NATO and sanctions trainings receive special recognition

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ introductory courses on NATO and sanctions were granted special recognition for their topicality and effectiveness at eOppiva Awards 2023. Both courses are available in the government digital learning environment eOppiva.

 

The courses Introduction to NATO(Link to another website.) and Introduction to Sanctions(Link to another website.) received awards at the eOppiva Awards gala held by HAUS Finnish Institute of Public Management Ltd on Thursday 25 April. The gala recognised the best eOppiva courses in 2023. Both courses received recognition for their topicality, relevance and effectiveness.

Finland’s NATO membership process, which was started in spring 2022, created a need to improve basic knowledge of NATO in the central government and in the Finnish society at large.

 “The interest in NATO and Finland’s membership was immense right from the beginning of the membership process. The course ‘Introduction to NATO’ seeks to respond to this need for information and focus on NATO’s fundamental tasks and its role as a defence alliance,” says Markus Räty from the Unit for Security Policy and Crisis Management. He represented the Foreign Ministry in the project’s working group.

The course provides basic information on NATO’s operation and the effects of NATO membership on Finland. It was implemented in collaboration between the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Defence and Finland’s Permanent Representation to NATO. Some 2,100 persons have completed the course so far. The course has received positive user feedback on its interesting and well-structured content.

Introductory course to sanctions provides insights and examples

The increased use of sanctions as a foreign and security policy instrument for safeguarding peace and security and, in particular, the extensive sanctions against Russia led to a considerable need for training among both the authorities implementing the sanctions and companies.

“Last summer, we provided training for more than a hundred central government officials in matters related to sanctions. The training was so popular that we realised we lack the resources to provide training to everyone in need of information in local and state administration, let alone in companies. Online training was the only reasonable solution,” says Head of the Sanctions Team Pia Sarivaara.

The course ‘Introduction to Sanctions’ teaches learners the basics of sanctions and provides them with information sources. It also guides organisations to incorporate sanctions-related work into their normal activities. So far, approximately 2,300 people have completed the sanctions training for Finnish speakers, which was published in December. The course has been praised for its abundant examples and extensive, high-quality overall content. The course was designed in extensive cooperation with national authorities, business representatives and companies.

The course was recently published in English(Link to another website.) at the request of multinational enterprises.

“As far as we know, we are among the first in the EU to provide basic training on sanctions for all interested in the subject. I hope that the course will also benefit authorities and companies in other Member States. We are happy to lend the material, however, we would like to learn more about the demand for it,” says Sarivaara.   

In an EU-wide comparison, Finland is a pioneer in providing an online training platform for the entire central government. Most of the over 200 online courses that have been published on eOppiva are open to everyone.