Mp3 2013 eng web

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RURAL The Voice of Rural Developers

SUCCESSFUL LEADER PILOT AT LAKE LADOGA Introducing the local development approach to the Lake Ladoga region.

DEMOCRACY OF ACTION IS ROLLING INTO CITIES The social media has allowed people to network, which has made new kind of activism and events visible.

INTERNATIONAL CULTRIPS PROJECT BRINGS BUZZ TO VILLAGES Development of local village community through international cooperation.

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EDITORIAL

Welcome to Finland – the Country of Neighbourhood Democracy and Urban Leader!

Eero Uusitalo has been the chairperson of the Village Action Association of Finland since 1995 and is also the editor-in-chief of Rural Plus magazine. Uusitalo retired from the Ministry of Employment and the Economy in summer 2012, and now he can spend more time with his family and grandchildren.

Email: eero.uusitalo@kylatoiminta.fi Tel: +358 405 419 916

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What are local developers in Finland thinking about right now? The most pressing question and the key challenge right now is the promotion of the local approach and local development. The reason is clear: when companies and public authorities are centralising their services, local action is needed to counter the influence of their actions. Otherwise, the preconditions needed for wellbeing will not be achieved. Luckily, the European Union is starting to abandon its excessive utopia of population centres and development corridors.

The readiness and target level of local actors need to be improved in many ways. One way of improving the readiness is forming the necessary organisations. Even though there are more than 3,000 village associations in Finland, there are still around 900 village committees and a little over 300 villages with no activity going on. These black holes provide no glory to anyone.

Local developers – both public and private, and particularly public and private combined – will have more responsibilities in the future than before. New ways of working and a new kind of attitude towards the social change, a democracy of doing, are needed to ensure that the inevitable structural change will not cause any permanent damage. This process is about cooperation between civic action and the public authorities instead of traditional lobbying that has proven of little use.

Arranging neighbourhood democracy in the Finnish municipalities that are becoming larger and larger due to the structural changes being made has become

absolutely necessary. Direct democracy is needed to complement the representative democracy that has been estranged from normal citizens. Neighbourhood democracy means combining influencing, work and livelihood, wellbeing and services.

If people think that neighbourhood democracy means influencing only, the final result will often be an inconsequential and frustrating form of hearing. Neighbourhood democracy is a method used to connect the ever larger public bodies and civic action to promote local development. Both parties need each other.

Leader covers all rural areas in Finland and all cities of less than 23,000 inhabitants. The downtown areas of the around forty largest Finnish towns and cities, and thus a little over half of all Finns, are not included in its scope. It is high time to force the society to see civic action in rural and urban areas as equally important and introduce the Leader method also in urban areas. Interaction between rural and urban areas will become clearly easier when the programme boundaries are eliminated.

Leader is well suited for a variety of areas, but the idea of Leader being somehow 'provincial' is well established. Leader was a multi-fund model during the first EU programme period, and it was functional.

Leader is not an additional or reserve coffer for the authorities. Instead, it is a genuine way of arranging cooperation between civic action and the public authorities to achieve local development – both in rural and urban areas.

CONTENTS

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RURAL The Voice of Local Deveploment

THE VOICE OF RURAL DEVELOPERS welcome to finland! 2

PUBLISHER: VILLAGE ACTION ASSOCIATION OF FINLAND

Nordic Village Action Networking 4 Leader Is Expanding and International Winds Are Blowing 5 DEMOCRACY OF DOING IS ROLLING INTO CITIES 6 Successful Leader Pilot at Lake Ladoga 8

Operations under the umbrella of YesCommAct – across borders 10 slowli - slow Life Country 11 SMEs – Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in the Nordic region 12

