Finn Church Aid (FCA) grew from a recipient of aid into Finland’s largest organization within development cooperation and second largest provider of humanitarian aid. Now we have a reason to celebrate!
Our 70th anniversary is commemorated in various ways during the year. We begin with a modification of our website’s logo. The actual birthday is celebrated in September.
This is where it started. FCA was founded in 1947, although its name only goes back to 1965. That’s when the Lutheran Church in Finland took part in founding the Lutheran World Federation. Finland was in tatters after years of war, and FCA was the recipient of aid from countries supporting the reconstruction. The picture shows the signing of the Lutheran World Federation’s founding documents in Lund, Sweden.
Photo: LWB Photo
Aiding Biafra and Vietnam. FCA arranged its first aid Come and help campaign in the mid-1960’s in support of Biafra (today’s Nigeria) and Vietnam, as well as the victims of the earthquake in Peru and the famine in Ethiopia. The picture is from the delivery of food aid to Biafra.
Photo: LWF National Committee in Finland
Celebrities get involved. In 1970, Pippi Longstocking (Inger Nilsson) participated twice in children’s parties in Helsinki, collecting money for undernourished children in Nigeria. The campaign resulted in a total of 45 000 mark.
Photo: FCA
Kosovo in our minds. FCA helped Jugoslavian war victims in Kosovo as a part of the reconstruction of Mitrovica. Finnish engineers also participated in the project.
Photo: Martti Lintunen
Focus on fragile states. In 2016, FCA’s budget was around 40 million euros, and its work focuses on the most vulnerable people in about 15 countries. We work for everyone’s right to peace, quality education and sustainable livelihoods.
Food aid arrives to the village of Bukhel, Nepal in the aftermath of the earthquake in 2015. Photo: Antti Helin
Helsinki, Finland — Experts from around the world will gather this week at the ‘Responding to crises’ conference in Helsinki. The main goal of the event is to strengthen international responses by improving knowledge about current, unexpected, and future crises — ranging from large numbers of refugees to economic shocks to natural disasters.
The event, held 23-24 September, also aims to provide a forum for knowledge-sharing and vigorous debate, part of UNU-WIDER’s core mission to promote sustainable and equitable development for all.
‘The global community needs to get the facts right to ensure that we provide effective and efficient responses to crises. Our conference is an important step towards building a common understanding of the challenges being faced and how they can be addressed, while keeping in mind that each crisis is unique. One of the key ways in which we are doing this is by engaging development partners at all levels’, says Finn Tarp, Director of UNU-WIDER.
Conference brings together world-class experts
Among the diverse group of speakers is Elisabeth Rehn, a former Minister of Defence of Finland. She will deliver a keynote address on Friday morning, touching on the importance of inclusive responses and the role of women in their delivery. Other notable speakers at the two-day event include David Crawford of Oxfam, who will talk about valuable lessons learned in humanitarian response, and Blandina Kilama, a researcher with the Tanzanian think tank REPOA, who will speak on hunger and food security.
The conference programme features a variety of topics, including the economic and social impacts of crises, as well as the resources required to address them. Special sessions have also been organized on refugees and integration, as well as migration governance — timely themes given the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants earlier this week in New York.
About UNU-WIDER
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) began operations over three decades ago in Helsinki, Finland, as the first research centre of the United Nations University. Today it is a unique blend of think tank, research institute, and UN agency — providing a range of services from policy advice to governments to high-quality freely available original research.
Access to Quality Education in Responding to Crises
The right to education is most at risk during emergencies but it is also the exact time when it is needed the most. Conflict is a major barrier to education. Globally 63 million out-of-school children and youth live in conflict-affected areas.
As part of the conference, Finn Church Aid (FCA) is organising a panel discussion tackling challenges in Education in Emergencies. Experts in this panel will especially focus on need of innovative solutions for quality learning for children and youth on the move. This session also discusses the need of joining up governments and humanitarian and development actors to deliver a more collaborative and rapid response to meet the educational needs of children and youth affected by crises.
Chair: Dean Brooks (Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies)
Panelists: Aboubakar Moukadas-Noure (Minister of Education, Central African Republic), Rana Abdullah Ahmed (Iraq), Johanna Kurki (FCA)
Contact details
For press inquiries, please contact Annett Victorero, Communications Coordinator, UNU-WIDER
For inquiries about FCA’s panel session and work, plase contact Minna Elo, Communication Officer, FCA
minna.elo(at)kua.fi, tel. +358 50 3309747
Eritrean Minister of Foreign Affairs Osman Saleh Mohammed, Presidential Adviser Yemane Ghebreab and Ambassador Yonas Manna visited the Finn Church Aid offices on 14 April. The Eritrean delegation met with the Chairperson of FCA board, Tarja Kantola and Director of International Cooperation Tomi Järvinen.
The meetings provided an opportunity to take stock of the cooperation between Finn Church Aid and Eritrea in supporting Eritrean education sector development since the beginning of 2015. The meeting confirmed that since its inception, the cooperation has successfully contributed to the Eritrean education sector development, including the teacher education and curriculum development.
“The results of the ongoing cooperation are very encouraging”, said Kantola.
“FCA is committed to continuing its support to the Eritrean youth’s right to quality education”.
Youth employment in Eritrea was also discussed.
“FCA’s experience in diversifying and improving livelihoods, vocational training and linking learning to earning provide good opportunities to discuss further cooperation in Eritrea”, said Järvinen.
FCA is working in cooperation with Eritrean teacher training institutions and education officials to develop the capacities of teachers and teacher trainers to ensure that Eritrean children and youth have the opportunity to learn with professional and motivated teachers. FCA is also supporting the establishment of Eritrea’s first national innovation centre.
The delegation was in Finland by the invitation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
For more information:
Director of International Cooperation, Mr. Tomi Järvinen, p. +358 40 641 8209