Wellbeing and welfare start with learning. Finland is famous for its equal approach to education and the economic, social and mental welfare it creates. However, education is inherited just like height and weight. 4% of university graduates have parents with basic education, whereas 45% have parents with university degrees. And it’s difficult to dream of something you don’t see – whether it’s being a crane operator, a drone pilot or a toy designer.
Svenska folkskolans vänner has decided to help children to defy predictions and thrive beyond them!
SFV Start! Challenge seeks social innovations to help all children and young people thrive in their lives regardless of their background. We are looking for new solutions that tackle inequalities so that everyone has a chance to reach their full learning potential. The inequalities also affect the lives of children and youth in the Swedish speaking language group in Finland and the solutions need to be applicable to these communities. The innovations could be new services, new teaching methods or pedagogical approaches or for instance solutions based on innovative forms of cooperation between actors.
The team wants to implement a new kind of participation pedagogy based on transformative hope for early childhood pedagogy, preschool and primary school. The system stresses the importance of supporting children's and teachers' reflective dialogues and a sense of hope for the future.
This challenge seeks social innovations to help all children and young people (0–20 years of age) thrive by learning. We are looking for solutions to overcome the growing inequality in the chance to learn and pursue education.
The solutions may relate to any area of life, such as school, work life, home environment and free time and may target one or more relevant actors, such as students directly, parents, coaches and community.
12 teams admitted to the competition
Each admitted team receives 1000 EUR as a seed fund for the experimentation phase in the acceleration
During the semifinals 6 teams are picked to proceed to the final
The winning team gets 100 000 EUR to further develop and implement the solution
SFV will evaluate the impact of the winning concept at a later stage
(The application has ended)
The SFV Start! is open for everyone to apply. Participation in the challenge is done as a team, which must have at least three members or parties. There is no maximum team size. Team members can be organizations or natural persons.
Preparation & Submission
by June 23, noon EEST
Acceleration
phase
Sept 1 to Oct 13
Semifinals &
Finals
Dec 2, March 10
The submission time ended on June 23, 2021 noon (12:00) EEST. The jury will select and notify the 12 participating teams. These teams will be publicly announced by the end of August 2021.
The journey of the finalists begins on September 1st 2021, when the teams will meet and get to know the SFV association. After that teams will be supported in developing, testing and experimenting their ideas during a bootcamp held September 15-16 and a workshop arranged on October 13, 2021. This support will help develop the teams’ ideas and move them toward a real, implementable solution.
During the semifinals held on December 2nd 2021, 6 teams are chosen to continue in the competition. They will be further supported with developing their solutions in a workshop on January 11 2022. The competition final is held on March 10, 2022. There, the teams will present the finalized solutions to the jury. The jury retrieves and the winners are announced on March 22, 2022.
This is when the winners’ work really begins: they will use the prize money to implement and scale their solutions.
Julia Jousilahti / Demos Helsinki julia.jousilahti@demoshelsinki.fi +358 40 722 4931 |
Niklas Wahlström / SFV niklas.wahlstrom@sfv.fi +358 50 548 2100 |