Editor-in-Chief Eero Uusitalo Tel. 040 541 9916 eero.uusitalo@kylatoiminta.fi Managing Editor&Layout&Orders Pipsa Salolammi Willa Elsa, Meijeritie 2 25410 Suomusjärvi info@kylatoiminta.fi Printed in: Sälekarin Kirjapaino Oy, Somero, Finland ISSN 1457-7240 Website: www.kylatoiminta.fi

welcome home! 13 International Cooperation Fulfils the Objectives of Rural Development 14 The Leader Approach as Part of Development Cooperation 16 International CULTrips Project Brings Buzz to Villages 18 Bees and Biodiversity 20 TRADITIONS ON THE MARKET SQUARE 22 Handicraft Traditions Given New Splendour 23 PIRATE OF THE BAY OF BOTHNIA 24 Culture Supports Sense of Community in Rural Areas of Wales 26 Innovative Village – Finnish initiative for a transnational project 28 Future inhabitants of rural areas 29

VISIT WEB PAGES: www.kylatoiminta.fi/en www.rural.fi

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COLUMN by the Secretary General KANNANOTTO

"The Nordic village action network will focus on sharing experiences and improving the contact network"

Nordic Village Action Networking

Risto Matti Niemi is the Secretary General of the Village Action Association of Finland. Niemi has been the Secretary General of SYTY since 2006 and he is also a member of the Hela Norden ska Leva organization's board. At his leisure, he is an active member of his local city district association.

Email: ristomatti.niemi@kylatoiminta.fi Tel. +358 505 995 229

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Nordic village action refers on one hand to direct benefits and services to those participating in it, i.e., utilising Nordic cooperation to obtain experience, views, new operations methods, information, cooperation partners and shared projects. On the other hand, it also means influencing the Nordic operations environment.

For several years now, the Village Action Association of Finland (SYTY) has been strongly involved in promoting Nordic rural policy cooperation through Nordic village action organisation Hela Norden Ska Leva (HNSL). The Finnish goals are restructuring the operations and promoting the political status of village action. HNSL also tries to achieve both of these goals. The Nordic village action network develops village action in the Nordic countries from the perspective of civic action. Village action organisations from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland have been involved from the very beginning.

In the next few years, the Nordic village action network will focus on sharing experiences and improving the contact network.

To achieve this, the parties involved in the work must meet from time to time. The key issue is communications within the network, however.

The short-term goal is making the network more systematic and ensuring that the key organisations involved in village action and all their active members from all the countries are included in the network. A new development strategy that

was completed in 2012 assists in reaching this goal. Steps forward have already been taken: for example, the village action organisations in Denmark and Norway have been reorganised. HNSL plans to arrange a Nordic village action seminar in the summer of 2013. Furthermore, a funding application on a shared development project that has been planned for a long time will be submitted to NordRegion.

In addition to the five Nordic countries, members of HNSL include the province of Ă…land (since 2006), and the Faroe Islands and Greenland (since 2012). The presidency is rotated among the countries each year; Finland has held the presidency three times, the last time in 2010.

Denmark was the coordinating country for a long time. After Denmark, Ă…land took over the coordination responsibility in 2010. Since then, the country from which the President comes has also been in charge of coordination. HNSL has been registered in the Swedish register of associations. The HNSL website (athttp://www.helanorden. com) has been implemented in cooperation by the Nordic countries.

In 2012, the President was Swedish Inez Abrahmsson who was elected to continue as the President in 2013 in the autumn meeting of HNSL on 20 November 2012. After that, Norway will take over the presidency.

The HNSL spring meeting was held this year in April in Iceland, and the autumn meeting will be held in October in Sweden.

CURRENT AFFAIRS

MAIL FROM THE FINNISH LEADER AGENTS

Leader Is Expanding and International Winds Are Blowing Leader proceeds towards its fourth period. Ten years ago, expanding Leader to the whole of Finland was a key issue in terms of the future of local development. Where would we be now without the comprehensive Leader network? How many trumps would we hold when preparing for the new programme period? Not many. A similar process of expansion will soon be started, but this time towards urban areas.

