The Red Cross of young people’s dreams

What does the Red Cross of young adults’ dreams look like, and through which reforms will we achieve those dreams? How do we strengthen youth agency in the Red Cross?

This review answers these questions by providing information on the needs for change and the means by which we can together make the Finnish Red Cross a more inclusive and inspiring civil society organization for young people under the age of 29. The review was conducted by the FRC National Youth Committee and the Committee for the Development of Youth Volunteerism.

The Red Cross of young people’s dreams

In the dreams of young people, the Red Cross is open, inclusive, non-discriminatory, and diverse. Our activities are equal and safe, and our Principle of Unity guides everything we do. Everyone is welcome to join our activities, and a place can be found in the Red Cross for all volunteers who are committed to the organization’s principles.

Our activities reflect the spirit of the times and offer ways to influence global challenges. It is possible to participate in our activities on a one-off basis, and we support young people's self-directed civic action. We create various opportunities for influence, and advocacy is part of the Red Cross chain of aid.

We are an actor that young people want to spend their time with. We communicate about our activities in an inspiring way, and information about opportunities for action is easily accessible. There is a low threshold for participating in our activities, and we do not set unnecessarily high requirements for participation.

Achieving these dreams requires the renewal of our organizational culture, forms of action, and methods of action

A modern Red Cross of young people’s dreams that enables youth civic agency requires a broad and multidimensional renewal of our organization’s operations. Renewal requires action from every one of us, from individual actors all the way to strategic-level decision-making. Our renewal work is effective when we take the following dimensions of change needs into account.

• At the heart of our success is an inclusive, change-oriented, and change-capable organizational culture. People are interested in volunteering and helping, but our current organizational culture requires renewal so that everyone can find their own way to help and act for a better future for our society within our organization.
• The diversity of our actors and our open attitude toward different opportunities for action create diverse ways of helping. With these new forms of action, we can better respond to diverse needs for help and attract new actors to join our activities.
• Agile, modern, and youth-inspiring methods of action can only be created through the courage to do things differently and by giving young people the space to renew our organization. Current processes and practices, which are often complex or unclear, or communication that fails to reach the target group, do not support active youth agency in our organization.

The following means of renewal support the implementation of our operational guidelines transversally across our entire organization and all our activities.

Renewing our organizational culture requires determined DEI work throughout the organization

Through these means, we will succeed in promoting our organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI):

• We will turn our principles for safer spaces into an effective tool for promoting an open and equal organizational culture and for intervening in inappropriate behavior.
• We will respect our Principle of Unity, for example, by reducing competition between branches and the categorization of volunteers into only specific branches or forms of activity.
• We will communicate actively and accessibly about our actions to promote the inclusiveness and safety of the organization’s operations.
• We will experiment with new ways of working with an open mind, give different actors the power to operate within the framework of our principles, and ensure sufficient resources and support for new types of activities.

Our forms of action must respond more agily to different needs for help and global challenges

Through these means, we will succeed in creating inspiring opportunities for action for young people within our organization:

• We will examine the possibility of short-term and one-off participation in all our current forms of action. When creating new types of aid activities, we will take into account volunteers' interest in participating in activities irregularly.
• We will lower our requirements regarding the expertise and training of volunteers and strengthen the opportunity for learning by doing within our organization.
• We will create support processes for young people’s self-directed and self-managed activities that respond to the needs for help identified by young people and their own interests. Young people's active agency and advocacy work is a form of Red Cross aid that cuts across all our sectors of operation.
• In addition to public authorities and NGO partners, we will engage in stronger cooperation with 4th sector actors to ensure our services and activities are more accessible to more people.

Renewing our methods of action requires the skill to question the status quo and the decision to do things differently

In these ways, we will succeed in lowering the threshold for participating in our organization’s activities:

• We will lighten and streamline our administration, structures, and processes. We will create ways of organizing and practices that support collective action. We will ensure that joining our activities is neither slow nor laborious.
• We will communicate about our activities in a way that is inspiring and reachable for young people. Information related to opportunities for action will be up-to-date and easily accessible. We commit to active cross-boundary communication for our volunteers.
• We will promote the idea in all forms of action that participating in our activities is beneficial for young people, for example, from the perspective of studies or professional life.
• We will create new, light ways to promote the voices of our young actors being heard and their opportunities to influence our organization.

The FRC National Youth Committee and the Committee for the Development of Youth Volunteerism are working during 2024–2026 toward achieving the Red Cross of young adults' dreams. They also continue to encourage and support all of us to do our part in renewing our organization by listening to the wishes and needs of young civic actors.

Further information
Kirsi Lehtola, Youth Activities Coordinator, kirsi.lehtola@redcross.fi

Related publications from other actors

• Kansalaisareena, 2023. Tulevaisuuskatsaus: Kohti tulevaisuuskestävää vapaaehtoistoimintaa (in Finnish)
• Kentauri, 2024. Nuorisoalan järjestöjen tulevaisuus vuonna 2040 - Tuloksia ja skenaarioita nuorisoalan järjestöjen e-Delfoi-paneelista (in Finnish)
• Osana, 2023. Tulevaisuuden näkymät järjestöissä (in Finnish)
• Sitra, 2024. Democracy as a part of everyday life - A study on the barriers to social participation in the lives of young adults
• Sitra, 2022. Demokraattiset osallistumismahdollisuudet Suomessa - Kyselytutkimus kansalaisten ja päättäjien ajatuksista päätöksentekoon osallistumisesta ja demokratian tulevaisuuskuvista (in Finnish)