How EHYT ry (Finnish Association for Substance Abuse Prevention) uses Open Badges in volunteer work and educational activities.

1. Open Badges in
Finnish Association
for Substance Abuse
Prevention EHYT
Mika Piipponen
Network Coordinator
Vahvistamo, Center of Expertise for the field of
Youth Work

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Finnish Association for
Substance Abuse Prevention EHYT
EHYT works throughout Finland to promote health and
prevent the harm caused by alcohol, drugs, tobacco,
gambling and digital gaming.
• Our aim is to improve well-being across Finnish
society among all age groups.
• A nation-wide non-governmental organization with
approximately 70 employees.
• The central office is located in Helsinki, Finland. In
addition, EHYT has a number of regional staff
members working across the country.
• We carry out our work on a one-to-one basis,
through school visits, parents’ evenings, substance-
free social spaces and social media; in communities,
including schools, workplaces, municipalities and
student organizations.

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Open Badges in EHYT’s
Volunteer work
• EHYT has 110 mostly volunteer
based member organizations
• EHYT launched Open Badges in
autumn 2015 as part of the
development process of the
organization’s volunteer work
• The aim was to create a tool for
recognizing competence and
rewarding volunteers for their
participation
• Over 400 badge earners

4. Open Badges in
EHYT’s educational
activities
• Soon after the launch Open Badges
were also introduced in EHYT’s
educational activities
• Mainly used as a certificate of
participation
• Over 700 badge earners

5. Päihdepäivät –
“Substance abuse
prevention days”
coaching event
• Event with multiple concurrent
seminars on various topics
• Open Badge was first used in 2017
event for volunteers
• In 2018 OB was also used to
recognize participants’
personal learning process
through a Badge
Application

6. Open Badge in
• About 70 freelance educators
around Finland
• EHYT trains each educator, which
includes additional training
• Different educators have different
areas of expertise (e.g. subtance
abuse prevention or digital
gaming)
• With OB we can recognize their
skills and also ensure that their
training is up to date
EHYT’s Educator
Network

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Vahvistamo - Center of Expertise
for the field of Youth Work
Implemented in co-operation with The Finnish
Association for Mental Health, Youth Mental Health
Association – Yeesi and EHYT
• Aim is to improve the knowledge and competence of
professionals in the field of Youth Work about mental
health promotion, substance abuse prevention and
gambling and digital gaming harm prevention
• Aim is to use Open Badges in many different ways
• A certificate of participation in training
• A certificate of participation in co-development
• Recognizing previously acquired competencies

8. What kind of challenges we’ve faced
• Creating a comprehensive and functional system requires time and careful
planning
• EHYT has a wide range of activities, operating environments and target groups
(from youth to senior citizens)
• Different activities and target groups have different needs for recognition of
competence  This should be considered when planning Open Badges
• If the target group doesn’t find the Badge useful, they probably won’t use it
• Some target groups are accustomed to the traditional paper-based certificates
• They may experience that Open Badge doesn’t have the same value
• The lack of e-skills also sometimes pose challenges for receiving Open
Badges  They don’t want to sign in and use Open Badge Passport
• In some cases, the number of accepted Badges is quite small, whereas with some
Badges the acceptance percentage is almost 100%
• It seems that Badges that need a Badge Application have higher acceptance
rate

9. Thank you!
Mika Piipponen
Network Coordinator
Vahvistamo, Center of Expertise for the field of Youth Work
mika.piipponen@ehyt.fi