Can design help improve the position of minority groups?

Migrant Youth Helsinki

In Finland, just 4% of native-born young people are unemployed after completing their studies. The corresponding number for youth with migrant background is 25%, making this an urgent case of inequality. Migrant Youth Helsinki is a five-year project established to improve the position of youth in the areas of livelihoods, education and the social environment.

Key actors in this project are brought together by methods of participatory processes and service design. Collaboration between youth, policy-makers, youth workers, service designers, experts and educators has created four wide-ranging programmes that target challenges in the lives of migrant youth: lack of support for migrant parents, lack of representation in public discussions, lack of job opportunities and lack of study support.