Understanding Young Expatriate Finns' Participation - Context-based analysis and participation taxonomy framework
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Understanding Young Expatriate Finns’ Participation Context-based analysis and participation taxonomy framework Nicholas Colb, Mõtus Lõmaš Kama, Phuong Nguyen, Mariela Urra Schiaffino DESIGN FOR GOVERNMENT, 2021
Preface Contents
PREFACE............................................... 2
EXCECUTIVE SUMMARY...................... 4
This report is the result of our work for De- expatriate Finn programme was referred to
sign for Government (DfG) 2021. Design for as a policy program in previous years (2012- 1. RESEARCH......................................... 6
Government (DfG) is an intensive course 2016 and 2017-2021). In December 2021, the
under the collaboration between Aalto Uni- Ministry of the Interior will publish a “Strat- 2. ANALYSIS........................................... 12
versity and the Finnish Government. Partici- egy for expatriate Finns” for 2022-2026. This Research findings............................................ 13
pants in the DfG create designs that address new name indicates its direction to strategi- Conclusive insights.......................................... 17
the complex challenges that the government cally integrate expatriate Finns and expand Choosing our focus: Participation.............. 18
and public sector face. DfG works toward their influence in Finnish society. It also aims Participation from an expatriate
open collaboration to incorporate human to improve measures that help people who perspective....................................................... 20
perspective and system perspective. This want to return to Finland with possible for-
year, several ministries commissioned three eign spouses and children to settle in the 3. PROPOSAL......................................... 24
projects, namely: nation smoothly and efficiently. Part 1: Life Events Model................................ 26
Part 2: Policy Exploration Map..................... 28
Project 1: Pilot project for Personal budget- One of the most significant concerns to be Implementation.............................................. 31
ing model and Mobility services; resolved by the partnership between the DfG
Project 2: Reducing the carbon footprint of and the Ministry of the Interior is how expatri- 4. CONCLUSION.................................... 32
procurement services; ate Finns may have a more significant impact
Project 3: Strategy for Expatriate Finns and involvement in decision-making. The proj- References........................................................ 34
ect’s target audiences are Finns who have re- Apendix............................................................. 36
Our group worked on the third brief: Strate- sided in other countries. The idea also applies
gy for Expatriate Finns - which was commis- to these people’s descendants, whether or not
sioned by and in collaboration with the Min- they are Finnish citizens or were born in Fin-
istry of the Interior. First started in 2006, the land. They must, however, identify as Finnish.
* The names of the interviewees, survey re-
spondents and workshop participants have
been replaced to protect their identities.
2 PREFACE CONTENT 3Excecutive
Summary
The global population of expatriate Finns is cation and Culture, Ministry of Justice, Min- ficial channels fail to reach it. Our team aims and the “Policy exploration map.” The Life
estimated to be approximately two million, istry of Social Affairs and Health, Ministry of at Understanding Young Expatriate Finns’ stage model is a tool for tracking expatri-
with over 300,000 Finnish nationals resid- Economic Affairs and Employment, and Min- Participation using a Participation taxono- ates’ life stages, moments of connections and
ing overseas (Oficial Statistics Finland, 2019). istry for Foreign Affairs), the Finland Society my framework and Context-based analysis disconnections, and their needs. The policy
Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany, the (Suomi-Seura), and other relevant stakehold- framework. The context-based analysis is exploration map, which includes seven prin-
United States, and Spain are the most popu- ers were consulted during the program’s de- based on the expatriate’s life stages, while ciples for inclusive participation to support
lar destinations for expatriate Finns. The re- velopment. (Quoted from the DfG brief 3). the Participation Taxonomy Framework helps each category of participation, is a tool that
cent coronavirus outbreak, as well as Brexit, to understand the many ways in which expa- policymakers may use to explore innovative
have sparked renewed interest in returning The Design for Government project lasted 12 triates participate in Finland. approaches to expatriate strategy.
to Finland. intensive weeks, starting with understanding
the project context from a human perspec- Participation taxonomy frameworks answer We seek to promote understanding and shar-
“Expatriate Finns usually mean persons re- tive and a system perspective, followed by the question: what does participation mean ing expatriates’ perspectives through various
siding permanently outside Finland who are defining interventions and resulting in a pro- for expatriates? From the government per- channels throughout the policy-making pro-
either Finnish citizens or their descendants. posal for the government. From the initial spective, participation refers to political ac- cess. The proposal and its accompanying tools
Descendants are not necessarily Finnish cit- brief provided, we identified the main objec- tivities like voting or participating in the expa- assist the government in exploring and creat-
izens or born in Finland. However, expatri- tives of the original challenge: Strengthening triate parliaments. However, expatriates have ing inclusive strategies. By approaching public
ate Finns are united by their Finnish identity, ties between Finland and its expatriates and a variety of ways of connecting to Finland. We policy with a human perspective, the Strategy
which means that they consider themselves promoting engagement by them; additional- divide participation into four categories: Po- for expatriate Finn becomes more inclusive
Finns.” (“Expatriate Finns are Finnish citizens ly creating new ways to connect and involve litical participation (influencing policy-mak- towards all expatriates and positively impacts
who live permanently outside Finland - Min- Finnish expatriates all over the globe in Fin- ing through direct or indirect actions); social Finland.
istry of the Interior”, 2021) land. The proposal should be inclusive, en- participation (networking with other expatri-
compassing a wide range of communications ates); cultural participation (embracing and
The development of the Strategy for expa- and services to assist Finnish expatriates liv- continuing cultural practices); and bureau-
triate Finns will be a joint effort with other ing overseas. cratic participation (contacting with formal
ministries, governmental agencies, private institutions to conduct official affairs).
sector representatives, and expatriate Finns. Our comprehensive research shows that the
The Ministry of the Interior coordinates this younger generation of expatriates forms an We developed two co-design tools for con-
work. Five other ministries (Ministry of Edu- underrepresented group because current of- text-based analysis: the “Life stage model”
4 EXCECUTIVE SUMMARY EXCECUTIVE SUMMARY 51. To develop our proposal, we needed to be sure that the decisions
we made would be in accordance with the actual problem. For
this we conducted research before starting to think about the
RESEARCH
potential solutions. Most of the research and development was
carried out online. With Zoom, Miro and Google Drive being the
main platforms that we used.
