A year of growth, community building, and laying foundations for the future
In 2024, Green Sisu transformed from a small initiative into a growing political community for international and non-Finnish speakers committed to green values. We identified a gap in Finland: passionate individuals with green values needed a political platform where language barriers wouldn’t hinder their participation.
Building an international green community
This year was all about building our capacity. We began the year with just 10 members and reached 32 members by the end of the year. We established essential structures and communication channels to support broader participation. Our town hall meetings, online events, and active chat groups have become the backbone of a community where everyone can discuss politics in English.
We want to build a welcoming group, and that starts with accessibility and openness. Early in the year we chose to open our board meetings to everyone. This decision led to our monthly town hall meetings, held on the first Monday of each month. These regular town halls provided a reliable platform for connections, idea-sharing, and building relationships among green-minded internationals. Understanding that joining a political association can be intimidating, we prioritized personal connections. Most new members received a welcome call.
Live event with MP Krista Mikkonen in Kuopio, December 2024 (Instagram).
English-language political dialogue in public
One of the biggest barriers for foreigners in Finnish politics is that the politicians generally do not write or speak in English even about the topics that are directly influencing the newcomers in the country. To tackle that we hosted events with members of the parliament and helped the green politicians to publish articles in English. Our online discussion with MP Maria Ohisalo and live events with MP Alviina Alametsä and and MP Krista Mikkonen showed strong international interest in engaging with decision-makers in English—something rare in Finland. The Green Party leader Sofia Virta wrote in English about the government’s disturbing anti-immigration policies.
In August we hosted a Science Thursday online event featuring doctoral graduate Quivine Ndomo, who presented findings from her groundbreaking research on the challenges faced by migrants in the Finnish labour market.
Elections are obviously an important part of political life. Many internationals in Finland have voting rights in the upcoming 2025 local elections but may not know it or feel disconnected from Finnish politics. To tackle that, the Green Sisu members started a collaborative project: creating multilingual “You Can Vote” flyers. Our members design, translate, and distribute these flyers. We have printed 9000 flyers and will provide fliers to Green associations and candidates by mail (order yours from the link). Additionally, we are actively recruiting Green Sisu candidates for the municipal elections, who we plan to actively support in their campaign through several means.
New flyers fresh out from the press (order yours from here)
Evolving as an Organization
Behind the scenes, we worked to create structures that support our growth while minimising bureaucracy, allowing our volunteers to make the most impact. We streamlined our governance by updating our bylaws and moving to a single annual meeting format, freeing up energy for meaningful activities instead of administrative tasks.
This year, we refreshed our website and started to actively publish blog posts and translated articles in the Verde online magazine. We also increased our presence on social media channels. Our digital presence grew organically, reaching potential members across various social media platforms. The steady increase in membership through these channels confirmed the demand for English-language green political content in Finland. This is a good start, but we do know that the level of our activity in internal chats and events is not yet fully reflected in our social media, there is still room for improvement. Besides these public channels, we established a regular members newsletter and developed a WhatsApp community for our members and like-minded non-members.
Owain Hopeaketo from Green Sisu convincing the Green Party congress audience on why we need Finnish politics also in English (read the speech).
Looking Forward to 2025
Green Sisu’s growth is best reflected in our expanded new board for 2025, now consisting of eleven members: Antti Poikola (Chair), Kelvin Jackson, Nikolay Gofman, Owain Hopeaketo, Sakari Kouti, Sjoerd Handgraaf, Teemu Ropponen, Theresia Bilola, and Usman Rasheed, with Marjaana Mäkinen and Denis Ruysschaert as alternates.
We’re starting 2025 with energy and purpose, kicking off with our first town hall on January 6th online and live in central Helsinki. This meeting will focus on the “big language debate”: immigration and Finnish language acquisition, possibilities to find jobs and get services without full Finnish proficiency, a Green perspective on taking care of the Finnish language and culture, together with immigrants —key topics for international integration in Finland. These monthly town halls remain our main forum for members to shape the association’s direction and activities.
The foundation we built in 2024 prepares us for hopefully even greater impact in 2025. As we continue to grow, we stay committed to our mission: creating a political home for internationals who share green values and want to contribute to Finland’s future. Whether you’re a current member, considering joining, or curious about green politics in English, we invite you to join us on this journey.
Interested in joining? Visit greensisu.fi to learn more about membership or attend our next town hall meeting.