JOHANNA SJÖHOLM
Coordinator Qutomo project
Executive director, Vantaan Nicehearts ry
The main focus of the Qutomo project is to achieve an open dialogue, to listen to the experiences of third-country nationals and bring together different sectors and stakeholders in the society. The project promotes equality, non-discrimination and interaction between different groups as well as intercultural dialogue. The project aims to increase intercultural knowledge, skills and competencies in carrying out integration services. Particular emphasis is also placed on the necessary culture and gender sensitive services for women and girls.
By 2015, the Qutomo project’s model for a culture and gender sensitive integration path will be used in the City of Vantaa’s operations regarding integration of immigrants. Different sectors of the society will also develop competencies to better promote integration and gain a more comprehensive understanding of cultural differences. The model is applicable on a broad spectrum.
The project’s first year is now behind us. We have organized four cooperation forums and we have gathered an enormous amount of information and ideas, as well as exchanged valuable experiences about various topics related to integration. The cooperation forums have had remarkable attendance. We were able to present our work, as well as our preliminary results extensively and different sectors of the society have expressed a great deal of interest and commitment to the project.
In this magazine you will find the results of the Qutomo project’s first year. Any kind of feedback or questions regarding the content of the magazine will be greatly appreciated.
My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all our cooperation partners – together, we have been very successful in achieving our goals for Qutomo project’s first year.
WE CAN DO IT!