Rural
Central Finland Leader for the people The youth: the future of rural areas Innovative Village
Editorial
Tour of rural
Central Finland This magazine is about the rural areas in Central Finland and their residents. It includes articles about some of the wonderful companies and projects that retain the rural areas in Central Finland lively and attract people to the countryside. A characteristic shared by all the projects and companies showcased in this magazine is the fact that they have been funded by the Mainland Finland Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, which has made their operations easier. Another issue in common is the joy of achieving something from which the entire community will benefit for a long time to come.
The magazine is published by the project Viestinnästä voimaa (Power from Communications), which is funded by the Mainland Finland Agricultural Fund for Rural Development through the Central Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment. The project showcases the results of rural development in Central Finland. It works in close cooperation with four LAGs active in Central Finland and the Central Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment.
Greetings from an expert
For more information about rural development in Central Finland, please visit www.keskisuomenmaaseutu.fi Hanna Luoma Communications Officer hanna.luoma@jyvasriihi.fi
l e to rura Welcom inland! F Central
Think globally, act locally! Leader has been in Finland for 17 years now. Leader’s trademarks include a local approach, openness, innovativeness and partnerships. In addition to the local approach, Leader has been global from the very beginning: the idea is thinking globally but acting locally.
In addition to broader national and provincial development work and funding tools, Leader is a method that applies well to the grass root level needs: it enables implementation of small-scale projects to achieve development that takes into account the local needs.
The planning of the next EU programme period and the Leader programme has already started in Finland. We know that at least 5% of the national programme funds must be allocated for Leader activities. We also know that the opportunity to implement transnational projects at the programme level will expand to parties other than LAGs.
Transnational connections will become more important in this local development work, and finding new partners in your own region and globally will be a challenge. With this publication, we want to showcase the special characteristics of our region and present the local development work to our potential future partners. You could be such a potential partner! We challenge you to create a better future for the countryside, thinking globally but acting locally.
The preliminary EU policies state that development tools during the next programme period should better serve the actors and be less bureaucratic. In this work, the Leader method has been and will be a highly functional tool.
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Rural Central Finland
Tiina Seppälä, Executive Manager, LAG Maaseutukehitys Photos by Hanna Luoma ja Kirsi Immonen
Contents
Rural
Central Finland Publisher: Viestinnästä voimaa -project Editor-in-chief: Hanna Luoma
Editorial..........................................................2 Greetings from an expert........................................2 Finnish Leader has strong roots in rural areas.........4
Layout: Kimmo Niemi Dekko Media & Design Front page: Keijo Penttinen / PS-Studio Painopaikka: Kirjapaino Ässä Ltd 2013
More than 400 projects have received Leader funding in Central Finland...........................6 Old cars and recreation...........................................7 Innovative Village - Finnish Initiative for a Transnational Project...............................................8 Leivonmäki National Park - a hiking site for the whole family.........................................................10 Province of many cultures.....................................12 Youth: the future hope of the countryside..............14 You can do anything in the countryside.............16 Mastering in the peace and quiet of the countryside.......................................17
The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas
Äijälä - bringing the idyllic countryside to Jyväskylä..........................................................18 Maisa improves water quality................................19
Rural Central Finland
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Finnish Leader has strong roots in rural areas Finland has a stable and innovative position in the European Leader LAG work. Our Local action groups (LAGs) are registered associations that develop rural areas by funding local rural development projects and supporting local enterprises. During the programme period 2007–2013 there are 56 LAGs in Finland, covering the entire country. LAG JyväsRiihi, LAG Viisari, LAG Maaseutukehitys and LAG Vesuri operate in Central Finland.
The LAG structure and working method is open for different actors Finnish LAGs are registered non-governmental associations (NGOs). They are open for everybody. Local rural residents, small enterprises, municipalities and associations can become members of a LAG or they join the activity by running their own projects or just participating in a single project. Each LAG is managed by a Board of Directors. Board members are elected by an annual general meeting once a year. The board has a tripartite structure: one third of the board members are representatives of local associations, one third municipal officials and appointees, and the final third are individual rural residents and representatives of small enterprises. The main task of the board is to decide which projects obtain Leader funding. The tripartite structure ensures that LAGs have strong local focus and a clear view of the local needs in their decision-making. This structure also improves trust and cooperation between all the actors involved in the development work at the local level.
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Every LAG has also paid staff. They are in charge of the everyday work of rural development. The executive personnel counsel project applicants and implementers, refine project ideas, act as an introducer and secretary at board meetings, supervise the realisation of the LAG’s development plan, and are in charge of the financial, reporting and administrative duties of the LAG.
The restoration of many village houses has been supported by means of Leader funding in Finland. One of them is the Kolkku Village House in Viitasaari.
Development programme sets goals for the future Because Finland is a geographically large country where the environmental conditions vary greatly, every LAG has its own local development plan. The local plans are drawn up according to the local needs and conditions, so they provide a variety of possibilities how rural enterprises, local residents and their organisations can build the better future in their own region. The local development programmes are part of the regional development plan and they form an important basis for the national programme. Another goal of the LAGs is networking and creating cooperation between different kinds of actors at the international level. Networks will be used to disseminate innovative solutions and know-how to improve the competitiveness of rural actors.