Stakeholder Involvement Interviews
We closely collaborated with our stakehold- To connect with expatriates and hear about
ers from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry their personal experiences in their lives, we
of Economic Affairs and Employment, and conducted 7 Semi-structured interviews with
Suomi-Seura. Early on in our project we con- expatriates from different groups - old, young,
ducted a roundtable discussion together living in different geographic locations, own-
with the other groups and our stakeholders. ing a double citizenship etc. The goal of this
There, we discussed the stakeholders’ under- was to hear the voices and opinions of real
standing and expectations of the brief and expatriates. This helped us reach qualitative
addressed any questions we had left. After information and support contextualising the
this, we had several meetings with the rep- rest of our research, which otherwise might
resentatives of the stakeholders throughout have remained on an abstract level
the project. Through these meetings, we ex-
plored the problem at hand and learned
more about how we could possibly integrate Survey
our work into the policy-making process.
Together with the supergroup, we addition-
ally conducted a survey for expatriates. The
Collaboration with supergroup goal of this was to back up qualitative re-
search findings with quantitative information
Throughout the project (especially in the re- and acquire input from a wider group of ex-
search phase), the three groups tackling the patriates. The survey was posted in multiple
same brief (known as a supergroup) also ac- expatriate social media communities (such
tively shared sources of information with one as Facebook groups and Reddit forums). The
another and organised some of the aforemen- survey received over 800 responses. This in
tioned interviews and stakeholder meetings itself was an indicator that expatriates are
together. In addition, we held multiple cross- motivated in getting their voices heard.
team meetings to discuss the findings that we
had reached in our individual research. This
was very helpful to all of us and ensured that
all of our groups we’re equally informed. Fur-
thermore, it supported us in validating and
clarifying each other’s research findings.
6 RESEARCH RESEARCH 7Systems mapping
In order to gain a comprehensive under-
standing of the wider context that we were
Desktop research designing for, we created a systems map
As a part of our desktop research, we also which shows and highlights most relevant
To first get a general idea of what our brief and conducted service safari. With this method, stakeholders and the connections between
context were about, we started with desktop we aimed to put ourselves in the position of them, as well as emerging problem areas.
research. This included finding background expatriates and look for relevant information, We ended up making multiple iterations of
information about previous work that had services and participation opportunities on- the systems map during the project for dif-
been conducted in this field and benchmark- line. This was mainly done in English, so we ferent purposes - figuring out the big picture,
ing similar solutions from other countries or might not have grasped the full Finnish expa- finding the viewpoint Ministryof expatriates andof Ministry pin- Finnish government
Transport
fields. For this we, went through resources pro- triate experience, but it gave a decent over-
of Interior
pointing stronger and weaker links between
and
Communicati
Other organizations
Ministries
Str on
vided by our stakeholders and various sources view of which opportunities can be found on- expatriates and Finland. This proved ate
gy
for Ac
Ex
pa to or
s
Ministry Finnish governm
online (academic papers, data from previous line. In addition, it was a relevant approach, as itself very usefulMinistry
for us in the solu-
tria r t
t e Ministry Ac of Transport
s
of Justice
of Interior and Other organizations
surveys, news articles, blog posts etc). not all expatriate Finns are fluent in Finnish. tion-definition phase. Actor
Str
Communicati
on
Ministry of
Ministries
Education and
ate
Foreign Fininsh gy Actor Culture
for Ac
services Ex rs
r government pa to to
Ministry Acto Acttro
iat r
Ministry of Ac
r es
of Foreign Ministry
Economic
Affairs of Justice
Actor Affairs and Ministry of
Ac
tor Employment Education and
Foreign Fininsh Actor Culture
Nuoret services government
Acto Ministry of
Ministry r Acto
maailmalla r Ministry of
of Foreign Social Affairs Economic
Affairs and Health Affairs and
Formal Military
Ac
tor Employment
Expat
Suomi-
Finland
Finnish Seura Nuoret
hip
g
Finlandia
Ministry of
tin
Digital and
Foundation
Expatriate Embassy
maailmalla
ns
population
Vo
Voting
Military data Helsinki
Social Affairs
ize
KELA services Think Parliament
service
Cit
Company
and Health
Things you
agency need to do
infofinland
.fi
Military
Private
Church
)
Suomi-
en
expat
Languages
services
Finnish
(m
organiz
Connectio
m
FB
Seura te (Finnish,
p
Finnish s Educational
hip
g
Finnish
Finnish Sy
hi
Lutherian
ations
The National
Swedish,
tin
Church
Embassy
ns
Expatriate re System
Po
Association of
ns
Expatriate
Vo
Finnish fa English)
ze
Finns in International
el
ize
liti
Parliament
General
Religious
iti
Sweden
Parliament
information House
W
for
Cit
cal
Helsinki Organisations
sc
(re)migrating
n to Finlan
Seamens
ish
to Finland
Church
w
pa
nn d
community
lo
lan
Seniors
Re
Church Fi
al
rt
)
lig
Fin
en
io Languages
icip
us to Finnish
(m
Finnish Finnish organiz
Connectio
n m
ne
tio te (Finnish,
network
ati
Suomi-
p
Media student's t s Educational
w
ra Sy Finnish Job
hi
ations
d
or Swedish,
eg
on
Seura ies
ns
re System
Migri
k
Po
Int
associations
it
Families
ers Market
Finnish fa English)
ze
el
liti
Univ
Yle
iti
Arena
W
nish
cal
sc
Facebook
n to Finlan
Ne Fin sh
w
Finnish Suomi- ni
pa
tw d
community
lo
Youth
ork Re in an
Instagram
al
F inl
rtic
Koulu lig
Institute Finns in
nd
oF
Instagram
Finla
Latin io
us
in nt
ipa
Finnish
FEP world
ne
Work
Simulation
o
ati
network student's tw
ti
r Finnish Job
d
or
eg
on
Suomi k s
Int
associations
sitie
Access to culture & language
Finnish
er Market
Friends & U niv
Koulu
Political Community based Expatriates inn
ish
Data bank
Student Ne Family in F
for
tw
society
expatriates
associations ork
Finns Finland
land
in Fin
Work
es info
to servic Suomi n
Access to culture & language atio
rm
Finnish
Access ation
Expats ork na