The Commission hopes that actors draft good local development strategies that combine the opportunities offered by other funds to finance local development. Based on a survey implemented in Finland, it is clear that Finnish cities and other urban areas are very interested in joining the activity. LAGs currently active close to urban areas have thus studied the opportunity to start working with whole new partners and networks. There are surely organisations and people who are truly interested in developing their areas, but there are also organisations and people with no such enthusiasm – and plenty of other interests.

Urban Leader must be built based on tripartite decision-making, no more and no less! If the CLLD (Community Lead Local Development) model cannot be implemented in urban areas, dreaming about permanent tools for local development in these areas is futile. The tripartite method is the trademark of Finnish Leader.

It is also an excellent tool in promotion of neighbourhood democracy. Spreading the Leader method is also one of the levels of expanding Leader; particularly when recreating the municipal democracy.

Finland has been very active internationally. The statistics show that we are among the top three member states in terms of transnational projects, both when it comes to number of projects and when it comes to the being the leading partner. There is still room for improvement, however. We must simplify our procedures by harmonising the application periods, processing times and selection criteria. A functional method and funding system for international personnel exchange is also needed.

As local development expands, better visibility and cohesion of Leader are more important than ever – or we take the risk of losing our message and our results in the mire of versatility. A brand pilot project initiated by the LAGs in Satakunta attempts to harmonise the Leader method in whole of Finland. Thus, Finnish Leader is much more than before in many ways right now, at the threshold of the new programme period.

The agents aim at providing the LAGs better tools for shared communication and making it easier for them to create shared policies and make joint decisions.

Agent greetings, Heli Walls and Kim Smedslund RURAL+ 3/2013

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LEADER PROJECTS

DEMOCRACY OF ACTION

The activities always start with a couple of active city dwellers. When successful and inspiring, the events will attract more and more people – to do something themselves and not just watch. The social media has allowed neighbourhoods and city dwellers to get in touch with each other in a previously unimaginable manner. This has also given the new urban activism and events continuous visibility. In addition to making their immediate environment more lively, people want to do something fun and simply enjoy being together.

Traditional associations are not withering, either. For instance, there is a total of 79 city neighbourhood associations in Helsinki, not to mention other local associations. In larger cities new forms of support networks are required: to act as a catalyst for cooperation between local residents, local entrepreneurs and the city.

The support should involve as little bureaucracy as possible, and promote spontaneity.

Supporting the new type of urban activism would enhance the sense of community. At best, it could even create new businesses and local services.

Could Leader method be used for local development also in urban areas?

Leader has been successfully used in rural areas in Finland for a long time. Clear processes are required to support good local ideas – processes that can be used to fine-tune the new ideas into more general development actions and programmes. A 6

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"City Shuttle

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NON-PROFIT ENTERPR OWNED BY LOCAL ASSOCIATIONS

O v i pen ai c nt om er m ne e t nt

Local private-public partnership, open meetings

C lo row ca d l i so de u as rci

LAG

ng

Roadmap for Local Development in Helsinki O an pe d nw m o ee rk tin sh gs op s

In the past couple of years, Helsinki city residents have started to use the city for their own purposes. The city is bursting with new activities for anyone to participate, such as The Restaurant Day, The Cleaning Day, city farming, block and village parties, street squatting, etc. The new kind of citizen networks have started activities outside existing organizational strucutres. Such activity could well be called democracy of action.

Local Development Strategy

professional approach in obtaining funding and human resources, marketing and assessing projects, or even influencing the legislation, is needed.

In Helsinki and other large cities, the local development model should be able to utilise traits of informal civic action that lower people's threshold for participation.

The operating model should be somewhere in between civic action, administration and business life without being a new kind of subsidy for associations, an extension of public authorities or a new form of business subvention. It should genuinely improve the local residents' and entrepreneurs' opportunities to act and influence. Reacting to a wide range of ideas and quickly changing needs in a transparent and flexible manner must be made possible. The operating model should be agile and inspiring. Its goals are to promote the vitality of city neighbourhoods, create new sense of com-

munity and promote the opportunities for peer-to-peer services.

