The project ended on December 2018.
Objectives
The primary objective of the project is to develop control models to promote young men's training opportunities and to reduce the threat of unemployment. The control models give experiences of competence, self-guidance, independence, community feeling and social inclusion. The Matti project strengthens equality between the genders.
Using experiences from unemployed men aged between 15 and 29, the project workshops create user-centred solutions through joint action to support the participants and to identify and utilise self-directing resources. The idea is to improve men's opportunities to be full members of society and to motivate them about studying and looking for work.
Measures
Men of different generations meet at the workshops, sharing their experiences about training, work and unemployment.
Work package 1: Life's Paths workshops. Group process duration 5-10 sessions, once a week, 4 hours at a time. Life's Paths workshop support men's resources, capabilities, engagement and self-guidance. Finding models that support training and employment and improve learning in the process lie at the heart of the joint efforts in the workshops. They are developed on the basis of life's path descriptions, taking into account the varied needs that arise.
Work package 2: Gamification workshops. Group process duration about 10 sessions, once or twice a week, 4 hours at a time. The objective is to create game-like methods to increase young people's feeling of inclusion.
The gamification workshops boost the participants' experiences about inclusion and participation. The target is to create a game-like control model for the workshops, getting the participants hooked on finding a solution through cooperation. The gamification method is applied here, using elements familiar in games and utilising them outside the virtual world. The men take part in the development process from their own standpoints and on a equal footing, seeking a solution – with the assistance and cooperation of their elder peers, project participants and workshop coaches – to a challenge set by a corporate partner.
Work package 3: Assessment, installment and dissemination. These are based on the principles of user-centred service-design and action research material. The objective is to accumulate experience-based information about matters affecting young men's life management and to create methods jointly with them to boost their self-direction in a workshop environment.
In order to instil the workshop results, the employees take part in the design, implementation and assessment of Life's Paths and Gamification workshops and the productisation of the control model developed in the workshops.
Results
Three control models with a user-designed angle will be designed for young men's workshops and also to be utilised in multidisciplinary education and youth, health and social work. The control models identify individual life path experiences, emphasise the recognition of male resources and support young people's independence and self-direction.
Four development proposals by young unemployed men will be developed, including an operating model for existing services and social support functions.
Micro book, an exhibition of life's path descriptions produced by men. One scientific and two professional articles. Dissemination seminar.
Parties implementing the project
Administration and implementation: Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
Contributing implementation: South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences
Other partners
- Helsinki Vocational College's young workshops
- National Workshop Association
- Kouvola branch of the Federation of Finnish Enterprises
- Kouvola Latu
- Kouvola Pensioners
- eight businesses in Helsinki and Kouvola
Additional information
tki-info [at] metropolia.fi (tki-info[at]metropolia[dot]fi)
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
Teija Rautiola
Project manager, Master of Science (Health Care)
Matti - Men's journeys to work (ESF)
Health Promotion
tel. +358 (0)40 630 0351
teija.rautiola [at] metropolia.fi (teija[dot]rautiola[at]metropolia[dot]fi)
