Youth Assembly 2026

Welcome to the Finnish Red Cross Youth Assembly 2026!

The National Youth Committee warmly welcomes all Finnish Red Cross operators below the age of 29 to the Youth Assembly at the Varala Sports Institute in Tampere, 27-29 March 2026!

The Youth Assembly is an influencing channel for the volunteers and employees below the age of 29 in our organisation. The assembly is a way for e.g. monitoring youth participation in our organisation, giving recommendations related to this and collecting the opinions of young people regarding the policy decided by the FRC General Assembly.

Representatives appointed by the FRC districts hold the voting power in the meeting. Representatives with voting rights must be Finnish Red Cross members under the age of 29, but participating in the assembly and the weekend programme is also possible even if you are not an FRC member. The assembly is organised in accordance with the Youth Assembly work instructions.

Programme

The weekend programme features the youth assembly, workshops and more relaxed shared activities. During the weekend, we will prepare for the General Assembly of the Finnish Red Cross to be held in June 2026 and work together to create the Red Cross of young people's dreams. 

The event will not be available remotely or through streaming.

Tentative schedule

Friday, 27 March
16.30 Arrival at the venue possible
17.30–19.00 Dinner
19.00–20.00 Getting to know the other participants
20.00–21.30 Free time
21.00–22.30 Evening snack

Saturday 28 March
7.30–9.00 am Breakfast
9.00–10.45 Assembly programme
10.45–11.30 Outdoor activities
11.30–13.00 Lunch and free time
13.00–15.45 Assembly programme
15.45–16.15 Coffee break
16.15–18.00 Assembly programme
18.00-19.00 Free time
19.00–22.00 Dinner and evening programme

Sunday 29 March
7.30–9.00 am Breakfast
9.00–11.30 Assembly programme
11.30–13.00 Lunch
13.00–14.15 Assembly programme
14.15 Coffee break and return home

Participation fee and registration

The participation fee for the event is €50. The participation fee includes the scheduled meals and programmes, as well as accommodation at the sports institute from Friday to Sunday. The participation fee is the same even if you only participate part of the time and only stay one night. If the participant is not staying at the sports centre, the participation fee is EUR 20. 

Since the Youth Assembly work instructions stipulate that districts appoint their representatives to the assembly, districts are also likely to cover the participation fees of at least those of their representatives that hold voting power. The districts also have the option to cover the participation fees of their observing participants. Districts will coordinate the registration of participants in their region and share with them the link to the registration form. Please contact your district’s employee if you want to attend the Youth Assembly. Contact persons for the districts are listed on this page.

If you wish to attend the Youth Assembly as an observer at your own expense and do not represent any district, please contact the event organiser to register for the event.

Registration for the Youth Assembly is open from 9–22 February 2026. The participation fees will be charged after the event.

Travel and travel expenses

The organiser of the event will reimburse the travel expenses of the event participants using public transport to the extent that the expenses exceed EUR 50 per participant. Train tickets must be Eko-class tickets and, where possible, a student discount or similar should be applied when purchasing tickets. A reimbursement of flight or ship tickets must be agreed with the event organiser before the tickets are purchased. Each participant is responsible for buying their own tickets, unless the district coordinates the purchase of tickets for its representatives.

If you are unable to use public transport or you need to travel by car for a part of the journey, please favour carpooling. For the use of your own car, we will reimburse half of the compensation in the state travel instructions. One-way car journeys of more than 50 km must be agreed in advance with the event organiser. Taxi fares or snacks, etc., purchased for the journey will not be reimbursed. The headquarters will not pay per diems for volunteers or district employees.

You can get to the meeting place, Varala Sports Institute, by taking bus No 10. from the Tampere city centre. The journey from the city centre to the sports institute takes about 15 minutes. For more information on local transport routes in Tampere and tickets, please visit this page.

Some districts may reimburse the participants' share of the travel expenses up to EUR 50 and coordinate the participants' travel arrangements in their own district jointly, so that the participants themselves do not have to purchase the tickets. To find out the practices of your own district, please contact the contact person of your district.

Compensation for travel expenses can be applied for after the event through the M2 software.Instructions on how to use the system will be provided later. Please keep all your receipts and tickets and attach them to your invoice to apply for a reimbursement. Please submit the travel invoice by 31 April 2026.

Participation of minors

Minors who register for the event must have a designated person responsible for them at the event. This person must be at least 25 years old, for example, another volunteer or an FRC employee. The name of this person should be reported at the time of registration. Written permission will be requested from the guardians of all underage participants before the event. The minimum age for the event is 15 years.

Other information about the event

The primary language of the event is Finnish, but the programme on Saturday and Sunday can be translated into Swedish and/or English, depending on the needs of the participants. The need for interpretation must be indicated on the registration form.

Registration for the event can be cancelled free of charge until 22 February 2026. Cancellations received after this date will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis and the registration fee may still be charged unless there is a good reason for the cancellation. Cancellations must be made by email to the event organiser.

If more participants register for the event than the meeting venue can accommodate, the primary participants will be representatives with voting rights.

Accommodation will be arranged in rooms of 2–4 persons in the premises of the sports centre. You can inform us who you would like to room with in connection with registration.

At the event, we will only distribute printed materials to the representatives with voting power who have requested them upon registration. So please bring a computer, tablet or phone that you can use to view the assembly materials.

When registering for the event, participants agree to abide by the FRC’s principles of safer space. Both harassment contact persons and safe adults will be present at the event.

The event is intoxicant-free.

Event organiser

The event is organised by the FRC headquarters' Organisational Development Unit. Youth Activities Coordinator Kirsi Lehtola will be in charge of the event, available by email at kirsi.lehtola@redcross.fi or phone at +358 40 649 5181.