Finland: Support granted for Finnish civil society organisations linked with the UN; the aim is to promote awareness of the UN and sustainable development

NordenBladet — The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted EUR two million to Finnish civil society organisations (CSOs) linked with the UN for their basic operations and development communication and global education activities. In this application round, support was granted to six CSOs.

The objective of the support is to raise awareness and knowledge in Finland of the UN and its specialised agencies and their goals as well as of Finland’s activities in the UN as part of the international rules-based system. Through the support, the organisations will advance the objectives of Finland’s development policy in a number of sectors.  The support is granted from the development cooperation appropriations for Finnish CSOs’ development cooperation.

“Finnish CSOs linked with the UN play an important role in disseminating information about how the international system, and Finland as part of it, contribute to sustainable development goals and foster human rights. Organisations also offer people channels to take part in the promotion of global issues and in efforts to resolve various challenges,” says Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari.

In this application round, support was granted to six CSOs, mainly for their development communication and global education activities in Finland.  The organisations will implement communication campaigns, produce information and learning materials and visit schools.  Many activities target children and youth and strengthen their inclusion and participation.

Organisations also raise awareness of the importance of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, foster peace and security, and promote non-discrimination in Finland. Several organisations also campaign for women’s and girls’ rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights. In the call for applications, which ended in late 2020, a total of approximately EUR 2.5 million was applied for. The EUR 2 million granted is EUR 600,000 million more than was granted in the previous application round in 2018. The support is granted for the organisations’ activities in 2021–2022.

Recipients of grants in 2020Finnish Refugee Council EUR 600,000Finnish Committee for UNICEF EUR 470,000UN Association of Finland EUR 320,000UN Youth of Finland EUR 30,000UN Women Finland EUR 550,000