As in the Finnish countryside, also in cities the decision-making of local action groups (LAGs) should be based on the tripartite principle. This will ensure that the funding reserved for local development will be used to support genuinely local projects. All other kinds of local, national and community funding may also be budgeted for this purpose in the future.

Roadmap for Local Development in Helsinki

Helsinki Neighbourhoods Association Helka has been coordinating the creation of a Roadmap for Local Development for the Helsinki Metropolitan region (since June 2012). The project has received financial support from the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy. A wide net-

LEADER PROJECTS

IS ROLLING INTO CITIES "City Shuttle" provides process support (funding advice, facilitation/communication & IT-services)

e"

L pr oca op l p os ro al jec s t

fu Ou nd tco ed m pr es oj of ec ts

RICE L

Funding authorities and partners

work of public officials and grass root level activists and developers has been consulted in the drafting process. The principles and long experience of the greatly successful Finnish rural Leader work have also been utilised.

Helka’s project Roadmap for Local Development in Helsinki will continue until the end of 2013. The next steps in Helsinki will be establishing political acceptance for the Roadmap and getting the first LAGs and Local Development Strategies on their way.

Visualization: Tero Juuti

Helka ry

email: helka@helka.net

For further project information, please contact Helka’s Project Manager: Mrs. Eeva Kuuluvainen, tel. + 358 400 374544, e-mail: eeva.kuuluvainen@kolumbus.fi If you want to learn more about Helka or neighbourhood activities in Helsinki, please contact Executive Director Pirjo Tulikukka (tel.+358 45 1452595 or +358 41 522 2071, e-mail: pirjo.tulikukka@helka.net)

Helsinki Neighbourhoods Association Helka is the focal point for 79 neighbourhood associations in Helsinki. Helka is a politically and religiously unaffiliated non-governmental organisation (NGO). Helka’s values include openness, fairness, equality, community building and sustainability. Helka was established in 1964. Its mission is to activate and bring together residents and local actors in the Helsinki Metropolitan region. Helka aims to strengthen diverse opportunities for local participation and interaction in the Helsinki region and share experience with anyone with similar interests.

A major activity is coordinating and supporting a city-wide network of neighbourhood websites.

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LEADER PROJECTS

Successful Leader Pilot at Lake Ladoga The goals with Leader are promoting the competitive ability of rural areas and improving cooperation between local communities and the administration.

Cornerstones of Leader include local action, initiative and networking. The pilot project Ladoga Initiative of the University of Helsinki Ruralia Institute was about introducing the local development approach to the Lake Ladoga region.

To reach these goals, the project trained three regional coordinators who assisted in establishing Local Initiative Groups (LIGs) at Pitkyaranta, Aunus and Lodeynoye Pole in the summer of 2011. The term used for LIGs in the EU area is local action group (LAG). The coordinator training started with a four-day training event in Hamina, Finland. Issues covered in this training event included principles of Leader, different types of operating cultures and how the work should be started in practice.

All the coordinators were very enthusiastic, even though they did not have a clear idea at that point of what the next two years would entail. There was not even a shared language: the coordinators did not speak English and the trainer Marjo Lehtimäki, the Executive Director of LAG Sepra, did not speak Russian. However, the training finally proved to be very successful with the help of an interpreter and Project Manager Inna Kopoteva of the University of Helsinki.

The coordinators were willing to do much more work than planned in a clearly shorter period of time than planned to get as much information as possible. To ensure that the training would not be limited to discussions at the Sepra office, the group also visited immigrant association Rodnik in Hamina, went to see how cooperation between a local fishing association and a village association has been arranged at a local passenger harbour, and studied corporate projects of another LAG, PohjoisKymen Kasvu.