etw
n nKoulu
Friends &
atio l id Expatriates
services rm en Finnish Family in
Info tit
y Finns Media Finland
society
re
Com
· cultu
mu
y
es info
iet
nity
Expats FB
to servic na rm
ctivities
Access t ation
oc
goups s ork io
Expats
par
ie etw na
ds
lic nn Finnish l
tic
o atio id
lP services
an
Finland
rm en Finnish
social
culture
ipa
Finnish Reddit
Info
ca tit
tio
re
Women
y Media
Lo
re
Com
Finland-
n
Worldwide
ltu
Tanzania
· cultu
Society
Country of
Finland-
mu
cu
forum
y
iet
nity
Expats FB
al
ctivities
FB
oc Finnish
oc
es
Groups
goups
par
Social Media Sport ici
residence
el
ds
Finnish Finnish
ol
ticip
returnees
th
clubs l POther peer-
an
social
FB culture
a
atio
identity
to
oc
re
support
Activist
L
on
n
ltu
groups?
networks
Sports
Country of
ti
cu
ra
al
eg
clubs Local
Finnish
loc
Int
Sport
residence
he
government clubs
ot
Other peer-
identity
nt
Informal
support
Local
tio
networks
ra
Society
eg
Local
Int
government
Local
Society
8 RESEARCH RESEARCH 9Expatriate Journey Stakeholders involved
Getting re
Based on the information received from the Expatriate organisations
desktop research and interviews with expa- Getting Finnish government
idea to Preparation
triates, we mapped the expatriate journey. Re-integrating
Participating
move s Social networks/media
in Finland
+ finding Getting ready A
We did this to: info Local government
Connecting
09caa2
and
Finding
a. Help us draw the connection between our socializing
job/study
Insights
position
insights, relevant stakeholders and specif- Difference in Generations
ic life events which expats undergo.
Paperwork Language barriers
b. Understand the specific processes and National Identity
stages the expatriates go through in their Participation
Moving
journey as an expatriate from the moment Moving back
their expatriation starts until their return to Finland Education
and reintegration in Finland. Access to services and information
Community and network
Paperwork
Later on, we re-iterated the expatriate journey Preparations
+ finding info
Stakeholders involved
map to indicate moments in which expatriates
Getting ready B Settling in
establish or lose their contact with Finland.
Expatriate organisations
Finnish government Settling in
Finding a job
Social networks/media
Local government09caa2
Getting Starting work
Insights idea/need/re or studies
ason to move
Difference in Generations back
Language barriers
Worklife
National Identity
Participation Friends Professional
abroad and networking
Participation social life
Education
Access to services and information
Community and network
Integration and participation
Higher
Lifestages: Childhood
education
Career Family Senior
10 RESEARCH RESEARCH 112. Our research phase provided valuable information on both the
perspectives of the expatriates and stakeholders. The analysis of
ANALYSIS
the information gathered was conducted both collectively and in-
dependently in multiple ways by iteration of methods and with
the aid of multiple virtual post-its. This process allowed us to rec-
ognize tensions, gaps and opportunities in the current system of
relations between Finland and its expatriates to focus our atten-
tion towards the most relevant areas of intervention; according to
Meadows (2008), deeper leverage point will impact the behaviour
of the system in more efficient ways, so before rushing solutions,
we need to recognize which are the most relevant leverage points
that we can incorporate in our proposal.
Some young students Vague information
feel excluded from about community/peer
RESEARCH FINDINGS
services directed networks does not
towards Finnish reach all of the
expatriates. expatriates, this can
"Quote" especially affect
younger generations.
Supported by survey
Access to services Access to information
Affinity mapping
Young students
Students and Students feel Moving processes Reasons to Living in EU Relationship with Young people are
frustrated with
young people like they are left move from the doesn't change interested in expat services
often include KELA changes targeted for them and paperwork and Young people do
Information is
seem to be left alone with their welfare state: much in access to consider them useful: bureaucracy in the not receive Accessing information Interviewees are Information about Living already peaceful
some paperwork when moving eg. connecting with others,
whole process; eg, is not a problem when practicalities and vague and
out of expat expatriate career, family, services (Interview receiving advice related to
sufficient quite life in Sweden, she has
experience 1 to be done S)
abroad and back career or practicalities 1,2 yearly reports to gov information of you know your way groups is general, not little to none to do with
services 1,2,3 adventure and military 1 available around the internet
independent in scattered around
(interviews) (Interviews) applicable to Finland anymore
services/organizatio
(Auto-etnography, looking up the web 1
Positive ns 1,2 individual 1,2 beside listening to old
Negative Neutral interviews) information Finnish music
Positive Positive
Neutral
Only issue is that they have limited the Job application
use of her bank account, for example
Using digital Working abroad process is There are privately It is not
Communication
buying stocks in the stock market, or
opening another account, because she
services is changes the unappealing/difficult Expat Finns are not
owned expat
has been living abroad without coming
with Kela and tax difficult for Has difficult
back to Finland that much. She feels they
control their money. She feels it is her relationship between in Finland for Finns aware of many
annoying but not services that cater
Access to
right to have access to her money and
abroad, expats integrating with
services seem to Finns and KELA existing
her account. Also the fact that they want
corporate clients expats to find
so much information about what she is
doing and where and how much money
hard (interviews, desktop would like support organisations and
is she making, and whether she is paying
be fluent enough Finland ("I was
Social media is
governmental
taxes etc. with this 1,2 (autoetnography)
(Interviews) reseach) communities
and access
For initial analysis of our research findings,
preferred and dying for (Interviews, survey)
connection"
Neutral Neutral Neutral Positive
services. efficient channel
for receiving
Negative
information is
accessible, albeit
Negative
information, 1,2
a bit annoying to
Formal
governmental
find.
