Call for applications for organisations until 7 February 2025

The Advisory Board for ethnic relations (ETNO) is an advisory body appointed by the Government (i.e. the Finnish Government). The Government Decree on the Advisory Board for ethnic relations (771/2015Link to an external website) defines the purpose and structures of the Advisory Board.

The purpose of ETNO is to promote dialogue and cooperation between immigrants and ethnic minorities, authorities, political parties and non-governmental organisations.

ETNO is a national advisory board covering the whole of Finland. The national Advisory Board for ethnic relations is supplemented by seven regional advisory boards that operate in connection with the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres). ETNO's term of office lasts four years at a time.

The next term will start in 2025 and end in 2029.

1. First, you should agree within the organisation that you will apply for membership in the advisory board.
   Reserve enough time for filling in the application form. Only applications submitted within the time limit specified above will be taken into account.


2. Read more about the background material.
   • Read the full application instructions in Finnish or Swedish.
   • Read the application form and questions in Finnish or Swedish.
   • Read the privacy statement here in Finnish or Swedish.


3. Please fill in the application form online (Webropol) in Finnish or Swedish.
   Applications may only be submitted electronically (Webropol form). You can print out and view the application form and questions in Finnish or in Swedish before filling in the Webropol form.
   
   You can apply for membership in one or more ETNOs by submitting a single application form:
   • The national Advisory Board for Ethnic Relations (ETNO)
   • Seven regional ETNOs
   • The national ETNO and a regional ETNO


4. Once the application process has ended, the selection of members will be made.
   All applicants will be informed of the selection at the same time.Submitting an application does not automatically mean that the applicant is selected to the Advisory Board.

Main rule: The following entities can apply for membership

• Registered associations (ry) 
• Registered religious communities (uy)
• Consortiums, in other words several organisations, religious communities or corporate entities together. The main applicant must be a registered entity (ry, uy), but the other applicants may also be more informal entities.
• NB. Foundations, bodies governed by public law, and others: ask for more information about the etno.om@gov.fi 

Additional information:

• The applicant associations and religious communities must represent migrants and ethnic minorities.
• The applicants must have expertise in the tasks and priorities determined for ETNO for the 2025–2029 term.

Organisations and religious communities should apply for membership in ETNO if the following matters are important to them:

• You want to cooperate and network with authorities, organisations and political parties.
• You want to know and hear about topical issues, such as drafting of legislation related to migration.
• You want to enhance dialogue and increase understanding between people.
• You want to intervene in racism experienced by young people.
• You want to increase the participation of migrants and young people in society.
• You want to raise awareness of honour-related violence

When applying for membership in the national Etno, the applicant should think about the following questions.

• Are the applicant's activities well-established (what is the year of establishment of the organisation)?
• Does the applicant operate nationwide (is the organisation an umbrella organisation, for example)?
• Is the applicant motivated to work with experts (expert working groups, statements)?
• Is the applicant driven by opportunities to influence the official structures (such as legislation)?
• Are the applicant's representatives able to participate in the work of various expert working groups and in writing statements in Finnish or Swedish?

Further information

For more information on the application process, please contact the secretariat of the national Advisory Board for Ethnic Relations at the Ministry of Justice: etno.om@gov.fi, tel. +358 295 16001 (switchboard).

Read more about the activities of the national Etno during the 2020–2024 term here (in Finnish).

When applying for membership in a regional Etno, the applicant should think about the following questions: 

• Are the applicant's activities either new or well-established (what is the year of establishment of the organisation)?
• Does the applicant operate locally or regionally?
• Is the applicant motivated to engage in discussion (for example, to participate in dialogues and data collection events)?
• Does the applicant find motivation in concrete activities (such as in organising events)?
• Is the applicant driven by opportunities to influence matters and attitudes in their own locality or at regional level?

Further information

Organisations may apply for membership in seven regional Etnos. For more information on the activities of the regional Etnos, please contact the coordinators of the regional Etnos at the ELY Centres.

See the contact details of the regional Etnos here. 

• Approximately ten associations or religious communities will be selected to the national advisory board.
• There are seven regional advisory boards. To each of them, around five to seven associations or religious communities will be selected.

The most important criteria for evaluating the applications are representativeness and expertise.

• Representativeness: What kind of target group does the applicant represent?
• Activities and expertise: How do the applicant's previous activities support ETNO's tasks determined for the 2025–2029 term?
• In addition to individual applications, the entity formed by the selected organisations and communities together as well as their regional coverage will be taken into account in the selection process.

The selection shall give priority to associations established or represented by immigrants, associations representing ethnic minorities and communities or associations thereof.

Account will also be taken of the situation of different immigrant groups and ethnic minorities in Finland, the extent of the group or community represented by the applicant association at the regional and/or national level, and the applicant association's access to other possible official bodies, such as other national or regional advisory boards and/or councils.

Political parties are represented in ETNO through the parliamentary parties appointed to the national level Advisory Board.

ETNOs objectives for the 2025–2029 term

• Dialogue and trust between different population groups and people will be increased.
• Racism experienced by young people will be reduced.
• The participation of migrants and young people in society will be increased.

ETNOs tasks for the 2025–2029 term

• ETNO will serve as a forum for dialogue and strive to develop dialogue expertise. ETNO will build trust and understanding between people. ETNO will organise dialogues.
• ETNO will improve expertise related to the promotion of good relations between population groups. ETNO will serve as an expert. ETNO will collect regional and local monitoring data on the status of good relations between population groups. ETNO will exert influence by using the data it has collected.
• ETNO will raise awareness of legal means to intervene in honour-related violence.

ETNOs specific priority areas for the 2025–2029 term

• Racism experienced by young people and the related attitudes.
• Participation in society by people who have moved to Finland and their descendant.