A lot of work is being done under the strategic theme of ‘Vantaa is international’ to promote integration and equality in Finland’s most international city. International cooperation happens through different networks and projects. Kansainvälistä yhteistyötä tehdään erilaisissa verkostoissa ja hankkeiden kautta. The city also wants to be an international and equal-opportunity employer. City communications are multilingual and use multiple channels.

Ihmiset katselevat lentokonetta.

Introduction

Vantaa is the most international city in Finland, and approximately 23% of Vantaa residents speak a language other than Finnish, Swedish or Sámi as their first language. The international character of Vantaa also means that the city is being developed as an international and innovative airport city; Finland’s only international airport is located in Vantaa. The aim is to attract more international companies and investments to the city, and international cooperation is actively pursued through various networks. The ‘Vantaa is international’ theme is strongly linked to other themes of this review, such as ‘Vantaa is vital and brimming with expertise’, which covers, for example, city-business collaboration and services aimed at international experts.

The population of Vantaa is growing primarily due to immigration, and efforts are being made to make it easier for immigrants to settle in Vantaa. Integration and full inclusion are affected by many factors. The factors related to, for example, schools and employment, are discussed in other sections of this report. An amendment is about to be made to the Integration Act, which will transfer the overall responsibility for integration services in Finland from central government to local governments. Other recent and upcoming structural changes also affect the overall picture. These include the TE24 reform, which will transfer the responsibility for employment services even more strongly to municipalities, and the activation of wellbeing services counties, which transferred the responsibility for health and social services from municipalities to wellbeing services counties. Effective cooperation within the municipality between different functions, as well as between the municipality and the wellbeing services county, will be key to the development of integration as a whole.

The promotion of equality is central to the ‘Vantaa is international’ theme. Equality is related to the full inclusion and equal treatment of all Vantaa residents in all areas of life. It also involves the city’s activities in, for example, the development of multilingual and plain language communication and the development of multicultural competence in the city’s organisation. It is also important that the City of Vantaa is an equal-opportunity employer.

 

International networks and cooperation

Vantaa actively participates in international activities that support sustainability. Liaisons report annually on the activities of the networks, so that the cooperation of the networks benefits the city more widely, and the work done is documented. A project office has been established to support international cooperation through projects. The project office aims to increase the number and quality of EU projects and international partnerships for city development.

The value of internationality: the city as an employer

The city plays an important role in promoting equality as an employer. At the end of 2021, the City of Vantaa employed a total of 11,671 people, 7.3% of whom were foreign-language speakers. The share of foreign-language speakers among city personnel has been steadily increasing for several years, reaching 6.5% in 2020. The numbers vary greatly between departments, and the share of foreign-language speakers has been highest in the Social Services and Health Care department. However, many of the functions and personnel in this department transferred to the wellbeing services county at the beginning of 2023.

International communication

In an international city, it is important for public actors to communicate in such a way that the messages reach the diverse a population as well as possible. Communication supports inclusion and people’s awareness of, for example, city services. Accessible communication supports equality and wellbeing, and, during the pandemic, multilingual communication was of paramount importance for the health of the entire population. When developing communication, it is important to use not only multiple languages but also multiple channels in order to reach all population groups, and this need was emphasised during the pandemic. Messages are translated into different languages, but attention is also paid to using plain language in Finnish communications, which also benefits non-native speakers.

In January 2023, the City Board decided that the city’s communications will be in Finnish, Swedish, English and plain Finnish. Budget resources for Swedish and English translations have been added to the service areas. For example, news and websites will be increasingly translated into Swedish and English in future.

Integration

Integration as a whole and its objectives in Vantaa are guided by an integration programme. The new integration programme is for 2023–2026, and previous similar programmes were called multicultural programmes. The vision of the integration programme is better integration and inclusion of foreign-language speakers in society. This includes the idea of two-way integration in which integration requires not only the integration and participation of foreign-language speakers, but also the ability of the host society to learn about multiculturalism and diversity, both in working life and in other contexts. The integration programme lays out the city’s role and objectives in relation to multiculturalism and equality as an employer, a provider of services, a purchaser of goods and services, a decision-maker and a promoter of inclusion.

From the perspective of integration as a whole, it is essential to cooperate with many different parties to ensure that services reach those who need them. Immigrants’ own organisations and associations are active operators through which different language groups can be reached effectively. These associations have a lot of linguistic and cultural expertise that the city should make use of, and they also provide complementary services.

Supporting Ukraine

The City of Vantaa has been supporting Ukraine ever since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

On 28 February 2022, Vantaa City Council decided to support Ukraine with a donation of EUR 150,000. At the same council session, all the council groups issued a joint statement in which they expressed their support for Ukrainians and condemned the Russian invasion. The statement supported sanctions to promote an end to the hostilities. In addition, the City of Vantaa was required to prepare for the continuation of humanitarian aid and the reception of refugees fleeing the war. The statement also noted that ordinary Russians living in the multicultural city of Vantaa should not be subjected to discrimination or isolation due to the unacceptable hostilities perpetrated by the Russian leadership.

In April 2022, the City of Vantaa established the Ukrainian Help Center together with the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare. The centre’s offerings have included support, advisory services, material assistance and interaction. In 2023, the City of Vantaa will also support the Ukrainian Association in Finland in the operations of the Korso Logistics Centre with EUR 60,000, mainly directed at rents on premises. At the end of 2022, there were approximately 1,150 Ukrainian refugees living in Vantaa.

Vantaa has also participated in European cooperation to support Ukraine in the activities of the Eurocities network. In February 2023, as part of the Generators of Hope campaign launched by Eurocities and the European Parliament, Vantaa and the cities of Helsinki and Espoo collected 117 generators, engine-generators, heaters or other devices for Ukraine. They were donated by companies, communities and individuals.

More information

Lotta Alajoki

Sustainability Specialist
lotta.alajoki@vantaa.fi