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Ideas at village events led to village plans

Actual work at the Lake Ladoga region started after the first training period.

Villages in the pilot project area received information about the project in advance and village events were planned. The second training period took place in June, this time at Lake Ladoga. The first village event at Aunus also took place during this training period. It was interesting to see how similar the behaviour of the people there was to that of Finns: they were very quiet at first, but when they got the ball rolling and got the negative issues out of the way, they provided plenty of ideas for the future development programme.

When a similar event had been arranged in all the piloting areas and proposals on board members had been obtained, a board of directors was established for each pilot area. The boards were built based on the Finnish tripartite model: one third of the members were representatives of local rural communities – most of them unregistered –, one third local administration and the final third represented companies or associations.

A development programme was drafted for each area based on the results obtained from the village events, surveys, a student competition and an open idea collection process. Each programme included the background information, the key development areas and the assessment criteria to be used. In July, the members of the boards and the coordinators came to Finland for a training event and study trip, at which time the coordinators received further training from Sepra.

A project application period started in the areas in October 2011. The application deadline was the end of February 2012.

Each LIG had access to a project funding quota of 900,000 roubles, which they could assign to projects of their choice.

Furthermore, the LIG of each area had to

provide 100,000 roubles of funding in the form of money or supplies.

Encouraging results from the assessment rounds

The Executive Director of Sepra participated in two assessment rounds implemented onsite in Russia to see how the LIGs had been able to apply the Leader principles in their work and on which basis they select the projects to be funded. Another issue assessed included the opinions of the local actors, mostly the members of the LIGs, on the significance of Leader-type activities in the Ladoga Initiative project.

The assessment trip arranged in March also aimed at supporting the boards of the LIGs when they were processing project applications for the first time. The board members in each area had conducted careful background studies and assessed the projects in advance, grading them based on the local programme and the Leader method values. The chairperson of the meetings was Ladoga Initiative project's Project Manager Inna Kopoteva. The projects were discussed in great detail in these meetings. If the participants felt that they were unable to proceed with the processing of the projects, they were given practical tools to be applied such situations – such as first eliminating the projects that absolutely would not receive funding and then continuing with the remaining projects.

Each LIG received plenty of proposals on building children's playgrounds and sports venues in the villages. All of the LIGs stated that new jobs and major infrastructure investments would be needed in the area, but they understood that Leader is about activating the local residents so that they would develop their own region themselves instead of resolving major structural problems. Playgrounds and sports venues are projects into which both young and old people can be more easily attracted.

There are hardly any registered village

LEADER PROJECTS On the right: Inna Kopoteva and Elena, the coordinator at Aunus.

In the middle: Lake Ladoga Below: un education held in Hamina. Photos: Marjo Lehtim채ki

associations in Russia, which means that the applicants for most of the projects were private persons. They had been forced to obtain written letters of recommendation for their projects from other local residents, however, to prove that their project was supported in the area. As a whole, one can state that the Leader work in the pilot areas started better than expected and the LIGs were able to well adopt the principles of local development.

Challenges arose when the local actors, who had started their project enthusiastically and with great expectations, observed that there were problems with obtaining funding. Some of the measures planned for the summer of 2012 could not be implemented on schedule because of the lack of funding, but it was observed during the assessment trip in October that the adversities had caused many of the people to try even harder: they had implemented the project anyway, trusting that the funds would come through later.

It was very encouraging to notice that there were several people in these areas who noticed during the pilot project that they actually can influence things. When interviewed, many people said that the most important thing about the project was probably the enthusiasm in voluntary action offered by the training events and the study trips.

Ladoga Initiative was able to also create Sepra's first cooperation project with a Russian group: three Finnish LAGs, two Estonian LAGs and one Russian LIG implemented a youth project in the summer of 2012, consisting of three themed youth camps, one in each country.

