’s Spring Picnic Sun 26 May

Maailmanvaihto’s Spring Picnic! 🌸

Welcome to a picnic brunch, all friends of Maailmanvaihto, on Sunday 26 May.

We will meet at 11.30–13.30 in Helsinki in Kalasatamanpuisto park (near the seafront and the street called Parrulaituri), near the World Village Festival (https://maailmakylassa.fi/en/in-english/).

Maailmanvaihto will provide coffee and tea and small vegetarian snacks, but you are welcome to bring food to share. Picnic blankets and placemats are also welcome. (Unfortunately, in case of heavy rain, the gathering will be cancelled.)

Put it in your diary already and join us for a nice Sunday day at the festival and Helsinki Spring! 🌞

Further information on Kalasatamanpuisto: https://www.myhelsinki.fi/see-and-do/sights/kalasatamanpuisto-park

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. You can reach us at tiedottaja@maailmanvaihto.fi.

Greetings from abroad: Assisting at vocational school and leading football training

What’s up with the volunteers of Maailmanvaihto? Two of them share their greetings. Joya traveled to Finland for European Solidarity Corps volunteering from France and Katariina Väre from Finland to Bolivia for ICYE volunteering.

Joya: From Toulouse to Pälkäne

I wanted to join international volunteering because… Last year, I volunteered and really enjoyed it, so I wanted to do it again. I wasn’t ready to start studying and I hoped to gain more experience of working with people with disabilities. I wanted to learn from the experience and share what I know. Being abroad is a great opportunity to see different ways of teaching and how people live.

I ended up at my voluntary workplace because… I wanted to work with people with special needs and disabilities, and there weren’t many options in Finland. In my previous experience, I was working with adults with disabilities, and this time I wanted to work with a different group like kids or teenagers. That is what I am doing now: volunteering at Aitoo Vocational School which offers education and training for students with disabilities or special needs.

My relationship and cooperation with my mentor is… Great. There is trust and communication.

I think that inspirational cooperation in volunteering builds on… being open-minded. It is difficult for close-minded people to have good relationships with people or experience fully. When you stay in your own world you do not experience much.

Challenges and opportunities of working with children with disabilities: Any teenagers get frustrated easily. At school it is difficult to talk with some students because when they aren’t understood from the first try, when they don’t have the right words, or something doesn’t happen perfectly, they get frustrated. Sometimes I don’t know how to manage the situation and tell them “It is okay. We can take time to work on it.”

These situations teach you empathy and patience. I am not a patient person. It is sometimes hard for me when they do things slowly and I just need to wait and observe without saying anything because it is still good for them to do however they are doing.

I get surprised and happy to see that someone shows me different parts of the world and different points of view. They have different objectives and ways of thinking than me. Even though sometimes life is a bit hard for them, they are always happy, open-minded, and embrace life. I am happy to engage with them.

For those interested in volunteering abroad, I wish to say… That it is an amazing opportunity. Even though your experience isn’t what you had in your mind, you still learn new things the whole time. For example, the last place I volunteered in, I finished early because it wasn’t the right place for me. But I still keep the positive experience and good memories. You meet new people and learn new languages. I really love the idea of going back home and sharing all I learned from this experience with my family and maybe encouraging people in my country to visit Finland and experience such great things.

Interview: Dilbar Aliyeva, photo: Joya Ferrini Gration

The story has been published in MaailmanVaihtoa – Volunteers’ Voices 1/2024.

FIXtv

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Safer space and accessibility

How to join

Read also

Join us in creating the MaailmanVaihtoa – Volunteers’ Voices 2/2026 magazine! Brainstorming meeting Wed 15 April

Maailmanvaihto’s office closed from April 3 to 6

Capital region: Become a host family in April for a young volunteer from France with Maailmanvaihto

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Practice languages in Maailmanvaihto’s Language Café

For young people living in Finland: circular economy, second-hand shop, children’s aid… … apply now to volunteer in Iceland!

For young people living in Finland: Workshops for young people, social media outreach… apply now to volunteer in Italy!

Join Maailmanvaihto at the Helsinki Pride Parade and the Pride Picnic on June 27, 2026!

Read also

Join us in creating the MaailmanVaihtoa – Volunteers’ Voices 2/2026 magazine! Brainstorming meeting Wed 15 April

Maailmanvaihto’s office closed from April 3 to 6

Capital region: Become a host family in April for a young volunteer from France with Maailmanvaihto

Read also

Practice languages in Maailmanvaihto’s Language Café

For young people living in Finland: circular economy, second-hand shop, children’s aid… … apply now to volunteer in Iceland!

For young people living in Finland: Workshops for young people, social media outreach… apply now to volunteer in Italy!

Join Maailmanvaihto at the Helsinki Pride Parade and the Pride Picnic on June 27, 2026!

How to get involved

Read also

Practice languages in Maailmanvaihto’s Language Café

For young people living in Finland: circular economy, second-hand shop, children’s aid… … apply now to volunteer in Iceland!

For young people living in Finland: Workshops for young people, social media outreach… apply now to volunteer in Italy!

Join Maailmanvaihto at the Helsinki Pride Parade and the Pride Picnic on June 27, 2026!

Read also

Practice languages in Maailmanvaihto’s Language Café

For young people living in Finland: circular economy, second-hand shop, children’s aid… … apply now to volunteer in Iceland!

For young people living in Finland: Workshops for young people, social media outreach… apply now to volunteer in Italy!

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Joya: From Toulouse to Pälkäne

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