Red Cross / EU Office

Finnish Red Cross

Address:

P.O. Box 168
00141 - Helsinki
Tel: +358 9 12931
Fax: +358 9 1293226
Email: info@redcross.fi
Website: www.redcross.fi/

Legal Basis:
Mission:

The Finnish Red Cross mission, as stated in its statutes, is to:
  • Assist and support the most vulnerable, both at home and abroad
  • Complement disaster preparedness and social welfare services provided by the State
  • Assist public authorities in times of war and national emergencies
Constituency:

The Finnish RC structure covers both the administrative regions (Red Cross Districts) and all municipal communities (Red Cross Branches) in Finland with:
  • 12 districts
  • 596 local branches
Organisation/planning:

New strategic plan

The Finnish RC’s present mission statement was adopted by the General Assembly in August 1999, enhanced by the 2002 GA with guidelines and goals to be reached before 2008. The statement was developed through participation of the local branches and co-ordinated with the Federation Strategy 2010.

Leadership:

The General Assembly is the highest decision-making body, where branches are represented in proportion to their membership. The Assembly adopts the guidelines for Finnish RC activities and its budget and elects the President and Vice-Presidents. It also makes recommendations for all Finnish RC bodies and elects members of the Council and the Board.

The Council approves the Board’s annual financial and activity report.

The National Board approves the organisation's annual activity plan and the common financial plan for the districts and the headquarters as well as the HQ's budget. It monitors the implementation of the decisions made by the GA, the Council and the National Board itself.

The Secretary General runs the HQ Secretariat, which prepares and presents the activity plans and budgets to the governing bodies and implements the decisions made by them.

Districts are in charge of regional activities. Their main task is to support the branches.

Branches are in charge of local activities according to national guidelines and policies. Branches and districts are legal entities and have their own governing bodies: Annual Meetings and Boards.
 
Challenge:

Social benefits: The economic situation in Finland is good and the living standard high, however there are increasing gaps in social welfare provision.

Unemployment: The country’s official unemployment rate was (2003 est) 9.0% of whom 24% have been out of work for more than a year. The unemployment situation is most difficult in eastern and northern Finland.

Paid staff:

1,088 - 114 at HQ (70 % women), 104 in districts and 870 in the institutions (blood transfusion service, emergency shelters for youth, ambulances and other professional institutions within the Finnish RC)

Volunteers:

45,000 active, incl. some 18 000 voluntary collectors (60-70 % women): 9,000 in social and health services, 6,000 in first aid groups and 2,000 involved in youth activities besides voluntary collectors; about 200,000 regular blood donors, and 65,000 regular donors to the Disaster Relief Fund

Members:

About 95 000 members

Domestic Activities
Refugee assistance and multi-cultural work:

Finnish RC is the main refugee-assisting organisation in Finland in the field of reception and integration. It trains volunteers, organises visiting services and group activities for refugees and immigrants and provides social counselling.
The Blood Transfusion Service(BTS) is a financially and operationally independent national organisation under the aegis of the Finnish RC. Its mission is to ensure effective and safe transfusion practice throughout the country with the aim of national self-sufficiency. BTS is responsible for the blood service for the entire country, which entails blood collection, the manufacture of blood products and maintenance of a register of bone marrow donors. There are 600 paid staff; 200,000 individuals donate approximately 320,000 units of blood.
The branches participate in joint activities with over 46 member organisations of the Voluntary Rescue Service (such as in tracing the missing or in support activities following accidents); Finnish RC acts as co-ordinator of the Voluntary Rescue Service. Finnish RC’s 1,700 first aid trainers train more than 100,000 people every year.

Finnish RC project on safety standards in nature tourism
The project Safely in Nature received co-financing from the Civil Protection Action Programme in 2001. It has the purpose to prepare common safety standards for nature travel. Project Objectives are:
  1. to develop a high quality safety standard aimed at preventing accidents and safeguarding efficient rescue services
  2. to establish, train and equip high quality, multiprofessional and skilled rescue teams
  3. to create safety guidelines for tourists in the area in order to prevent accidents
  4. to increase public awareness of safety in nature tourism.
Volunteers run club activities and are involved in organising trips, holidays, and other leisure activities for elderly people. The aim is to enrich elderly people’s lives with meaningful activities and to increase the quality of life of people in old age. Senior citizens are also invited to participate in different sectors at FRC.Fighting discrimination & promotion of tolerance
Tolerance and inter-cultural values are promoted by organising public campaigns, training courses and by working together with refugee/immigrants' associations. Finnish RC also offers tracing services and operates two reception centres. The Finnish RC advocates for human rights based refugee and migration policy.
Local branches take care of public safety by providing first aid attendance to some 24,000 people at more than 4,000 public events each year.
  • AIDS programme: This is centred on information campaigns and training courses, a national AIDS hotline, and support for HIV-infected people, their families or anybody seeking information.
  • Drug programme: In September 2000 Finnish RC started a preventive drug programme. The objective is to influence the attitudes of young people so that they do not start using drugs.
  • Ortohopaedic service: Respecta, co-owned by the Finnish RC, continues the manufacturing of limb prostheses and provides other appliances.
SPRING

Spring's purpose is to create a social enterprise model, which will open employment opportunities for the unemployed and help people with the biggest barriers to find an access to work life.

Participating groups are: long term unemployed, youth drop-outs from school, ageing women, immigrants -especially women-, persons recovering form mental problems, and disabled persons

End products of Spring are:
Visit http://www.redcross.fi/spring/ for more information.
These services aim to prevent different forms of social exclusion and promote health and safety, with the help of 10,000 volunteers and approximately 400 employees. Special social and health services include:
Finnish RC provides support and activities for children and youth ranging from first aid activities, voluntary youth groups, camps and youth exchanges to school co-operation projects for international activities. This is done with the help of 1700 active volunteers, 200 youth leaders and 16 staff members.
International Activites: Humanitarian Aid
International Activites: Development Activities
Personnel:

18 employees

Amount spent on international work:

21,209 million Euro spent on international work (2003)

Delegates:

111 delegate contracts in 2003. Finnish RC has also supported financially 6 regionally recruited delegates during 2003.

Countries of Operation:
Membership in RCRC networks:
Country Information

Red Cross/EU Office