services, is
annoying but
Types of doable
we used affinity mapping. For this, we wrote
information
Community
Expat Finns are not Survey ppl feel that their Finnish
identity becomes stronger while
networks (Suomi aware of many living abroad, though some says
Seura, Expat. not affected or some lost fluence
Parliament, existing in Finnish and difficult to keep up No-one dares to
with Finnish politic and look down on the
churchs) organisations and development trends
finns, apart from
communities the swedes :D
(Interviews, survey) CONFUSION Positive Supported by survey
Negative
down all relevant findings and started clus- Finnish expats prefer to
It is unclear at this stage what
Finnish expats feel
participate in informal, that Finnish politics
tering them to similar topics. Out of this pro-
exactly is meant by participation,
community based and when it's political, civil don't affect them so
networks rather than society or social participation,
formal ones. However, it is and how appealing each form of they don't see voting
hard to find information participation is to expats. (from as a relevant mean
round table discussion and
these kind of networks. of participation.
desktop research)
cess, 8 main themes emerged:
Supported by survey Negative Supported by survey
Community and
Participation
networks Issues
We are not
sure what
participation
really means
Channels in Integration to Expats like to between
FB-groups are Survey respondents FB groups and
which the
finnish culture
through social important platforms are active in social media are
hang out with
other Finns and Informal
generations Formal
community groups / facebook
/ friends / ther
of communication informal Finnish primary channels Nordics. Sense of
community via
are huge
and support expatriates group for
shares finns expats (Interviews) (64%) culture 1,2 Participating on a Expatriates can feel
Participation Would have like to
communication grassroots level that the participate from
v/s life stage Lack of interest in
seems more governments Expatriate's Young people
Neutral Neutral Positive Neutral
appealing than actions don't affect parlament if would don't seem participation
political activity their life abroad
have known about it invested in because life
(political scientist)
(Interviews) (Interviews) political detach from
participation
Finland
• Access to services
Peer knowledge Expats follow Young people Neutral Negative
FB Sports
negative
sharing of Finnish would like
Student
Negative
earlier media (News, Networks: sports club
experiences can
groups music) 1,3
associations (suomi-seura
clubs? Young expats may FEP seems
be beneficial 1,2 survey) Lack of Participation
Finland could do is export ideas.
While travelling there are some
prefer more irrelevant to some
Grandma has
Positive
things that work so much better
information (expats > Finland) here. For example recycling.
Maybe that wouldn’t be
concrete ways of
expatriates
on how to
v/s Integration
(Finland > expats)
beneficial for expats directly, but
it would be for Finland as a
participating than
political; eg. (Interviews) no interest in
country. To make themselves be
seen a bit more,
mentoring, 1
Overall voting or
participate roughly 10% Finnish politic
Neutral
Bingo? Negative
of eligible
Neutral
expats vote
Negative
What are the current
Participation
• Access to information
participation ways Finnish
Expats?: voting, Finnish
meetups or informal as a means of "Some kind of a network
gathering, social media (FB would be good. Would like
groups), spreading culture, giving VS People answered
to be contacted by the
embassy (or another
following news, teaching
Finnish. gaining the survey seems institution) when arriving to
another country, inviting to
Higher levels of interested in participate in expatriate
Neutral groups and give
political scene (76%
identification based in information about it."
voting)
positive associations go
together with high levels of
Positive
socio-political participation
(quote can be taken from
study that Mariela read)
• National Identity Finnish expatriates
Language barriers create
• Language barriers + integration
have personal obstacles for expatriates
individual connections both moving abroad and
to Finland through returning to Finland in
cultural interests and applying for a job or study
place and in general
societal values.
societal integration.
"Quote survey"
• Community and networks National Identity Language barriers + integration
• Participation Living abroad doesn't
affect national identity
much or makes you
appreciate Finland
slightly more
(Interviews, survey?)
Neutral
National identity
is a vague
concept (Overall
conclusion)
Neutral
"Most Swedes had a very
demeaning attitude towards
finns. They feel we are
backwards, less smart even.
They feel they are better,
somehow more advanced, more
international. They belittle all our
achievements, our history, our
language, culture. Did not like
that."
Sterotype: +
good,
education,
good
judgement
Expats value different
aspects of Finland
individually: i.e music,
food, design, nature,
nordic mindset
Neutral
(Interviews)
Ties with
Finland
are stong
Some language
barriers with
Kela (Esko's
experience)
Speaking
finnish makes
you feel equal
to other finns
There is much more
information online about
Finland and returning in
Finnish, which makes it
harder for multiple
generation expats to return
to Finland
Language barriers
seem to be a bigger
issue for returning
Many young
finnoswedes speak
both
finnish/swedish.
Older tend to speak
only swedish
Finns do not
receive
discrimination
and are regarded
positively 1,3
Positive
Finnoswede >Because he speaks
swedish, most Finns see him as
slightly different. Not as a
Swede, as a small minority with
all kinds of stereotypes, like that
they should be somehow richer,
but that’s not true. But they don’t
see me completely the same as
them.