Rural Central Finland
In Central Finland LAGs share the following goals for transnational cooperation
• Creating international networking opportunities for small local businesses • Developing the expertise of rural operators in, for instance, producing services and making use of local resources and assets or renewable energy
• Promoting social activities • Providing the youth with activities and opportunities to be able to influence local issues LAGs encourage involve people
countryside close to urban
and centres. Through cooperation
The most important task of the LAGs is to encourage people, communities and enterprises to develop their actions and their environment. Their goal is to develop the functionality and attractiveness of rural areas as living and working environments. LAGs promote and encourage cooperation between people and organisations. The operating areas in Central Finland include sparsely populated rural communities, small rural towns and the
and with the help of a diverse network of developers, LAGs are increasing the effectiveness of Leader activities and supporting interaction between communities and associations. LAGs have also managed to raise awareness of the possibilities of rural development funds among many previously inactive organisations. Text by: Pirjo Ikäheimonen Photos by: Jukka Paanala and Hanna Luoma
Many faces of the countryside - Leader in Central Finland -video is on YouTube. There is a link to it at www.keskisuomenmaaseutu.fi
The boards of the Central Finland LAGs plan the policies for transnational operations.
Rural Central Finland
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More than 400 projects have received Leader funding in Central Finland The LAGs in Central Finland granted funding for a total of 212 companies and 196 projects in the common interest between 2007 and 2012. With this funding, many microenterprises and village communities received assistance in their attempts to retain their local rural area alive. A total of €10.55 million of public and private funding has been provided to rural areas in Central Finland. The four LAGs operating in Central Finland – JyväsRiihi, Maaseutukehitys, Vesuri and Viisari – fund development actions of small local enterprises and NGOs in rural areas.
Corporate support counts The LAGs have granted support for a total of 212 companies between 2007 and 2012. Business support can be granted for investments, generating new jobs and developing business activities. A business support project can include investments, development or a start-up only, or a company can apply for support for two of these or all of the three with a single application. In Central Finland, 169 companies have received investment support. This form of funding can be used for a variety of investments, such as expanding or renovating buildings, like a company called Emalipuu did when renovating
an old harbour building at Korpilahti Harbour to be used as a handicraft shop and art gallery. The support can also be used for purchasing new equipment or machinery, like bakery Tupalan Leipä in Joutsa, which purchased a new oven.
that has applied for and received start-up support. Hiring an employee lessened the entrepreneur’s workload, which freed up more time to be used in planning and marketing. Now the company has four hired employees.
Development support is granted to obtain expert assistance or cover costs arising from development of the business or development plans. In Central Finland, a total of 49 companies have received this form of support. One example of a development support recipient is Design Pylsy of Joutsa that used the support to develop its online store.
The public funding granted for development, investments and hiring employees totals at around €2 million. The companies have invested a total of €3.6 million themselves.
Start-up support can be obtained to hire the company’s very first employee. SisäSuomen Kylmälaite Ltd of Uurainen is one of the 38 companies in Central Finland
Almost every village in Central Finland has participated in Leader action in one way or another.
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Activities and support in villages of Central Finland Almost every village in Central Finland has participated in Leader action in one way or another, either by implementing an investment or development project, or by participating in a project active in a more extensive area. Residents
and rural village communities benefit from these projects in many ways. The LAGs have granted a total of €8 million for projects in the common interest. Furthermore, village associations have invested more than €2.5 million of their own funds or voluntary work in these projects. A total of 126 projects funded by the LAGs have been initiated in Central Finland. These have included repairing meeting places, local sports venues and recreation areas. There are examples of these projects elsewhere in this magazine. 14 projects that restore the traditional Central Finnish landscape have been funded. 64 villages have drafted a village development plan or updated their plan. Text by: Hanna Luoma Photo by: Tarja Könönen
The workload of Arto Lastunen, the owner of Sisä-Suomen Kylmälaite Ltd, was reduced when he received Leader start-up support to hire his first employee.
Rural Central Finland
Old cars and recreation Located close to Karstula in northern Central Finland, Wanhat Wehkeet is a car museum, a party venue, a summer theatre and much more. The company has developed itself by means of financial support in a broad-minded manner, and it was awarded for this work in Central Finland Rural Area Gala of 2012. The award was granted for developing services and entrepreneurship in a rural area and promoting the area’s vitality and the quality of the local residents’ lives. Managed by Jari Lasonen and Merja Välilehto, Wanhat Wehkeet has been slowly expanded into a large entity consisting of a variety of services. The business was started with a car museum in 2005, but it has been subsequently expanded first with a party and conference venue, then a summer theatre and lastly with a six-lane bowling alley. Accommodation facilities have been built in two stages: Wanhat Wehkeet can now accommodate a total of thirty people.
Plans include increasing the accommodation capacity The latest reform was renewing the property’s woodchip heating system. The entrepreneurs do not plan to stop here, however: they are already making new plans. In the near future, they will build more accommodation facilities
and a playground for children in an area on the other side of a river. They are also planning to increase their nature tourism volume. Listening to them speak, you can’t help but wonder how they plan to arrange the time to achieve all of this. ”It’s a way of life, and we never calculate any hourly wages,” Lasonen says. In addition to the entrepreneur couple, there are four employees in the wintertime and double that in the summertime. Their children also help during the holidays.
