Women-only activities

Practice Aim

To offer the women living in reception centres meaningful action in comfortable environment: women-only sport or cultural activities or trips, for example visits to swimming pools and clubs for handicrafts, cooking or art. The activities are tutored by either reception centre professionals or volunteers.

Target Groups

Asylum seeking women in reception centers.

Identification of stakeholders that made an identification of the practice

Reception centre professionals of reception centres sustained by the Finnish Red Cross, focus group discussions

Criteria actors or stakeholder are using to assess them as a “good practice”

Attention of a particular group of asylum seekers

Name and leading organization (contact details provided)

Reception centres sustained by the Finnish Red Cross

Application setting

Additional activities, that are provided in reception centres apart from the statutory reception services, such as gyms and football, are not often attracting women. Moreover, some women appreciate group activities that are targeted only for women. Some centres are providing woman-only activities.

Objectives

To offer the women living in reception centres meaningful action in comfortable environment.

Length

Ongoing.

Requirements/ accessibility issues

Mothers of small children need someone to take care of their children in order to participate the activity.

Performance procedures

The performance of the procedure varies from centre to another. Activities include, for instance, women-only sport or cultural activities or trips, for example visits to swimming pools and clubs for handicrafts, cooking or art. The activities are tutored by either reception centre professionals or volunteers. The amount of group activity varies from weekly activities to occasional trips/visits.

Difficulties or constrains for its implementation

Human recourses of the reception services. The anxiety caused by the liminal situation of asylum seeking and issues related to asylum investigation may decrease the motivation of asylum seeking women to participate in the activities.