Joining Forces for Children and Young People in Stovner, Oslo

Kavli Trust, the Church City Mission (Kirkens Bymisjon) and Ferd Social Entrepreneurs are joining forces to strengthen support for children and young people in the Stovner district of Oslo. The initiative builds on Robust, the Church City Mission’s counselling service for children and young people.

Robust is a volunteer-led, preventative counselling service for children and young people across Oslo who are struggling with worries, conflicts, or other challenges. The service is well known among Oslo schools, school health services, and local child and youth health teams.

Children and young people can visit the central Oslo offices individually to speak with a therapist, with their parents or guardians, or with the whole family together.

– “The conversations can cover anything from feeling lonely or different, arguments over curfews or screen time, or perhaps a parent struggling with their role,” says Bjørn Ander, family therapist at Kirkens Bymisjon Robust and project manager for the new initiative.

Many describe challenges connected to involuntary school absence and, ultimately, school dropout.

Collaboration with Schools

Robust frequently collaborates with schools and school health services on cases they are involved in, offering courses and guidance on how to hold supportive conversations with children and young people.

– “An important principle in our approach is that the child or young person is never the problem. The problem is the problem,” emphasises Bjørn Ander.

– “This requires working with children, young people, and parents to identify values and attitudes that can counteract the problem, thereby building a preferred identity,” he continues.

Short Waiting Times

In 2023, the service in central Oslo held over 2,700 sessions with 600 children and young people. Robust maintains short waiting times from initial contact to the first session. Comparable services can have waits of four to six months.

Strengthening Local Services

Stovner faces significant socio-economic challenges, with the highest proportion of low-income households in the country combined with low employment levels.

Funding from Kavli Trust will support a pilot project establishing a collaborative platform between Robust and other local actors in Stovner.

Part of the Oslo Initiative

The pilot forms part of the broader Oslo initiative, a joint effort launched by Ferd Social Entrepreneurs.

Through strong platforms for collaboration and co-creation, local actors in the district and Robust can pool their expertise to build an accessible, sustainable service for children and young people based on local needs and a nuanced understanding of local challenges.

Recruiting Schools

The project began in January 2024.

– “Our initial focus has been on co-creation with stakeholders in Vestli, Stovner, through workshops and several meetings between Robust, Vestli School, the Parent Council (FAU) at Vestli, and relevant local services,” says Bjørn Ander.

– “We are recruiting two to four schools in the district to build a programme around children’s school life. We have already established collaboration with Vestli School. Here, we can use Robust’s expertise and approach to complement and strengthen existing services and provision,” Ander explains.

Supporting Skills Development

Robust will provide skills development and guidance in supportive conversations with children and young people for schools and school health services.

– “We will also trial a local model of our counselling service in collaboration with Vestli School to meet the needs of children and young people there as effectively as possible,” says Ander.

Local Counselling Service

Initially, the service will offer counselling two days a week. Over a two-year period, the goal is to provide support to up to 200 children and young people in the district.

If the service proves successful, it could be expanded to more schools and scaled up to Grorud and Alna, two districts facing many of the same socio-economic challenges as Stovner.

An Important Initiative

– “The collaboration with Robust is part of Kavli Trust’s focus on children and young people’s mental health. It is important that Robust’s counselling service is accessible in Stovner and Grorud so that more children can benefit,” says Guro Hjetland Sundsby, grant manager at Kavli Trust.

– “At the same time, Robust is working long-term to achieve systemic, positive change through new platforms for cross-sector collaboration and co-creation, which is also a goal of our funding. We are very pleased to be part of the team supporting Robust,” Sundsby adds.

Key Grant Information

• Allocated grants: NOK 4 million
• Recipient: Kirkens Bymisjon
• Project: Robust Stovner
• Project period: 2024–2025

Ferd’s Oslo Initiative

Kavli Trust was introduced to Robust by Ferd Social Entrepreneurs (Ferd SE), who have incorporated Robust into their Oslo initiative.

Sabha Qureshi-Holen, project manager for the Oslo initiative at Ferd SE, highlights that Robust stands out as a service with short waiting times and no referrals required.

"Robust has been an important part of Oslo for many years and is widely used. Nevertheless, it is clear that access to the services is not evenly distributed across the city," says Qureshi-Holen.

"To address this, the Oslo initiative, together with Kavli Trust, aims to establish a new branch of Robust in Groruddalen. Our goal is to improve accessibility and ensure that more children and young people in Oslo benefit from an equitable service," she continues.

Qureshi-Holen emphasises the importance of collaboration between actors. Stimulating and facilitating this is a key part of the Oslo initiative.

"Kavli Trust is an important partner for us, and with a joint and coordinated effort, we can create significant added value. We ensure synergies between our organisations, the boroughs, and the other actors involved, and overall, we get more out of our resources by working together," she explains.

Facts about the Oslo Initiative

• The Oslo initiative was established by Ferd as a joint effort to strengthen opportunities and future prospects for children and young people in four of Oslo’s most underserved districts.
• The initiative supports and strengthens both new and existing measures in the districts, including sports clubs, youth centres, and non-profit organisations.
• Its goal is to expand and further develop these solutions, facilitate increased collaboration, and create effective networks between organisations, districts, schools, and municipal agencies.
• The initiative also aims to foster innovative investment projects by coordinating actors and targeting effort and engagement across sectors.
• In addition, it works to identify new potential areas for collaboration by mapping and leveraging political mandates and initiatives at both municipal and districts levels.