Support from EAFRD The entrepreneurs did not start their business from scratch: they did have experience in running a restaurant and a pub in downtown Karstula for sixteen years. They have also had to revise their business plan a couple of times when
they applied for funding from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). LAG Viisari has supported the car museum and the summer theatre, and funding for the other parts of the business have been applied directly from the Central Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment. ”The financial support has been of utmost importance for our business: without the investment support, we’d most likely only have the car museum,” Lasonen says. LAG Viisari provided investment support and development support as well as start-up support when hiring the first employee when the entrepreneurs were establishing the car museum.
Wanhat Wehkeet has a customer base including people from Karstula and the surrounding municipalities. Wedding guests and summer theatre audiences also come from farther away. The summer theatre bleachers can seat 400 people.
Long distances make work more systematic ”One positive thing with running a business in a rural area is that since people have to come to you from farther away, you must be able to offer them more comprehensive services,” says Välilehto, who happened to walk into the room during the interview. The long distances are also a downside of being a rural entrepreneur: there are less residents and thus not as many potential customers, and you have to travel 100 kilometres to Jyväskylä or Seinäjoki before you get to the closest wholesale outlet. ”We do have partnerships with the local grocery stores, but there are products which you need to see for yourself before buying,” Lasonen explains. Cooperation with other entrepreneurs is flexible and many local companies always arrange their parties at Wanhat Wehkeet. Lasonen says that one of the best things about being an entrepreneur in a rural area is that people know each other and it is easy to find an expert when you need it. The fact that people already know each other also reduces the need to advertise your company.
The car museum of Merja Välilehto and Jari Lasonen includes more than a hundred vehicles from several decades.
Rural Central Finland
Text and photo by: Hanna Luoma
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Innovative Village – Finnish Initiative for a Transnational Project Transnational Leader projects widen the horizons of rural actors. In Central Finland, the Innovative Village project has called several rural communities to take part in their first transnational project. At first there was some mistrust. However, despite their original reservations the villages are enjoying the new possibilities this kind of a project can bring them. Starting in April 2011, JAMK University of Applied Sciences School of Business and Services Management, LAG Viisari and LAG JyväsRiihi in Central Finland have developed a transnational Leader project called Innovative Village. The Innovative Village project aims to enhance service delivery in rural areas by developing skills and knowledge required within local communities to organize the services their villages need. The project hopes to pilot and evaluate methods for stimulating locally deliverable models of rural service provision, particularly in rural areas that have been going through a merger of municipalities.
The issue of access to basic services in rural areas is common across all the EU member states. During the process of project planning the input of potential partners from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Greece and Spain was added to the Finnish plans. The final project plan is thus a combination of a wider European view.
(GOPP), the first in Latvia, the second in Finland.
Project born through GOPP
GOPP provides a democratic approach to take part in project planning and a systematic structure for developing a logical project framework. It structures the main elements of a project and highlights logical links between intended inputs, planned activities and expected results. You can read more about GOPP at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Logical_framework_approach
To overcome the challenges of cultural and language barriers between the different partners, JAMK delivered two project workshops using Goal Orientated Project Planning
JAMK and the four LAGs of Viisari and JyväsRiihi in Central Finland, North East Region Rural Development Partnership in Northern Ireland
and Tartumaa Arendusselts in Estonia received their funding . The project started in September 2012.
Start-up in Northern Ireland The first common effort for the partners was a start-up seminar and study trip in the North East Region of Northern Ireland. The first meeting of the transnational steering group was also arranged during the trip in Cushendall, a beautiful coastal village, where the project partners were accommodated. The visit schedule brought lots of work for the local and
People from all the participating countries – Northern Ireland, Estonia and Finland – attended the study trip to Northern Ireland.
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Rural Central Finland
Read more: www.jamk.fi/innovative-village international participants who visited projects throughout the North East area. The participants naturally also got a chance to visit some of the area’s iconic attractions, the Giants Causeway and Bushmills Distillery. For the Finnish village activists taking part in the project, the trip gave a lot of new ideas and contacts. ”Hard work but we had fun, too!” one of the participants summed up the trip. Study trips with hands-on visits to projects of the partner villages are an essential part of the Innovative Village project. LAG Tartumaa Arendusselts will host the second study trip programme in 22–24 May in Estonia and LAG JyväsRiihi the third in 11–14 September 2013 in Finland.
The idea workshops aim at finding answers to the questions of when, where, what and how. In each village one of these ideas will be realised with the extra resources from the Innovative Village project. The “extra ideas” are left for the community to use in their village action plan. For example, in Konginkangas the old local action plan had more or less been carried out. It gave no direct hints on how the Innovative Village project could help innovation in the village.
Through two idea workshops it became clear that the two major issues suited for the project would be either the development of the services in the village harbour or developing a new kind of a summer festival. The villagers in the idea workshops developed several concrete ideas of what to do. As also the right persons had found each other during the workshops, continuing from there will be easy.
For more info about the village, please visit www.konginkangas.fi.
Rika Nakamura of JAMK University of Applied Sciences was the leader of a GOPP workshop at the project planning stage.
Idea Workshops So far, the Finnish Innovative Village project has arranged several idea workshops in those rural communities that are missing a clear view of what their desired future is and what actions they need to take to reach it. Through these workshops new ideas emerge, get discussed and agreed on, or subjected to a vote and discussed again. The process has led to a common ground for the actors to work from and to new revelations in the rural communities that will lead to new services.
