Information about the service
The Info Bank online service supports immigrant integration by providing information on Finnish society and its services in 15 languages, from the perspective of the immigrant user. Info Bank gathers basic information about permits, education and work, housing and social services, society, culture and leisure, and other issues.
The online service targets three key groups:
- immigrants living in Finland
- immigration authorities and
- those planning on moving to Finland
Info Bank caters to immigrants everywhere in Finland, but particularly in the Info Bank member cities. The website contains local information on the Helsinki Region (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen), Turku, Tampere, Kuopio, Rovaniemi and the Province of Kainuu. The service will also be accepting new member cities in the future.
The Info Bank languages are Finnish, Swedish, English, Estonian, French, Russian, Somali, Serbo-Croat, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Chinese, Spanish, Albanian and Kurdish (Sorani). All language versions are identical in format, so that at any point the user can transfer directly to the corresponding text in other language versions.
Info Bank is based on networking, cooperation and information exchange among the authorities, the third sector, immigrants and other partners. Info Bank’s Helsinki editorial team is responsible for general information regarding the online service, as well as for the Helsinki Region section. Other local information is the responsibility of the editorial team in each city.
Info Bank online service reform 2009-2011
During 2009-2011 the online service will be reformed structurally, technically and in terms of content. This will allow Info Bank to provide an improved service for the various immigrant groups. Work-based immigrants, students and refugees, for example, and their different information needs, will be taken into account, while a 15-strong User Panel composed of immigrants has been set up in support of the online reform. The permeating themes at Info Bank are equality and equal opportunity.
The Helsinki Region multicultural information service, Selma, designed for multicultural and immigrant workers, became part of Info Bank during 2009. Maintenance and development of the immigration workers’ website will continue under Info Bank.
A Finnish-language course information service will open as part of Info Bank in 2010, when course information will appear in a more detailed form in Finnish, English and Russian. Course information will be available in Finnish at www.selma-net.fi until the new online service is ready. The information is being renewed under the NEO-Selma ESR project.
Info Bank online service reform is also benefiting from content designed for work-based immigrants which forms part of the 2007-2009 project being run by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki.
Service organisation and funding
The development and reform of Info Bank is made possible by a five-year cooperation agreement (2009-2013) between the government and the municipalities. Government funding partners are the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the Ministry of Education and the Social Insurance Institution of Finland. The project is also applying for State funding from the Ministry of Finance to finance development of the service. The municipal sections are the responsibility of the respective member municipalities. Info Bank operations are guided by a steering group comprising representatives of the funding parties, while administratively Info Bank operates under the Helsinki Cultural Centre.
History
The Info Bank online service came into being through the Open Learning Centre project (Avoin oppimiskeskus -projekti) which ran from 2001 to 2003 as cooperation between the International Cultural Centre Caisa and the Helsinki City Library. Turku and Tampere joined in 2005, followed in 2006 by Rovaniemi, Kuopio and Kainuu Region. The Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen webpages were published in 2009 as part of the Helsinki Region section.
Recognition
2007
European Commission Good Practice label, awarded for high quality online services
2008
State Award for Public Information, International Cultural Centre Caisa and Info Bank
Vuoden Virsu award for good cooperation in development of the Suomi.fi portal