I has to explain
while he does not
speak Finnish
even though he is
Finnish
• Generational differences
Neutral Negative
finns than the ones
Finns can be
closed-minded
Finnish food
I do identify very
much as a Finn,
Expats identify
“Cultural heritage I
carry with me is part Survey moving abroad
quite strongly
and cold, bad can help with even more
of myself, my being,
respondents Finnish
with Finnish my essence, is
social skills homesickness? when living in
culture 1,3
something I can’t get sharing Finnish
language as a
1,2,3 Sweden. rid of” Neutral
(Interviews) culture 32%
mean for
Positive CONFUSION Positive
racism
Negative
Only
There should be more
Older generations
Language and the
cooperation between finno-
"As a young "tech-savvy" English
No Finnish language can have more
swedes in Finland and finnish
speaker, it is relatively easy to
official certificate
speaking Finns in Sweden since
find information online about
speak
affect job finding language barriers so
they have a lot in common for
can be barriers for
being a language minority, even moving countries, and the
•
Thinks he will die in
Education
and not the actual need more Finnish
though they don’t speak the
changing benefits" Language Culture differences
Identity integration in
Also some features of finnish same language but probably
Finland. Does not
“I am a Finn so my mentality has grown
barriers can limit accessing some
can pose problems
Finnish
ability to do the job connections
from that tree. I am an apple from that they all know/learn both
“way of being”, the finnish
see himself as long
This connection can
tree. I do like many things about the
websites with valuable info but
attitude, that are embedded in Finnish mindset. People say Finns are shy
Finland (interviews) languages
even in EU
her personality. For example and non-social, but I think that’s not
term resident of any (Interviews) google translate plugin solves
being calmed, controlled, honest.
changes are countries: social
accurate. I think we are very honest, we
that pretty well.
other country, and
be strengthen or not
don’t talk bullshit, we don’t lie just to get
As a woman she feels lucky to
have grown up in a country like
conversations, we’re just fine sitting with
Negative Negative Neutral Neutral
cultural nuances
leave Finland
friends silently, and there’s no need to
personal and
Finland, there is much equality. talk if something is not relevant”
behind.
over the time spent negative
abroad. How time difficult to
variable affects is assess Expat can feel
not clear outside of Finnish
society, eg.
current events,
job applying,
studying etc 1,2
Younger generations are Finns who study abroad
Getting education abroad is
less involved with formal- might be more interested
in general easy for expats,
political Finnish expat in the foreign job market
but there can be issues
activities than the older than the Finnish one as it
The themes and findings within them were
with bureaucracy and
expats as opposed to the can be easier to apply for a
incompatibilities with
informal-community based study position and the job
different systems.
activities. market seems more
appealing.
Supported by survey Supported by survey
further explored, combined and prioritized Generational Education
differences
by their relevance to our narrowing focus. Life stage
"At least in Paris Suomi seura
was considered to be for older
people. Organizations for
younger folks mostly operate
through Facebook. But what
most people really miss is always
vs Studying
the food so there’s a lot of
questions on where to get such Adapting to Finns who study
Differences in education
and such food products which is
abroad might be
quite funny!" - Survey quote systems abroad (vs Finland) foreign school is require
can create confusion and easy, as Finnish more interested
generation difficulties, e.g applying continuous
school program is in the foreign job
scholarship, internships
comprehensive 1 paperwork market than the
with Kela Finnish one
Negative
CONFUSION
Generalization:
Younger Barriers for
generations have a Older generations
more international of finnish expats older expats:
mindset seem more active lenguage and
(Interviews) in Finnish life
technology
Positive Neutral
Affinity mapping on Miro board
12 ANALYSIS ANALYSIS 13From the themes we synthesised 7 main research insights a community instead of engaging in institu- 14 design drivers covering 7 themes, relatively
tionalized politics (Huttunen & Christinsen, abundant. To identify the themes and direc-
2020; Dalton, 2016). While the exact reasons tions with the most untapped potential, we
Finnish Expats feel that Information about for this remain a matter of further research, then narrowed it down through cross-refer-
Finnish politics doesn't community and peer our research identified that the current gov- encing the drivers with the old Strategy for
affect them; voting is not networks does not reach all ernment-backed interventions to promote Expatriate Finns and comparing them with
seen as a relevant means of of the expatriates. This can participation don’t appeal to the youth. our Expatriate Journey Map. This left us with
participation. especially affect younger 5 drivers guiding us in the concept develop-
generations. Moreover, our fourth insight indicates that ment phase. The overarching theme covering
while community-based expatriate networks these drivers is “Inclusive expatriate partici-
Finnish Expats prefer to are increasing, these networks remain scat- pation”.
participate in informal, tered around the web, and information about
community based networks Finnish expats might be them fails to reach expatriates. This seems While most drivers seem quite tangible, the
rather than formal ones. pulled into the foreign to be because there is a lack of accessible most complex (and the most important) driv-
job market, as it can be resources that provide precise information er here is “Understand expatriates’ partici-
Younger generations are easier to apply for a study about these unofficial communities. This pation”. Participation is multifaceted – un-
more involved with infor- position abroad and the highlights information flow as a specific con- derstanding expatriates’ definition of it can
mal, community based job market can seem more tributor to the problem. help develop relevant participatory means
activities, whereas older appealing. supporting expatriates’ lives and connecting
expats are more active in them with Finnish networks. The other driv-
formal, political activities. ers implied rather straightforward changes,
Language barriers create giving more value to the expatriates and em-
Finnish expatriates have Moi! obstacles to societal inte- Understand powering them through making participation
personal individual gration for expatriates both expatriates'
Hi! participation
connections to Finland moving abroad and return- Identification of leverage points
through cultural interests ing to Finland.