New services were planned at Vesanka Village. Project Manager Outi Raatikainen (on the right) offering useful hints for the groups.
Text by: Outi Raatikainen Photos by: Pirjo Ikäheimonen and Hanna Luoma
Rural Central Finland
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Leivonmäki National Park – a hiking site for the whole family Leivonmäki National Park is called the small giant of the Central Finland environment because you can experience the biodiversity of the local nature in the park that is only three square kilometres in size. The national park offers valuable swamp, ridge and forest nature, ponds and lakes, and the foaming Rutajoki rapids. Leivonmäki National Park is located in Central Finland, around an hour’s drive from Jyväskylä. 15,000 people visit the national park each year. Most of them are from the Jyväskylä region, but more tourists from farther away come each year. The park is located close to a highway and population centres, it includes versatile yet easy to reach hiking routes and it also includes guiding materials providing nature education. All of these issues combined attract many school classes and families with children to the park.
Four seasons but always easy to walk – even in the swamp The most valuable part of the natural park in terms of nature conservation is Haapasuo bog. You can also study the bog by embarking on a two-kilometre hike along duckboards. On the same parking lot as the hiking trails, you can start the Luupää hike which will take you to, for instance, a Lapp hut on the shore of Lake Harjujärvi. The needs of people with disabilities have also been taken into account in the national park. The park’s symbol bird, European nightjar, lives along the ridge. You can hear the nightjar’s buzzing song at night in the summertime. A path to the north will take you to Harjunlahti beach. In the wintertime, skiing tracks that go round the entire park start at the beach.
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There are a total of 28 km of marked trails, most of them easily accessible, in Leivonmäki National Park and its immediate vicinity.
Lake Rutajärvi in Leivonmäki National Park and Lake Päijänne are combined by the Rutajoki River, which includes many rapids. The rapids increase the oxygen content of the river, which is why Rutajoki River is a key spawning area for lake trout that requires water rich in oxygen.
Rural Central Finland
www.outdoors.fi/leivonmaki Plenty to do and topclass accommodation Metsähallitus, the authority in charge of the national park, has also built hiking routes and resting places along the shores and in the islands of Lake Rutajärvi. The accommodation capacity close to the park has been increased, there are several shops renting hiking gear and programme services are also available.
Leader support assists in retaining the national park’s history Local residents and entrepreneurs have established a support association for the national park, called Leivonmäen kansallispuiston ystävät ry (Leivonmäki National Park Support Association), to assist in developing the services of the national park. The association arranges trips, maintains the skiing tracks and cares for the park’s traditional biotopes with voluntary labour. Cultural heritage association Seuna ry has implemented a Leader-funded project called Kurki ja Kuokka (Crane and Hoe). The project’s results include a history of the national park and a movie. Hundreds of newspaper clippings, photos, documents, interviews and other data about the area from the past decades were archived.
There is also a ten-kilometre skiing track at Leivonmäki National Park in the wintertime.
Leivonmäki Nationa l Park includes campsites where you can stop to have coffee or roast a saus age.
Rural Central Finland
Text by: Lea-Elina Nikkilä Photos by: Terhi Salomaa and Kirsi Immonen
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Province of many cultures People from other cultures are no different from regular Finns. When you get to know the conventions and habits of the other, you’ll be able to get along and can greet each other when passing on the street. The project Koti Keski-Suomessa (Living in Central Finland) aims to do just that: allow people to get to know each other to reduce prejudice. The project Koti KeskiSuomessa or Province of Many Cultures is meant for people who have moved to Finland from abroad, minority groups in Finland and Finns who are in contact with immigrants. The project is all about getting to know each other’s conventions, habits and culture, and trying to find hobbies both parties would enjoy. The project coordinator is the Union for Rural Education and Culture.
and exercise. Open discussion events deal with everyday life and any issues that influence interaction between immigrants and Finns.
Peer support for trying to learn the ropes of the Finnish way of life
The project offers peer support for people trying to learn the ropes of the Finnish way of life. The starting point are the needs and goals of the participants. The groups deal with the experiences of the participants, improve their language skills, allow them to form networks and assist them in finding answers to questions pertaining to everyday life problems.
The project is all about finding shared hobbies, talking to each other and arranging study trips. The hobby groups allow people to experience the customs and food culture of other countries as well as do handicraft, practice music
For the Finnish participants, the project offers an opportunity to learn more about other cultures and also learn more about Finland through the eyes of people who have come here from elsewhere.
2,000 event participants The project started in 2011. After the start-up phase, it truly picked up speed in 2012. There are two Project Coordinators, Ari Pekka Pasanen and Jolanta Mustamäki. The project has offered the opportunity to visit other countries in your armchair, listen to guest speakers, attend study trips, improve your handicraft skills in workshops and attend seminars. More than 2,000 people have attended the total of 52 events arranged in thirteen municipalities in Central Finland. The participants have included regular Finns, representatives of the Finnish minorities (such as the Romany) and immigrants from all around the world.
The large number of events and the diversity of the participants seem daunting. How have the two Project Coordinators been able to achieve all of this? ”Each event is unique, which means that we always start planning and arranging from scratch. We have not done everything ourselves, however, because our partners have assisted us in many of the events,” says Project Coordinator Ari Pekka Pasanen. The partners include municipalities, congregations and different kinds of associations.
