RadicalWeb

Save the Children Finland

Save the Children Finland is a politically and religiously independent non-governmental organisation founded in 1922.

Save the Children is made up of Save the Children International and 30 member organisations raising funds and running programmes domestically and/or internationally.

Save the Children International is based in London.

Type of Organisation: NGO

RadicalWeb is a project implemented by Save the Children Finland. It aims to prevent online extremism and radicalisation that threatens young people’s welfare and rights. The overall objective is to build societal resilience by increasing the capacity of youth workers to counter and prevent radicalisation in youth.

The main aim of the project is training youth workers and other professionals working with young people on the issue of violent radicalisation and extremism. The purpose of the trainings is to increase understanding on the phenomenon and its possible manifestations and introduce tools to enable dialogue on the subject. Furthermore, these trainings aim to convey the idea of youth work being key in preventing violent radicalisation. In addition to these day-long trainings, the project will organise in-depth workshops on key issues based on feedback from the trainings.

Additionally, the project conducts research on how violent extremism and radicalisation manifest online. The project aims to increase understanding on the manifestation and spread of extremism in Finnish online environments.

A pilot training was conducted at the end of 2018. A pilot project was carried out in 2019, and the current phase is ongoing (2020-2022).

The project is funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.

Content of the training

The training utilises a presentation that covers the following sections:

• Addressing one’s own biases and preconceptions
• What is violent extremism and radicalisation?
• What causes violent extremism and radicalisation?
• The role and effects of the internet
• Group work on fictional cases
• A presentation by a former skinhead who has over 10 years’ experience in youth work and currently works on exit programming
• The situation in Finland
• National cooperation and legislation on P/CVE on the national and local levels in Finland
• Understanding radicalisation: How can radicalisation manifest in young people? How to recognise the signs?
• Intervention and discussing the issue with young people: An overview of tools created by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare on addressing difficult issues and concerns pertaining to them
• Group work: discussing personal cases that youth workers raise during the training

The pilot phase of the project conducted five trainings and published one report.

The current phase of the project will conduct 10 trainings, 15 in-depth workshops and an online training module.

Additionally, two reports will be published on the subject. One report on radicalisation in Finnish online environments, particularly far-right extremism, was published in early 2020. The report was completed during the pilot phase in 2019 and can be found in English online.

Published in September 2021, the second report explored how extremist groups recruit young people, with a focus on online environments. The report has not yet been translated into English but has been published online in Finnish.

Address

Save the Children Finland
Koskelantie 38, 00600
Helsinki, Finland

Contact person: Veera Tuomala and Annukka Kurki
Telephone: (+35) 850 471 9640
radicalwebsavethechildren [dot] fi (Email) | Website