and societal values. Share Finnish Leaning on the drivers and research data, we
Hear the voice
culture, values,
and knowledge
of expatriates sought for leverage points – “places in the
Main goal:
Inclusive system where a small change could lead to
expatriate
participation a large shift in behavior” (Meadows, 2008) to
The first four insights helped us narrow our ate Parliament. While such interventions are see where our concepts could have the most
focal point within the problem scope. The successful in promoting participation among impact. For this, we analyzed different parts of
first two identify that expatriates prefer to some groups of expatriate Finns, our goal was Lower the the Expatriate Journey to understand trigger
Recognize the
participate in informal, community-based to identify the groups whom these existing value of
threshold for moments – what are the critical events where
expatriate's
networks instead of political channels or for- services fail to reach, or in other words, the expatriates
participation expatriates are more connected or lose their
mal organizations. One of the reasons for this underrepresented groups within the domain contact with Finland. We learned that expatri-
is the feeling that Finnish politics don’t affect of services intended to enhance expatri- ates often lose contact with Finland soon af-
expatriates during their time abroad. Nev- ate participation. The third insight identifies ter graduating Suomi-Koulu (Finnish Schools)
ertheless, current services targeted toward younger generations as an underrepresented Design drivers and often don’t reach it again before older
expatriates — particularly ones provided by group and argues that there is a generation- From the findings and insights, systems map, age and reaching out to the Suomi-Seura (Fin-
the state — are often aimed to promote par- al difference among preferred methods of and Expatriate Journey, we developed design land Society). This was also confirmed during
ticipation through formal means. This can participation. It seems that younger genera- drivers – principles and goals informed by the meetings with stakeholders. As such, mo-
be recognized in the launch of mail-in vot- tions prefer to be involved in looser networks research which could guide us through the ments of losing or re-establishing contact
ing and the assembly of the Finnish Expatri- and participate on a grassroots level within concept development phase. Initially we had could potentially function as leverage points.
14 ANALYSIS ANALYSIS 15Workshops COLLABORATIVE IDEATION WITH OTHER
To validate our concluded research findings TEAMS WITHIN THE COURSE
and explore solution opportunities, we also In parallel, we conducted a collaborative ide-
conducted and participated in three collabo- ation session with teachers and students from
rative workshops: the Design for Government course in which
together we brainstormed possible interven-
SUOMI SEURA AND YOUNG EXPATRIATES tions that would reach our intended goal of
Our group had a great chance to participate increasing young expatriates’ participation.
and facilitate a collaborative session in the During this, we presented our research find-
Youth Forum for Finns Living Abroad which ings and design drivers to members of other
was organised by Suomi-Seura. For this on- groups and teachers. Based on this, we gener- Analysis process in
Miro board using
line event attended by 10 young Finnish ex- ated ideas and discussed them with the par- virtual sticky notes
patriates all the way from Japan to Canada, ticipants. to cluster insights
our goal was to learn about how young expa-
triates perceive participation, what connects 3B AND OLDER EXPATRIATES
them to Finland, and in which moments does Finally, we also participated as observers in
their connection to Finland increase or de- an online workshop organized by group 3B. CONCLUSIVE INSIGHTS
crease. Thanks to this, we were able to have This was attended by various expatriates from
more accurate input on what kind of activ- different geographical locations. However, in
ities connected our target group to Finland this workshop, the participants represented 1. Connection to Finland through
and how this connection has impacted their older age groups, so the expatriate experi- life events:
participation. It was also a good opportunity ence was seen through a different, more ex-
to validate our research and prove some of
our initial ideas.
perienced perspective. During this workshop,
we learned more about the general hardships
in expatriates' lives, mainly touching upon
difficulties in accessing information and offi-
This was the most relevant finding from our
research, informed by both stakeholders and
expatriates. It refers to the fact that expatri-
ates experience connection and disconnec-
“ At Suomi-koulu (expatriates) children
learn the Finnish language because it is
so important for their parents to main-
tain the language alive. Then, when
cial services. tion to Finland based on their personal life ex- kids become teenagers, they are not so
periences. There seem to be moments in their interested in Suomi-koulu activities any-
lives in which they lose or gain connection, and more. We lose the connections to them.
these moments are linked to certain personal Then in adulthood, while they are study-
life events which trigger responses concerning ing or working, some of them might find
how connected to Finland they feel. ways to stay connected through activ-
ities like voting or joining an organiza-
tion. When they have kids, then, they
“ I feel very connected to the culture in the
events organized by the Finnish church
in Rotterdam when I meet many people
and we speak in Finnish. It makes me feel
re-connect through Suomi-koulu. And
when they are seniors, they join other
types of Suomi-seura’s activities. From
a participation point of view, this is very
like a true Finn!... During lockdowns, I’ve relevant. It would be beneficial for us to
felt very disconnected because I haven’t know where to put the “carrots” so Finns
travelled to see my Finnish family. My abroad can stay connected.”
grandfather passed away and I was not - Tina Strandberg, Suomi-seura
able to be there.“
Youth forum for Finns worldwide. Image from the online event organized by Suomi-Seura in - Eetu, 18, living in the Netherlands
collaboration with our course.
16 ANALYSIS ANALYSIS 17How does the sense of
2. Young expatriates’ to focus on participation. During the next
participation gap
CHOOSING phases of our project, we focused on try- connection to Finland
OUR FOCUS: ing to understand what participation means trigger responses in the
Our second insight highlights a participation from an expatriates point of view, and how to
expatriate communities?
gap in young adults in activities related to PARTICIPATION address the participation gap of younger gen-
their national belonging. Although young ex- erations, paying attention to the life events
patriates are enthusiastic about their Finnish Due to these two insights, and through exten- moments of connection and disconnection. Why do some expatriates
roots, they seem to be less involved than oth- sive research, many questions were raised. For
seem to participate more
er age groups because they can’t find mean- example: How does the sense of connection We propose this definition:
ingful and approachable opportunities which to Finland trigger responses in the expatri- than others?
match their lifestyles and preferences. ate communities?; Why do some expatriates
seem to participate more than others?