Marjo Lehtim채ki Executive Director The Aunus board of directors hard at work

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LEADER PROJECTS

Operations Under the Umbrella of YesCommAct – Across Borders That's the thing, community spirit; that's what'll get any little village on the world map. Like the small village of indomitable Gauls, Asterix and the magic potion, you know. This is how Andi Atkinson, currently living in Juankoski, Finland, explains the concept of sense of community while trying to attract the Savonian villagers to attend a trip to the Art Festivo event in Satakunta. The trip is part of a Leader umbrella project called YesCommAct by three countries (Finland, Scotland and Italia) and three Finnish provinces (North Savonia, Kainuu and North Satakunta).

A subproject of YesCommAct, Tikkuja ja kiviä – Sticks and Stones, on developing traditional environments, the sense of community and voluntary work by the town of Juankoski and the Juankoski Cultural History Association is building a fancy wooden fence around a local band house, and an old graveyard which the villagers have almost forgotten themselves is being restored by building a stone fence around it. "Do you know how beautiful your village is?" asked a Scot from Huntly when visiting Juankoski with his group. We put on a pair of "Scots specs" and saw that it is indeed a beautiful place.

Now we are exchanging know-how with the town of Huntly on stone and wood construction. It goes like this: the Scots come to Finland to show us how to build a good stone fence, and the Finns go to Scotland to lend their wood building skills. The final result will be a great stone fence in Finland and a nice wooden fence to protect exercisers and skiers in the UK. An additional bonus will be the exchange of ideas on voluntary work and caring for 10

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other people. It's as simple as that.

What about Parkano and Art Festivo? A group of those that are easily led left early one morning in April on a minibus to visit the partner project in Satakunta. The Scots will dance and play their bagpipes, the people from Parkano will cook their traditional red ochre paint and spread new folk metal music to the world, and Italians will eat great food and sing. People from Nilsiä and Kainuu, in their turn, will recite poetry, show their skills in modern dance and play in a band. The Juankoski team will get the best out of everything and design a new ski lodge for the Scots.

What happened over there, then? Repa Pirinen learned his second word of English and Saila Päiväniemi danced a traditional Scots dance in her bathrobe; and both of them can now make red ochre paint. The team also visited Tykköö Village of 100 residents, of whom 70 are actively involved in village action. They have build a great village house, a log outbuilding, a chimneyless sauna, a Lapp hut to be used for barbecue and an outdoor bathtub, all on the yard of a single house. The villagers say that if they find that someone is feeling depressed, they will cheer them up, and they will feed the neighbour's children in addition to their own if their parents are at work. A marathon is arranged at the village each Epiphany and all the people dance until they drop on Midsummer. Village therapy.

Timo Mustonen showed his amazing card tricks at Art for the Youth and the youth from Atkinson now have friends from Kainuu, Satakunta, Nilsiä and Scotland.

Venla started a band called Hypothermia and played, with her friend Jenni from Paltamo, a wedding waltz in minor so well that the people begged for more. The Huntly

development association was able to select its favourite from among three Lapp huts

by Kesämäen Kolmen Kontti. Lassi and Erkki Hämäläinen have flight tickets to Scotland waiting – who can gather enough courage to ask them whether they'd like to go? Or are there any others who'd like to go instead?

A large bus was filled with dancing youth and great bands from Nilsiä and Paltamo.

They told that they're doing a thing called Rising Youth Bands, which allows them to get some of the money invested in the EU back through Leader.

Despite being a bit confusing, YesCommAct is a fairly useful project.

People in Juankoski are able to improve their mental health while tending their resident park and building wooden fences, the Scots can try to find a miniature railway from the old steelworks and some crazy people from Parkano have developed a new type of music called Finn Folk Metal Motion (FFMM). They want to showcase FFMM next summer at Louhosareena Arena and the Canal Party in North Savonia.

People are active and improve their villages. Together. Like the Gauls. That's it.

