Project Know Equality

Goals and results

The aim of the project is to improve the methods and structures of collecting discrimination data in Finland so that the information would be more extensively available for use in decision-making. The project supports the discrimination monitoring system coordinated by the Ministry of Justice as well as cooperation and coordination between stakeholders. The project will also strengthen cooperation with new stakeholders by encouraging organisations and groups suffering from discrimination to take part in the monitoring of discrimination.

The Know Equality project supports the goal of enhancing systematic monitoring of discrimination and hate crime in Finland, and the Action Plan for Combating Racism and Promoting Good Relations between Population Groups outlined in the Programme of Prime Minister Marin’s Government (2021–2023).

The project is divided into four work packages, all implemented by the Ministry of Justice.

Work package 1: Project coordination and management

The work package comprises overall project coordination and management, allowing efficient implementation of the actions.

Actions:
• Financial monitoring and continuous reporting in the project portal of the European Commission.
• Internal quality assurance

Work package 2: Enhancing cooperation and coordination between key stakeholders in Finland

The aim of the work package is to strengthen cooperation and coordination between stakeholders. Methods and structures of discrimination data collection will be developed in the work package. The aim is also to encourage organisations and groups suffering from discrimination to take part in the monitoring of discrimination.

Actions:
• Thematic roundtable discussions focusing on the definitions and categories used in the collection of discrimination data, ensuring better access to information on equality of ethnic groups and LGBTI groups, measuring structural discrimination, and human rights principles in the collection of information.
• Thematic information leaflets on the results of roundtable discussions.

Work package 3: Promoting more effective use of discrimination data

The aim of the work package is to enhance the availability and usability of discrimination data in decision-making. The aim is also to encourage the participation of organisations and groups suffering from discrimination in the monitoring of discrimination and increase cooperation and coordination between stakeholders.

Actions:
• Morning coffee events for politicians and decision-makers, in which the equality impacts of topical processes and projects will be discussed.
• Developing electronic tools to ensure better knowledge-based decision-making.
• Tiesitkö, että (Did you know that) -video campaign.
• Visualising the information using infographics.

Work package 4: Multinational learning programme to improve data collection

The aim of the work package is to enhance the methods and structures of discrimination data collection and strengthen cooperation and coordination between stakeholders.

Actions:
• A multinational workshop on the practices used in different countries to collect discrimination data.
• Workshops for organisations on experiences of structural discrimination.
• Preliminary study on the overall picture of the information sources. The focus will be on structural discrimination and how to better monitor it.

Summary

The project Know Equality, which has been granted funding from the Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme of the European Union. The project supports the discrimination monitoring system coordinated by the Ministry of Justice by developing and testing new data collection methods and tools and by strengthening the structures of stakeholder cooperation.