Young people face many challenges during their transition from school to work: navigating the labour market, education and training, securing housing or getting established in a new community. To help young people meet their needs, Finland created universal one stop guidance centres, called “Ohjaamo”, providing face-to-face and free-of-charge wrap-around services to individuals under the age of 30. The Ohjaamo were implemented as part of the Youth Guarantee programme, an initiative of the European Commission, First piloted in 2014, Finland housed 70 local Ohjaamo centres in 2022.
One-stop guidance centres for young people – Finland
Abstract
Ohjaamo centres work as “multi‑agency services” that bring together employment, social and other services in one physical location to overcome administrative silos. Services provided in different Ohjaamos can vary significantly based on local initiative. Some centres, for example, develop far-reaching partnerships with organisations such as chambers of commerce, NGOs and occupational health specialists, while others focus on a more limited set of services. The joint provision of services enables staff to address the various challenges young people face within a single public service – including accessing income support, housing, education and training, as well as mental or physical healthcare, social events, sport and creative activities.
Different administrations involved in Ohjaamo centres provide the staff within the centres. The Finnish Government introduced permanent supplementary funding for Ohjaamos and issued guidelines on the functioning of Ohjaamos. Additional funding for Ohjaamos can vary based on location as municipalities help fund Ohjaamos and provide physical space for activity.
Ohjaamos are a central point where young people receive guidance on and apply for different services. Young people do not need an appointment to receive Ohjaamo services. The “low threshold” method is meant to attract young people who would otherwise not take up employment and social services due to difficulties registering or identifying services. Ohjaamos emphasise face‑to-face services, feedback from young people and services adapted to young peoples’ own pace and preferences. Counsellors from different organisations in Ohjaamos do not always provide social services directly, such as social housing, but accompany young people through the application process. Service methods vary based on location to adapt to the availability of local services and the needs of young people in different places.
Promising but limited data on Ohjaamo outcomes is available for early phases of roll-out. In 2017, young people visited Ohjaamo centres nearly 120 000 times, suggesting 2 400 visits per centre. 22% of all young people for whom data was collected transitioned into open labour market jobs, 32% applied for training while 7% secured a place to live. Feedback from users in 2018 based on 409 respondents at 26 centres also indicates a positive experience among young people. Respondent gave centres an average score of 9.25 for the quality of Ohjaamo guidance on a scale of four to ten.
This practice also supports the implementation of provisions II.7, III.3, IV.5, and VI.2 of the OECD Recommendation on Creating Better Opportunities for Young People (OECD, 2022[1]).
Further reading
[2] European Commission (2018), One-Stop-Shop Guidance Centres for young people (Ohjaamo), https://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=19409&langId=en.
[3] Määttä, M. (2018), “One-Stop Guidance Center – Ready to offer multi-agency services for the young”, Kohtaamo (ESF), ELY-Centre Central Finland, https://www.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/162148/OneStopGuidance.pdf?sequence=5.
[4] OECD (2023), “Integrating local services for individuals in vulnerable situations”, OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Papers, No. 2023/08, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/1596644b-en.
[1] OECD (2022), Recommendation of the Council on Creating Better Opportunities for Young People, https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0474.
[5] OECD (2019), Investing in Youth: Finland, Investing in Youth, Investing in Youth, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/1251a123-en.
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