Sharing Cafe

The Sharing Café is a community-based initiative designed to support immigrant women in Vaasa, Finland, who are currently outside the workforce and facing challenges in finding employment. The café will function as a safe, inclusive, and welcoming space where women can build social connections, develop practical skills, and gain confidence to transition into education, training, or employment.

The Saharing Cafe project initiative has become imperative due to the challenges faced by women of immigrant backgrounds when looking for jobs in Finland. Immigrant women experience barriers to employment, including limited Finnish or Swedish language skills, a lack of local work experience, social isolation, and unfamiliarity with the Finnish job market. These challenges are often compounded by caregiving responsibilities and cultural differences. As a result, many women remain excluded from economic participation despite having valuable skills and experience.

The new project by Safe Corner would support women of immigrant backgrounds in working and performing effectively. The activities would consist of open and closed individual counselling sessions.

The goals of this project are to reduce social isolation among immigrant women, to improve language and communication skills in an informal setting, to provide pathways toward employment, education, or entrepreneurship, to build confidence, independence, and a sense of belonging, etc.

The Sharing Café would consist of a monthly gathering space where participants can meet, share experiences, and learn from each other. The café environment will be informal and supportive, encouraging participation regardless of language level or background. The target groups are Immigrant women of all ages who are unemployed, underemployed, or outside the labor market, including stay-at-home mothers and recently arrived migrants.