An Interview with our piloting partner Nicehearts ry
This week we introduce Nicehearts ry, one of our piloting partners. We were fortunate enough to interview Sanna Heikkinen. She has 20 years of international NGO and youth worker experience both in Finland and abroad and has been with Nicehearts since 2013 as a team manager and project coordinator.
Nicehearts was established in 2001 with the aim of producing community-based activities for girls and women of different ages and backgrounds. They work in Finland’s cities of Vantaa, Espoo and Helsinki as well as in the region of South Carelia in Eastern Finland. Since its founding 19 years ago Nicehearts has grown to 30 fulltime employees as their numbers and services have developed and increased. Yet still it has retained the aim to enable women and girls to find their place as unique and equal members of society, through their team of safe and supportive adults who are both gender and culturally sensitive.
They have two main types of services to help those in need. First, they provide day to day social support for women who need individual help and assistance with everyday struggles. Secondly they provide social, peer and activity groups for girls and women. These services vary, for example support for those who want become active in the job market or the provision of volunteer opportunities. Nicehearts also run closed and open groups for activities and peer support. Groups and their specific theme or purpose are created by the Nicehearts team who are sensitive to the community’s needs, but also can form from the groups themselves. These groups can also help others over time through their own volunteer work and have even organised activities in different cities- becoming agents of change in their own communities.
As Sanna stated: “We all have the potential to be actors in our own lives if we are provided the opportunity to be heard and seen, we all have the possibility to be really powerful… no matter who comes through our doors, we see a person who has tremendous potential”.
In the groups, peers come together and are present and immersed in discussions, finding support from each other as a Nicehearts coordinator facilitates the groups. This is not isolated to a group setting, friendships move outside of the centre where women can continue to spend time with those who understand their perspective and experience, be it through ethnic background, language or personal situation. They can be seen and heard by the others in the groups, and it is here Sanna noted the most feedback from participants due to their positive experiences of finding social peer support.
Nicehearts are therefore able to provide for different situations in young girls, teenagers and women’s lives. Whilst the groups are for women and girls only, men are able to come and see the centres but not participate. This can lead to some opposition from home but fortunately Nicehearts has faced little opposition itself.
However, one struggle is that funding is always needed, as societal issues such as mental wellbeing, sexual harassment or familial violence are becoming more visible in society, and thus the need for centres such as Nicehearts and the necessity of their services are ever growing. Young women need a place to be heard and find their voice.
We are proud to be partnered with Nicehearts and of their continual work to celebrate diversity, unity and support the women in their midst. For more information on specific details on our mission see our blog post “Every Girl has the right to education”, or join us on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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Content and interview: Emily Stamp
Visuals: Kristina Mancheva