Participation is the process where people, as active citizens, contribute their
We can connect this finding to global trends
own time and other resources, in order to take part in, express views on, and
of youth participation; the young generation We realized that nationality ties are mani-
tends to be less active than previous ones fested in two directions; while the Finnish strive for decision making power about issues that affect them. Participation
when participating within formal institutions, government might be interested in offering must be understood as a right and as a mechanism for empowerment that is
since traditional means don’t appeal to them. services to all its citizens and retain talents, crucial for democracy. This is why participation must be made possible, inde-
Because of this, they are unable to influence the expatriate Finns want to maintain con- pendently of age, background or location.1
decision-makers and policies that directly af- nections when building their life abroad for
fect them. However, the situation can also be practical matters like studying, finding a job,
examined from a different angle: young peo- obtaining social benefits, but also in intangi- Through our research we identified 4 types of participation that are meaningful from the
ple do participate, but in alternative ways. ble matters, like preserving cultural ties that expatriat’s point of view:
Their participation preferences are different are part of their identity. What is relevant is
– this includes joining non-traditional, or- that both sides have an interest in maintain-
ganic and community-based organizations ing these ties. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION: Activities with the aim of influenc-
instead of official ones, and involvement in ing policy-making through actions such as grass-roots organizing,
specific causes as opposed to systemic-based These relations form the expatriates towards protesting, voting or joining interest groups.
approaches, like joining a political party. (Hut- the state is what our group identified as a rel-
tunen, J., & Christensen, H., 2020). evant leverage point, which is why we chose
SOCIAL PARTICIPATION: Activities such as networking with oth-
“ Most of the offers sound boring, like the
Parliament, and more targeted for old-
er people. There’s nothing interesting for
younger people like me.”
er expatriates with the result of building personal relationships or
gaining collaboration or business partners.
- Eija, 23, living in the UK CULTURAL PARTICIPATION: Activities with the result of em-
bracing and continuing cultural practices, such as language and tra-
“ At least in Paris, Suomi Seura was consid-
ered to be for older people.”
- Maija, 30-39 living in France
ditions, including holidays, cooking, and religion.
BUREAUCRATIC PARTICIPATION: Activities where an expatri-
“ I don’t feel the need to connect with peo-
ple from Suomi-seura , especially as usu-
ally the people in these are older than me”
- Oskar, answer, 20-30
ate comes in contact with formal institutions to conduct official af-
fairs, such as applying for the nationality or passport, filing taxes, or
communicating with the local embassy.
(1) This definition was adapted and extended from Farthing (2012) definition on youth participation.
18 ANALYSIS ANALYSIS 19PARTICIPATION FROM AN EXPATRIATE Suomi Seura and the Expatriates Parliament channels, and that is why they prefer to join
collect and represent the voices from these community-based activities instead.
PERSPECTIVE groups, but they are only able to reach the
formal ones because informal groups are The visualization of ties in which expatriates
hard to be reached and keep track of. This might directly influence society becomes,
Outside national borders, chances for partic- Independent Expatriates: Some expatri- leaves informal groups and independent ex- less obvious and harder to identify. More sys-
ipation are reduced, and as a consequence, ates remain independent due to a lack of patriates outside the scope of representation. tematic research is needed to identify cur-
the contribution of expatriates to Finnish so- knowledge or interest. Within this group, We think this might be connected to the fact rent trends and opportunities. Nevertheless,
ciety is low when compared with individuals there are experts, entrepreneurs, academics, that young people don’t seem to participate we think there is great gain in including ex-
living in Finland. The following map aims to students and other talents who remain par- that much. Formal groups seem to not cov- pat’s knowledge and experiences, and the
visualize the actors and the participatory re- tially disconnected from Finnish institutions. er their interests, nor their communication first step is to increase their participation.
lations between the Finnish government, the
Finnish society and the expatriates:
The government is represented by the Min- Commerce Sports
chambers Abroad In Finland
istry of the Interior, which, responding to groups
expatriates’ needs and to maintain relations,
Students
writes the expatriate policy. The Ministry Students
groups Suomi- Religious
koulu
works together with the Finnish Expatriates’ groups
Parliament (FEP), and Suomi-seura, who rep-
Expat com-
resent the voice of the expatriates, and with Talents & munities Cultural
Official working group
orgs.
the Finnish Migration Institute contributing
experts
research. This collaboration of non-govern- Finnish Finnish
Suomi- Expatriates Research
mental organization is rather an unusual con- FB Migration
Formal seura Parliament
figuration in policy-making.
groups
(FEP) Institut
Academics
organizations
Expatriates form groups and associations of
different types to maintain connection: Independent Informal
expats groups
Formal Associations: These are formal and
Expats. Affects
Expats
Writes
Ministry of Finnish
well-established groups, like Suomi-koulu,
Loss of
independent
Representa- Finns policy the Interior Society
tion of youth
talents
cultural institutions, religious organizations,
commerce chambers and some sports associ-
No
cu
de Limited
l
rre
nt fo mo
ll o w - u p resources
ations. They have internal structures and are $
members of Suomi-seura.
