Maailmanvaihto represents in Finland the ICYE (International Cultural Youth Excange) network.
The ICYE network offers international volunteering opportunities for young people. It operates altogether in over 40 countries in Africa, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Oceania.
The mission is to provide challenging intercultural learning experiences for young people. The network aims at promoting their social and personal development through international volunteer programs as well as promoting intercultural understanding, equality of opportunity, tolerance and peace among people in the world.

Lepola’s kindergarten (Lepolan päiväkoti in Finnish) is a public kindergarten in Jokela. It is situated next to a school with which it works in close cooperation. The staff of the kindergarten includes thirteen persons. There are about 75 children in the kindergarten.

Project's activities:
There are four groups in the kindergarten, and the children are aged from one to six. The kindergarten gives quality early childhood and pre-school education. The staff takes care of children and provides them with daycare in a safe environment together with parents and specialists, for example, psychologists and speech therapists. The kindergarten also tries to make days peaceful and unhurried for the children, and a child-centered orientation is very important in the activities of the kindergarten.

Volunteer's tasks:
The volunteer works as an assistant in a group with children aged from three to five. They also help the staff to organise the daily routines of the kindergarten, such as setting the table, bed-making, clothing arrangement and children’s play moments and games. We can offer the volunteers the possibility to experience Finnish daycare and its ways of working. We can teach the volunteers some methods used in daycare work.

Volunteers live in a host family so it is important to be motivated to adapt to family living. In workdays, the volunteers can eat lunch in the lunchroom with the children and co-workers.

Lepola’s kindergarten is situated in Tuusula, a municipality in Southern Finland. The municipality is very rural and sparsely populated. It is a home for over 36 000 people. The kindergarten is situated in Jokela, the northern centre of Tuusula, some 40 km away from Helsinki to which there is a train connection. It is a community constructed in a garden-city style; its industrial history is linked with an old brickyard. Several lovely pools are a remnant of the brickyard tradition.

The volunteer should have good interaction skills and be motivated to work with kids. We hope that the volunteer will be interested in children and the Finnish daycare system. We also wish that the volunteer is motivated to learn about the local cultural environment and ways of being with children. We hope that the volunteer is spontaneous and brave to meet new challenges.
The physical environment of the workplace is suitable for young people with physical disabilities. Wheelchair access is possible through the front door, and there is an accessible toilet in the building. The people working in the kindergarten do not, however, have the possibility to offer continuous intensive support for the volunteer. Unfortunately, the workplace does not have the resources to organise for a volunteer with sensory disabilities the needed support for fruitful interaction with the children.