Word-of-mouth reaches people best Speakers and listeners are gathered mostly by means of word-of-mouth marketing. There are around 4,000
Egg painting courses were very popular and the necessary number of participants was easy to get.
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Rural Central Finland
immigrants in Central Finland, of which 500 live in rural areas, according to the statistics. The number of immigrants is actually much higher, because immigrants are no longer listed as immigrants in statistics once they become Finnish citizens. The project aims to motivate these immigrants living in rural areas. Most of the listeners in the events have been Finns, however. ”It has been quite a challenge to get the immigrants to participate,” sighs Project Coordinator Jolanta Mustamäki. The partners have been a valuable aid when trying to find experts. Prejudices have also been an obstacle when trying to find the experts: for example, Romany speakers have been hard to find in some municipalities because they have feared prejudice too much. ”We have learned a great deal about other cultures ourselves. For instance, there is no point in arranging a trip to a forest for Chinese people who have recently immigrated here: they are afraid of the forest and the animals there,” says Mustamäki. ”We have not observed any racism during the project period. All of the Finnish people involved in the project have been truly interested in foreign cultures,” Pasanen says.
The Project Coordinators are of the opinion that the successful events have been the best about the project: “We arranged a multicultural week at the municipality of Laukaa with events almost every day. The partners were eager in preparing their days and the week was very successful,” says the satisfied Pasanen. Jolanta Mustamäki has not had any trouble identifying with the immigrants; after all, she came
to Finland from Poland in the late 1980s. “Although I didn’t experience any prejudices when I stayed on as the mistress of a farmhouse after my practical training period,” Jolanta says, laughing. She was accepted well by the small village, and she didn’t have any troubles getting used to the Finnish culture, either. “Except that I still wonder why Finns don’t talk,” she concludes.
A West African day took place at Sydän-Laukaa School in Laukaa. The dance group Mama Africa Jkl was part of the event.
Text by: Hanna Luoma Photos by: Koti Keski-Suomessa project
Positive experiences The experiences about the project have been good, and the project has proven that there is need for multicultural activities in Central Finland also outside the city of Jyväskylä. According to the feedback, the immigrants have especially benefited from the project. The locals have been able to abandon their prejudices and approach the immigrants once they have heard about the immigrants’ background and seen that there is a regular person behind the different skin colour and the accent.
Rural Central Finland
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Youth:
the future hope of the countryside One key target group in LAG development programmes are young people. The goal is to use different means to motivate them into participating in rural development. One of the most efficient means has been funding projects for the youth or projects implemented by the youth with Leader funding. A variety of youth projects have been arranged in different parts of the province: there have been around twenty development projects specifically for the young, twelve investments projects where the young were mentioned as a special target group, one enterprise project which entailed providing funding for a youth home, and hundreds of community projects where the young were mentioned as one of the target groups.
Why implement projects for the young? Involving the youth in rural development is important because young people are the future of rural areas: they will be the future residents of these areas, the officials who will decide what happens to rural areas and future active rural developers. The youth should be able to influence the environment in which they live and the opportunities it has to offer.
Ella Sorsam채ki (on the left) and Olivia Sagulin arranging photos to form a story in a workshop at an event called Amazing Piispala.
Young people can often provide a whole new perspective in many issues that require development because they are not yet limited by specific ideas on how certain issues should be resolved, and thus they are able to combine several approaches to resolve a problem.
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Rural Central Finland
We must keep children and the young happy with the local environment and culture, because we need to ensure that they could see themselves establishing a family in the area in the future. Youth projects finansed with Leader funding strive to provide the young an opportunity to participate in a variety of functions also outside the densely populated areas. Young people need more opportunities to develop themselves and their immediate surroundings, obtain new information about issues pertaining to their local environment, and build their own identities based on a local approach. The projects are usually implemented with the guidance of an adult so that the youth would feel safe enough to try new things, even something they would otherwise not do. The youth will acquire more skills and information as they do things themselves.
Implementing party and content varies Youth projects have traditionally been implemented by youth organisations, such as 4H associations or municipal youth services. These projects have allowed the young to improve the skills needed in different kinds of life situations. The projects have, for instance, allowed the young to get to know their own region and its history and traditions, which has allowed them to form a personal relationship with the rural area. International contacts have allowed the youth to learn something new and network with people from other countries. Environmental education has offered them a new perspective on, for instance, consumption, recycling and saving energy, while entrepreneurship education has offered them tools they can use to find their inner entrepreneur.
A youth project can also be implemented by a non-youth association, however. Many hunting associations have invested in leisure activity facilities or equipment in the hopes of keeping the hunting traditions alive also among the new generation. They have been able to get new, young members with the new facilities or functions.
for the EU Youth in Action programme in Finland, among others.
for people working with the youth, as well as transnational youth seminars. www.cimo.fi
The Youth in Action programme provides funding for transnational group meetings for young people, youth initiatives, democracy projects, European voluntary services, training and networking
Funding is also available for smaller projects implemented by the young through the Youth Academy.
Many sports clubs focus heavily on the young, and they have implemented projects that have clearly improved the sports venues available for youth sports teams. Sports clubs or village associations have also been able to build youth facilities in their village halls with the help of projects.
