The Finnish red cross in refugee settlement: Developing the integration timeline as a tool for integration in the kotopolku project

Finland has quite a short history of receiving refugees. Compared to the other western countries, Finland has few immigrants living within its borders: they represent less than 2% of the population. The Finnish government has the responsibility of receiving refugees. Every immigrant who registers as an unemployed job seeker is entitled to a personal integration plan. The role of the NGOs is to supplement the elements and opportunities of these integration plans. What this system needs is the establishment of cooperation between the authorities, the NGOs and the immigrants. The Finnish Red Cross “Kotopolku” project assists the immigrants in their integration process and creates new tools for integration. “The Integration-Timeline” is a tool based on life span theories which aims to assist immigrants in analysing their own integration process in order to be able to make better plans and life strategies for themselves.