I-CLAIM Stakeholders’ Meeting (Helsinki, Finland)

The stakeholder meeting of the Finnish team was held in the Deaconess Institute in Helsinki. 19 participants attended the meeting, which started with breakfast and then continued with a presentation about the I-Claim project, and the draft policy analysis report. Anne Hammad (Director of Immigrant Service, the Deaconess Institute) gave a short introductory speech and then the meeting continued with Lena Näre’s presentation about the goals of the research project, the concept of irregularity and the different work packages. Paula Merikoski continued with an overview about the report and presented some of the key issues and factors that produce and have increased irregularity in Finland. A timeline of key legal and policy changes in the past 20 years in Finland was also presented by Salla-Mari Karti.

After the researchers’ presentation, the participants were divided into two groups, each group was assigned a theme and questions formulated by the researchers beforehand. The groups were encouraged to discuss the given theme while note takers participated in both groups. 30 minutes was given for the discussion and afterwards, both groups presented the key points from the discussions.

The two themes were family and work through the perspective of different services that are available for people in irregular situation in Finland.

This will be a closed meeting where Chatham House rules will apply.