Socially active young people Each youth project has its own goals and expectations. Usually, a project aimed at the young promotes some of the preconditions needed by young people to be a profitable part of the society. Key results of the projects implemented include allowing young people to identify their resources, strengths and values, cherishing the rural heritage and transferring it to new generations, increasing interaction between generations, promoting entrepreneurship and environmental awareness among the young, providing more events designed for the young, and using new ways of working in a variety of functions for the young.
DJ MickaĂŤl Fandi teaching Liisa Ruusuvirta (on the left) and Veera Kantonen about how to be a DJ at the Amazing Piispala event.
Text by: Tiina Seppälä Photos by: Amazing Leader project
Funding for youth projects Funding for projects implemented by the young or projects with the youth as their target group is available in Finland also from other sources in addition to Leader. One important party providing funding for youth projects is the Centre for International Mobility CIMO that coordinates the funding
Young people who are involved in rural development will become active rural developers in the future.
Rural Central Finland
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You can do anything in the countryside The project Amazing Lande inspires the young to see the huge array of opportunities available in rural areas. By participating in the planning of events, the youth will get valuable experience about arranging events, new friends and – what is most important – action in their village. Amazing Lande allows youth between the ages of 13 and 24 to create events based on their own ideas in an area consisting of nine municipalities in northern Central Finland.
Events planned by the youth Eager teams of around ten local young people have been established. The teams have provided ideas and planned events to which other youth from their own municipality and the surrounding municipalities are invited. Such events include, for example, adventure weekends where the young have practiced rafting, descended with climbing gear from an observation tower, tried out paintball and sung karaoke with SingStar all night long.
project funding comes from LAG Viisari, and the youth have been able to learn more about Leader funding and rural development in general by visiting sites that receive Leader funding.
Enjoying the rural environment The project has provided added value in youth work, which has been cut back in many municipalities due to the need to cut costs. The project has allowed the youth to familiarise themselves with the other municipalities in the region and get to know the young people living there. They have
also been able to enjoy the rural environment in full: the youth may not even have noticed before how valuable an environment it is. It was not easy to get the youth to participate in the project at first. The situation is completely different after the first year, however: “The young have fully embraced the project and we see new faces at each event,” Lahti says. There are more intensive events lasting a whole weekend and larger mass events. Events are being arranged in all the municipalities of the project
The project has one hired employee. Project Coordinator Jannina Lahti is still a student herself, and hails from the project region.
region to allow the youth to get to know the other municipalities and the people living there. The project has even had time to visit Leader projects in Tartu, Estonia. “Young people should visit other countries, too,” Lahti says. A little over a dozen events have been arranged in the past two years. The events have gathered different number of participants, ranging from a dozen to a thousand people. The latest event of the project, an event open for anybody free of charge all day and night long where no intoxicants were allowed was called 5.4@ Painotalo. It attracted 1,000 young people. The event offered magic, stand-up comedy, bands, movies, etc. Text by: Hanna Luoma Photo by: Pilvi Honka
Lahti has tried to get young people into the project by arranging information events in local schools and by visiting youth council meetings. The young have received the project well and provided lots of ideas. “The different backgrounds of the youth have been taken into account when deciding about the events to ensure that even the shy ones can attend,” says the satisfied Lahti. The The young organisers of the event 5.4@Painotalo that attracted more than a thousand people can be proud of their successful event.
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“The best way to reach the young is the social media.” Rural Central Finland
Maisa improves water quality Finland is the country of thousands lakes. There are more than 3,700 lakes in Central Finland, too. Even though the Finnish water systems are clean at present, pollution is still a threat. The Maisa project was established to promote the protection of bodies of water in Saarijärvi in northern Central Finland. People in Saarijärvi were worried about the quality of the local water systems: more than half of the bodies of water included along the Saarijärvi water route were classified as satisfactory in terms of water quality. This is a poorer result than the average in Central Finland. A water protection development project was started in early 2010 to improve the situation. A competent manager for the project, JAMK University of Applied Sciences Institute of Natural Resources in Saarijärvi, was easy to find. The project Developing Agricultural Water Protection along Saarijärvi Water Route (MAISA) will continue until the end of 2013. It has been funded by the Central Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment with funds from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).
Protective zone worthy of an award The project has promoted water protection efforts at local farms. At first, attitudes of the local farmers towards water protection were studied and found positive. The farmers have established wetlands and protective zones with project funding. The protective zones retain nutrients and solids, and prevent them from leaching into a body of water. For example, three farmers in Kalmari Village on the shore of Lake Alajärvi in Saarijärvi established a shared protective zone. This was not just an environmental protection action; it was also an example of excellent cooperation, which is why the farmers were given
an award at the Central Finland Rural Area Gala in autumn 2012. “We have uploaded videos of the Lake Alajärvi protective zone and the POKE model wetlands in YouTube,” project manager Tarja Stenman hints.
Wetlands worth copying The Vocational Education Institute of Northern Central Finland (POKE) has established a model wetlands on its lands in cooperation with MAISA. The term wetlands refers to a naturally moist area that is dammed up or excavated to slow down the water flow and allow nutrients and solids to fall into the bottom. This will allow the nutrients in the solids, mainly phosphorus, to be stored in the soil of the wetlands instead of ending up in a body of water. Sludge taken from the wetlands can be spread onto fields. The State of Finland offers support for establishing wetlands. In addition to improving water quality, wetlands promote biodiversity and improve the local landscape.