Informal Associations: These groups are Design
workshops Limited
participation
less formal, usually don’t have a clear inter- of expats
nal organization and are not members of
Suomi-seura. Examples are Facebook net-
working groups, small communities and stu-
dent’s groups. No representation in
policy-making E x pa
triate participation
20 ANALYSIS ANALYSIS 21Development Reflections
This is the context in which we have ap-
Using information from the conducted re- Looking back, there is a plethora of various proached our intervention. We think that
search and the aforementioned collaborative activities that we conducted, and it may seem there should be more equal opportunities,
sessions, we then moved into the concept overwhelming on paper. In reality, most of it paying attention to how life events affect
development phase. For this we had brain- was an organic process where we also moved participation, and a common understanding
storming sessions within our group to find back and forth between some stages. This of how young generations can be more en-
ideas which could best tackle the problems helped us continuously iterate our analysis to gaged With our proposal we sought to an-
emerging from our research. reach a higher potential for the methods and swer the question:
After brainstorming and ideation we looked tools that we used.
into how initial ideas could be merged, devel-
oped and implemented into policy-making. Thanks to a wide array of information and
How can we
stakeholders whom we discussed with, the
In this process, we realised that there’s a research we conducted was well validated.
need to change the expatriate policy mak- This was also supported by our supergroup
ing process to a more inclusive and em- discussions and collaboration.
bring the topic of
pathic form and that we could provide the
frameworks that could support this change There were a few things that could have been
through more informed and collaborative improved in the research phase:
expatriate youth
decision making. This led us into trying to
develop a concept which could help under- • For reaching more qualitative data, we
stand expatriates and explore possible solu- could have had a few more interviews,
tions which could be incorporated into the maybe after we had started seeing
participation
future expatriate strategies. our focus as the expatriate youth. This
might have given us more
into government
• In case there would have been more
time, it would have been valuable to
facilitate a validation workshop to test
our deliverables in action. This could
deliberation?
have brought to our attention the
strengths and faults of our concept so
we could iterate and develop it further.
• In general though, given the time had,
the research went fairly well and it pro-
vided us a solid foundation for the con-
cept development.
22 ANALYSIS ANALYSIS 233. In our concept development phase, we realised that there is a
PROPOSAL
need to change the expatriate policy-making process into a more
inclusive and empathic form, and that we could provide the
frameworks to support this change through more informed and
collaborative decision making. This led us to develop a concept
which could help policymakers understand expatriates and
explore possible solutions which could be incorporated into the
future expatriate strategies.
As the experiences and life situations of young We designed a
expatriates are highly diverse, we consider it
beneficial to suggest a comprehensive, scal-
toolkit for data-
able approach to guide policymakers in re- gathering and
searching the experiences of expatriates and analysis which aims
systematically analyzing the data to arrive at
informed interventions and policies which
to help policymakers
serve a wide range of young expatriates. Thus, gain holistic
based on in-depth analysis of our research understanding of
findings, we designed a toolkit for data-gath-
ering and analysis which aims to help policy-
young expatriates and
makers gain a holistic understanding of young their participation.
expatriates and their participation, as well as
to tailor the new expatriate strategy to serve
the needs of these expatriates.
The toolkit we designed focuses on the main
insights of our research: firstly, it aims to ex-
plore moments of connection and discon-
nection through personal life events of ex-
patriates, and secondly, it seeks to address
the participation gap experienced by young
expatriates in the areas of social, cultural,
political and bureaucratic participation. The
toolkit consists of two distinct tools to be
included into the expatriate strategy policy-
making process: The Life Events Model and
The Policy Exploration Map.
24 PROPOSAL PROPOSAL 25PART 1
LIFE EVENTS MODEL
Life stages
11. Specific life stages which are experienced rectly related to Finland, such as wanting
Moments of connection
by the group of expatriates which the user to practice Finnish, engage and interact
pesona represents are inserted into the with Finns and identify with Finnish cul-
Moments of disconnection
inner ring. Examples of such life stages ture, but also include more general needs
are pursuing education, forming a family, such as a wishing to make friends, contrib-
forming identity, and building a career. ute to society, build a career, or form cul-
tural identity.
Expatriate
Persona
22. The life stages recognized in the inner ring
are analyzed, and policymakers should 55. With this tool we aim to help policymak-
aim identify moments within these life ers gain a comprehensive view of the life
stages in which the expatriates have ex- events and experiences of expatriates,
Life stages
perienced a strong connection to Finland. and to identify the underlying needs of
Moments of connection These moments of connection are in- expatriates. This will assist policymakers
serted into the second ring of the mod- in tailoring policies to meet the needs of
Moments of disconnection el. Examples of these could be attending expatriates.
Suomi-Koulu, voting, celebrating Finnish
holidays, or looking for an internship in
Life events model Finland.
The Life Events tool
The first tool we propose is the Life Events themes among the data from individual ex- 33. In the third ring, policymakers should aim
aims to help policy-
Model. Our research identified that specif- patriates, they can use these themes to create to identify moments in expatriates’ lives in
ic life events in the life of an expatriate trig- user personas, which are hypothetical char- which they have experienced weak con- makers identify these
ger connection or disconnection to Finland. acters designed to encapsulate the various nection to Finland. Such moments could
This tool aims to help policy-makers iden- aspects of life experienced by expatries. Thus, be, for instance, moving to a new city to life events and to
tify these life events and to explore specific these user personas are designed to general- study and losing Finnish contacts, having explore specific needs
needs which expats have within them. ize the life experience and viewpoints of ex- difficulties in landing a job in Finland, or
Expatriate
patriates, essentially assisting policy-makers struggling to find Finnish content online. which expats have
Persona
The premise for using this tool is that poli- in designing for groups of expatriates to help within them.
cymakers research data about the lives of alleviate the burden of navigating through the 44. From the moments of disconnection list-
individual expatriates through e.g. surveys, varying needs of each individual expatriate. ed in the outer ring, policymakers can
interviews and workshops. As policymakers seek to identify specific needs which lie
analyze this data, they can recognize emerg- As policymakers have composed user per- within these moments of connection and
ing themes in the lives of expatriates, such as sonas, the Life Events Model can be used to disconnection. Our research suggests that,
age, nationality, educational level and fami- identify specific life events which expatriates often, in the moments of disconnection,
ly status, as well as more abstract attributes, go through and to explore possible needs these needs have been met, and in the
such as behavioral patterns, skills, goals and which lie within those life events. The tool is moments of disconnection they remain
attitudes. As policy-makers identify common used for each user persona as follows: unmet. Examples of needs could be di-
26 PROPOSAL PROPOSAL 27You can also read