Päivi Hagman International coordinator

The projects and themes arranged under the umbrella in Finland are: - Encouraging upcoming young musicians, bands and dancers (Rising Youth Bands) - Developing resident parks and related community spirit, cultural history and voluntary work as well as exchanging know-how on stone and wood construction (Sticks and Stones)

LEADER PROJECTS

SlowLi

– Slow Life Country Instead of a speed-filled and sometimes also tiring action vacation, you can spend your holiday relaxing. The slow travel ideology is slowly gaining a foothold in the minds of tourists, and thus it also starts to show in the demand.

The hostess of a manor converted to a tourist site in Kaavi and chairperson of a tourist association Kirsti Viljamaa says that an article by Professor Sirkka Heinonen on slowing down and slow travel hit her hard and caused her to act. The final results were summed up by a stressed-out corporate excecutive when sitting in the chimneyless sauna owned by Viljamaa in Mäntylä Village: "Kirsti, there are a lot of my colleagues who want to become your customers if you just let them sit quietly here in the warm sauna. Slowing down offers you whole new energy for your work."

Tahko Tourism Centre close to Kuopio offers a large variety of action holidays.

Let's ask Tahko's CEO Jari Mathalt whether Tahko's customers are interested in the new slow travel products, such as pleasant trips on a rowboat, spending the day fishing, picking berries or studying local cultural history sights, or just watching the great outdoors. Mathalt says, "Our current target group is not very interested in such holidays, but we could find new customers.

There are a lot of them, particularly from the large metropolises of the world, in Japan or Russia, where St. Petersburg is an example." Tourism entrepreneurs agree with Mathalt. Their products are based on the clean Finnish nature, which is very pristine for a person living in, for instance, Shanghai or Rome.

The SlowLi project creates, markets and tests slow travel routes. There is really no need to create anything new: the project only needs to promote the opportunities offered by the Finnish forests and lakes.

Mental barriers from in between tourism centres and small tourism sector entrepreneurs located in the wilderness. This is something that needs to be done together.

Päivi Hagman International coordinator

North Savonia Tourism Association implemented in cooperation with an association on developing the coastal areas in Estonia, Kirderanniku Koostöögu (KIKO), a shared business development project in 2011–2013. The goal was to promote the brand Slow Life Country that is based on the slow travel ideology. The two associations have created slow travel routes in their respective regions and a shared Slow Travel Routes folder on these routes, the slow travel ideology and related businesses. The project encourages entrepreneurs to cooperate and be among the first to utilise the new tourism brand that is expected to replace action holidays globally.

The transnational development project is funded by LAG Kalakukko. Local needs were surveyed and an outside partner was sought at first with a preliminary project. The globalisation assistance offered by LAG Kalakukko was important when the partner was being sought, when agreements were drafted and sometimes also when people needed more faith in what they were doing and new ideas.

The project is creating a new website at www. slowlifecountry.fi/fi. It is also involved in an international seminar called LINC FINLAND 2013, offering a wonderful Slow Life Country trip in the Lakeland district at Tahko and in the Finnish outback (www.linc-finland.fi) .

Slowing down and combining it with tourism will open people's eyes and offer them peace of mind. Photo by Päivi Hagman.

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LOCAL FOOD&LIVING Nordic artisan food

Idea- and knowledge forum for artisan food.

Financial Impact Studied in All ”NNF II focuses on improving meals in homes and institutions, promoting children’s food culture and encouraging local food production and the use of food when promoting the region. NNF II sees gastronomy as a valuable creative industry and promotes cooperation with other Nordic creative industries.”

SMEs – Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in the Nordic region The Nordic countries have all established food competence centres that offer consultation services, education facilities and networking oppurtunities to food entrepreneurs and small-scale food producers.

The SME project is one of the projects within New Nordic Food II that runs in the period 2010–2014. New Nordic Food II is a communication programme under the Nordic Council of Ministers that promotes Nordic food both within the region and internationally.