Automatic information about water quality MAISA has generated a lot of important information about water quality. An automatic nutrient measuring station was established in a ditch of a field at the beginning of the project period. It was the first such measuring station in Central Finland. ”The measuring stations offer more information about water quality,” Stenman explains.
Project employee Samuli Lahtela maintaining one of the automatic nutrient measuring stations.
Each station takes a water sample every hour and submits the data automatically online. So far, four measuring stations have been established. ”We would not have had the funds to do this without the project,” Stenman points out.
Protecting water systems is important Several information events and activities for smaller groups have been arranged during the project period. Trips to study
the wetlands have also been arranged. The project has received quite a lot of publicity, which shows that people are of the opinion that protecting bodies of water is important. In addition to farmers, several other parties have cooperated with the project. ”Networks are of utmost importance for such a project,” Stenman says.
For additional information about the Maisa project, such as links to the above-mentioned videos, please visit http://hinkalo.fi/index.php/hankkeet/ Rural Central Finland maatalouden-vesiensuojelun-kehittamishanke-maisa
Text by: Hanna Luoma Photo by: Tarja Stenman
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Äijälä – bringing the idyllic countryside to Jyväskylä
Eeva-Liisa Reuter, the woman behind Äijälä Farm, did not find out until a couple of years ago what Green Care means, even though she has been applying its principles since the early 1980s. People can breathe freely in the care-free atmosphere of Äijälä Farm: they can do some gardening and begin feeling better. Äijälä Farm consists of a sturdy old log house called Vanha-Äijälä, a couple of other buildings and a large garden of more than a hectare around these. A nice addition to the farm, which is located only a fifteenminute drive from downtown Jyväskylä, are the chicken and sheep that live in the stable.
Focusing on rehabilitating work Up until the early 1980s, Äijälä Farm was a market garden. It has since been the place where a support association for the disabled called Äijälän vammaisten tuki ry offers its work rehabilitation services.
At present, the only inhabitant in the family home that was opened in 1980 is Pekka, who has been living at Äijälä for five years. Pekka helps with the daily farm chores: this morning, he has already brought in wood so that the large oven of the house can be kept going to keep the cold at bay. ”We’ve had up to five people living here in the past, but now we focus more on outpatient activities,” Reuter says. Äijälä offers a variety of work activities ranging from work experiments and rehabilitating work activities to practical training, studying and voluntary work. Most of the work takes place in the garden but there are also chores available in the family home, such as daily chores, repairs, yard work and caring for the farm’s sheep and chicken. Äijälä regularly accepts new interns.
Everybody likes working in the garden The most people come to Äijälä to do rehabilitating work. Last summer, there were eight employees at best. There are people of all ages ranging from twenty-somethings to people close to the retirement age, all of them people who – for one
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reason or another – have been unable to establish a regular career. Even though many of them are what you’d call ”a challenging employee”, they have liked working at Äijälä. ”Gardening is therapeutic, and there are always experienced people involved who can create good team spirit,” Reuter explains. Other ways to boost the team spirit is ”coffee at ten” – the people always gather in the farmhouse at 10 am to have coffee – and eating lunch together.
Leader support for restoring the garden The garden mainly grows vegetables, which are used at the farm and sold to food circles. The plants are grown organically without any industrial fertilizers or pesticides. The garden has been restored and expanded with Leader support from LAG JyväsRiihi. A garden plan was made and according to it berry bushes and fruit trees were planted, and a herb garden was established.
yard, will be left in the middle of the garden. It can be used as the venue for events and as a marketplace. The plan for the future is creating an accessible garden with raised beds that can also be tended by people in a wheelchair. The village yard will be complemented by a greenhouse and a cafeteria at some point in the future. The cafeteria could also provide rehabilitating work for the Äijälä Farm’s customers. Äijälä offers a meeting place for the village’s residents. For example, a family cafe is arranged once a week at the Äijälä farmhouse. ”Väinölä Village Association also arranges its meetings at Äijälä,” Reuter says.
The work at Äijälä mainly takes place in the garden.
The ultimate goal is making the garden a nice area that could also be used as a recreation area by the residents of Väinölä Village. A clearing, a village
Green Care services mean services that are connected or support the wellbeing of people, social welfare, healthcare and educational services where the environment is utilised in a sustainable, responsible and professional manner.
Rural Central Finland www.aijala.fi
Text by: Hanna Luoma Photo by: Äijälä Farm
Mastering in the peace and quiet of the countryside The company called Virtalähde Mastering specialises in mastering. Entrepreneur Jaakko Viitalähde moved to the countryside, to Kuhmoinen in Central Finland, and applied for Leader support from the LAG Vesuri for building his sound studio. Virtalähde Mastering’s is in an outbuilding charming farm where greet guests from their the summertime.
studio on a sheep pen in
Mastering means finalising a recording Mastering is the final stage when producing a recording. ”My job is verifying that all the music materials are in line with each other and will sound good regardless of which medium it is listened in,” Viitalähde explains his work. This is a very rare occupation indeed: there are only six entrepreneurs whose income comes solely from mastering in Finland. Viitalähde established his company in the mid-21st century first in Tampere, from where he moved to Helsinki and finally to Kuhmoinen in early 2011. He had been considering moving to the countryside for a long time. Viitalähde was born and raised in a rural area, and he wanted to escape the hustle and bustle of the capital. An important issue for him was finding a building in which he could build a studio. Everything became clear when his wife got a job in Kuhmoinen. It didn’t take long for them to find a suitable home, too. ”I don’t miss anything about the city – twelve years of urban life was enough for me,” Viitalähde says. The family feels at home in the countryside and the villagers welcomed them with open arms.
