Background
Åland is the smallest autonomous region in the Nordic countries. It comprises Swedish-speaking islands located between Finland and Sweden. In December 2024, it had a population of 30,654. Of these, 5,888 (19.2%) were children. The Åland Autonomy Act grants Åland certain legislative powers impacting the lives and rights of children, including those relating to healthcare, social welfare and child protection, education, culture and leisure activities, and youth work. Some of these areas are organised at a regional level under the responsibility of the Åland government, such as healthcare and secondary education, while others function at a regional or municipal level under municipal responsibility.
As a result of Covid-19, the Emergency Powers Act entered into force in Finland in March 2020. Legislation on communicable diseases requires Finnish competency, but the Emergency Powers Act meant that areas that usually fall within the Åland autonomy also became subject to state authority. For two months, schools were closed and organised children’s activities were cancelled.
During this period, the Åland economy was rapidly hit as businesses had to close. Recommendations on quarantine and required testing put constraints on the free movement of people both within Åland and Finland and across the border to Sweden. In April 2020, unemployment in Åland rose to 12.7%, compared to 3.4% in April 2019. Åland society was put under considerable pressure. Children and adults already in a vulnerable situation before the pandemic were at risk of being the hardest hit regarding health and socioeconomic matters (Ålands landskapsregering, 2022). Although the number of cases of Covid-19 in the first few months was rather low, many people were experiencing stress, frustrations, and loneliness due to the pandemic and the restrictions imposed. There were fears of increased gender-based violence such as had been seen in other countries, and the under-reporting to the child protection services during spring 2020 raised concerns as the normal safety nets to protect children were out of play. Input from social services and education professionals to the Ombudsman state[AR1] that the restrictions on contact and meetings made it more difficult to work with a multi-sectoral approach (involving education, social welfare, healthcare, etc.) as there was a perceived lack of common guidelines on how to cooperate or proceed considering contamination risks, etc. As the pandemic continued, the relatively small Åland administration was under considerable strain with rapid changes and ongoing analyses on legislative issues, directives, modifications, updates, and decisions. There was a need to continuously communicate with different stakeholders and the public. Within the remits of its decision-making powers and epidemiological considerations, the Åland government tried not to restrict or close education and leisure activities for children and young people more than necessary. Evaluations were conducted at an early stage to guide policy and preparedness, for instance in the education sector (Eriksson & Lindberg, 2021). The evaluations did not elicit answers directly from children. However, views from children and youth were gathered through other channels as outlined below (Ålands landskapsregering, 2022).
Safeguarding children’s rights during and after the pandemic
Key challenges and lessons learned
The relatively smooth transition from on-site to online learning was possible for many schools as they had already introduced a level of digitalisation in teaching and made digital devices for the pupils available. This helped reduce potential negative effects on children caused by possible variation in digital preparedness between households. However, ensuring equity among children across Åland was a challenge during the pandemic. Being at home meant that children whose parents could work from home had an advantage if their parents were able to assist with schoolwork and lunches, etc., compared to children whose parents had to go their workplace.
Another challenge was safeguarding the rights of children in a vulnerable position, as contacts with adults outside the home were fewer due to restrictions. A meeting between the Ombudsman and school and daycare leaders of the Northern Åland Education District in January 2025 showed that some school professionals experienced that it was hard to get support from professionals in other sectors
The debate on the provision of school lunches during school closures was lively in Åland, as the municipalities had varying approaches. For some children and families, the food provided was extremely important, and it was unfortunate that a polarising discussion ensued in a perceived lack of clear guidelines to the schools and municipalities.
Some of the challenges were addressed through changes to the Åland Education Act, which took effect on 1 January 2021. The changes included more clearly regulating matters such as teaching during distance schooling, provision of school lunches, and how to ensure multi-sectoral support to children during exceptional circumstances.
Overall, the pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital tools, which generally promoted participation and increased the outreach of activities and information throughout the Åland islands in the aftermath of the pandemic. Input to the Ombudsman from education professionals in Archipelago School in February 2025 shows it also facilitated closer cooperation among the schools in the archipelago municipalities and has expanded their support network.
A somewhat unexpected outcome reported by Save the Children Åland in January 2025 is that as adults became better at using digital tools. Their understanding of children’s digital world also increased. Reaching out to children and young people on the platforms they frequent could boost information and in turn participation.
At the height of the crisis, the government gave daily press information with updates on the situation. The information was made available live through local radio and TV, as well as the government’s YouTube channel. Information was mainly given in Swedish, but some efforts were made to provide information in other languages. The speed of updates was a challenge.
There was some information shared through the media, the websites of authorities and organisations, and social media on how to talk to children about the pandemic. Information about phone and chat support services for children and young people was also shared. However, not much information was aimed directly at children and youth from the authorities.
At a national level in Finland, some efforts were made to communicate directly with children. For Åland, information in Swedish at the national level is of utmost importance, especially in times of crisis. Being on the border, Åland’s population gets a lot of information from Sweden. However, the national strategies dealing with the pandemic in the two countries were very different. Therefore, a lack of information in Swedish in general, and information in Swedish aimed at children in particular at the beginning of the pandemic, caused some uncertainty.
Promising initiatives
A new initiative the Åland government took was to hold online meetings during spring 2020 with municipalities and civil society actors to consult and share information on the situation concerning children’s rights among other things. Using such forms of agile consultations can be fruitful to shape strategies in an ongoing crisis and could be further developed as a platform for exchange on various themes in normal circumstances.
Save the Children Åland is an important resource for enabling children’s participation in Åland outside the school and daycare environment. Relations, trust, methods, and expertise have been developed before, during, and after the pandemic. Through cooperation with the government, Save the Children Åland has facilitated children’s right to be heard in areas such as developing the curriculum for daycare through the provision of methods and materials (2021–2022) and new traffic legislation (Varsa, 2022). Another promising initiative has been organising a youth council under the umbrella of the Åland federation of organisations working to promote rights of persons with disabilities that was carried out in 2021–2022. The forum gathered young people with disabilities aged 13–24 and held many discussions including sharing experiences from the pandemic.
Both before and after the pandemic, there has been great concern about the health and well-being of children. Improving the situation is a priority for many actors in the governmental and non-governmental sectors. In November 2022, the Åland government launched a 3.5-year project aimed at addressing structural barriers to children’s and young people’s health and well-being. In 2023, it facilitated a pilot on Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM) in one of the schools. The evaluation of the pilot shows that four out of five pupils thought that YAM helped to improve their knowledge of mental health, stress, and crises.