Positive feedback from customers Media sector companies are usually located in large cities, even though the work itself could be done anywhere. Viitalähde’s customers have not minded him moving to the countryside; he has mostly received positive feedback. Viitalähde does most of the work alone and the customer need not be there. ”Many of my customers come here, though,” Viitalähde says, a little amazed. ”Driving for a couple of hours is nothing at all when you’ve been working on an album for two years.” Kuhmoinen is at an excellent location north of the city of Lahti, not far from any of the large Finnish cities.
Viitalähde does not have any alternative for running a business of his own because there is really no other way of doing what he does. He is fine with being self-employed: he can do the work he wants. When asked about his plans for the future, he simply says, ”I want to be as good as possible in what I do.”
Text and photo by: Hanna Luoma
Jaakko Viitalähde’s sound studio is in an outbuilding at a farm.
Most of the customers are artists publishing their music at their own expense. Mastering one album takes around one day. Viitalähde completes around 250 projects each year, ranging from church music to heavy metal. He has a solid order book: at present, you have to wait around a month to get your recording mastered by Virtalähde Mastering. Virtalähde Mastering relies on word-of-mouth marketing. ”Your latest work is always the best business card,” he says. The investment support from the Vesuri LAG speeded up the investment schedule. ”It was great, because it allowed me to start quickly,” Viitalähde says.
Rural Central Finland
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The Central Finland LAGs and the Central Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment In Central Finland, you can apply for European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development funding through the Central Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centre Central Finland) or the local LAGs. A LAG (Local Action Group) is a registered Leader-based rural development association with a specific operations area. The LAGs provide funding for local projects in the common interest or projects that promote business activity and business support in their areas. Anybody living in the area can participate in the activities of a LAG, either by participating in a project or joining the LAG.
nd inla ic F l a m tr Cen cono The re for E ent, t Cen evelopmt and D spor ent Tran vironmi-suomi esk En the -keskus.fi/k
The ELY Centre Central Finland provides funding mainly for larger provincial projects or the development projects of larger companies.
.ely www
LAG VIISARI www.viisaankivi.fi/viisari Arja-Leena Peiponen Executive Manager arja-leena.peiponen@saarijarvi.fi Tel. +358 40 502 6173 Marjatta Ruuska Financial Manager viisari@viitasaari.fi Tel. +358 50 553 3929 Mari Puro Project Coordinator mari.puro@saarijarvi.fi Kyyjärvi Tel. +358 40 712 2025
LAG JyväsRiihi
Pihtipudas Kinnula
www.keskisuomenmaaseutu.fi/jyvasriihi Pirjo Ikäheimonen Executive Manager toimisto@jyvasriihi.fi Tel. +358 40 868 1113 Lahja Mehto Financial Manager toimisto@jyvasriihi.fi Tel. +358 40 743 2114
Kivijärvi Viitasaari
Kannonkoski
Karstula
Saarijärvi
n läine s ämä to-H ral Affair h e u M Ulla f Unit, R 024 577 o 5 Head +358 29 nt Tel. pme elo v e r d s: t g fo din projec nen Fun ippo er S i t Mat y Manag 00 6 r Fishe 295 024 58 3 + Tel. i Kosk Adviser Veli ent m 3 p elo 4 56 l Dev 5 02 Rura +358 29 Tel. ala Pies iser Risto ess Adv 5 in s 58 u 4 rB 02 Senio 358 295 + l. Te unen Janh iser o t s i R dv 549 gy A Ener 295 024 58 3 + ise: Tel. rpr nte e r g fo Ryymin din er Fun Jaakko anag 94 5 ing M Fund 295 024 358 + l. Te ala Pies iser Risto ess Adv 5 in s 58 r Bu 024 Senio 358 295 + Tel. i Käss er Panu ess Advis in 567 us 4 B 2 r 0 Senio 358 295 Tel. +
Äänekoski Konnevesi
Multia
Uurainen Laukaa
Keuruu
Hankasalmi
Petäjävesi Jyväskylä Muurame
Toivakka
Jyväskylä (Korpilahti)
LAG Vesuri-ryhmä www.keskisuomenmaaseutu.fi/vesuri Raisa Saarilahti-Kulju Executive Manager toimisto@vesuri-ryhma.fi Tel. +358 50 324 1144 Tiina Löfqvist Project Coordinator toimisto@vesuri-ryhma.fi Tel. +358 50 378 4133
Jämsä
LAG Maaseutukehitys Luhanka
Kuhmoinen
Joutsa
www.keskisuomenmaaseutu.fi/ maaseutukehitys Tiina Seppälä Executive Manager tiina.seppala1@gmail.com Tel. +358 40 755 5115 Anja Kauppinen Financial Manager anja.kauppinen@hankasalmi.fi Tel. +358 40 538 9180 Turku
Helsinki
www.keskisuomenmaaseutu.fi Mariehamn