The competence centres support artisan food makers and SMEs in the food industry by providing them advice on a variety of issues ranging from product development and primary production to business management, marketing, sales and distribution. Organisations running such centres in the region include Swedish Eldrimner, Nofima in Norway, Food-Finland and Food Development cluster programme in Finland, green Centre, AgroTech and Culinary Heritage Bornholm in Denmark, the Outer Islands association in the Faroe Islands and Matís in Iceland. The Small and Medium sized Enterprises project in the Nordic countries is led by Matís.

Increasing variety of high-quality local food products

“The main focus is in supporting the exchange of experts between areas. The New Nordic Food network will be used to identify 12

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experts on different production techniques, quality control and possibly presentation and packaging within the Nordic region to provide specific expertise and training,” says project manager Gunnthorunn Einarsdottir from Matís in Iceland.

“There is no doubt that availability of high quality local food products is a key factor in development and promotion of the food culture, distinguishing uniqueness of each area and thus shaping the identity of the community. The variety of products available is essential to support a diverse and interesting food culture that will offer pride and enrichment to the community and make it more attractive for tourists,” Einarsdottir explains.

Many areas – if not all – in the Nordic countries possess great opportunities when it comes to high quality local and seasonal food production. Some areas are currently taking advantage of these opportunities, while others lag far behind.

“The goal of the project is to support and encourage farmers and other producers of local food to learn from the experience of others in the Nordic region. Making proper training available when it comes to the production of high quality local food products and advice on how to diversify the production of high quality local and seasonal food products in each area,” Einarsdottir continues.

Bettina Lindfors Communication Adviser, NNF II

Finnish municipalities have failed to identify all the benefits of food produced close by. Municipalities are the largest provider of public food services in Finland, and also a major buyer of foodstuffs and raw materials. A nation-wide pioneer project studies the financial impacts of local food and the opportunity to use more local food in public kitchens.

"There are many municipalities in which only 5% of all the food bought is local food," says Leena Viitaharju, Project Manager of the Ruralia Institute of the University of Helsinki. There are many reasons for this: lack of appropriations, the wrong acquisition criteria, lack of knowledge about public acquisition processes among food sector entrepreneurs and lack of volume among the entrepreneurs. There are other kinds of municipalities, too, such as Kiuruvesi where special investments in acquiring food manufactured close by have been made and almost 25% of the food is now local food.

Small entrepreneurs should be included in the competition

Public kitchens can use local food products by following the Finnish legislation on public acquisitions. If a municipality decides to buy the food it needs from entrepreneurs close by, the municipality must set acquisition criteria to suit this goal. Viitaharju explains that if the acquisition criteria are such that local food producers have an opportunity to win competitive biddings, the money will stay in the same province. This will have a direct employment impact in the food industry and also in other adjacent industries, such as agriculture and transport.

And when the employment rate improves, the municipality will receive more tax revenue. Furthermore, buying food produced close by may also reduce the amount of packaging waste: returnable containers may sometimes be used.

LOCAL FOOD & LIVING

of Local Food Provinces Local food use can be added in public kitchens if the person in charge of acquisitions is familiar with the entire production chain, and the local food producers understand the acquisition criteria and have an active attitude towards the market. Most of the local companies in Finland are small and do not necessarily have the skills needed to reply an invitation to tender from the municipality. Municipalities could offer training or advise to entrepreneurs, or more general information about how to draft an offer. Decision-makers must want to improve the situation.

"Even a small company can enter a public competitive bidding through a network, for example. Several vegetable producers could submit a joint offer, for example. Such joint offers could resolve some of the logistics issues in addition to the volume issue."

The project Financial Impact and Promotion of Local Food in Public Kitchens is funded by the Local Food Programme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The project's impact calculations are implemented with a calculation method called RegFin, developed by the Ruralia Institute of the University of Helsinki.

The project is preparing questionnaires to be sent to companies processing foodstuffs and acquisition networks in whole of Finland. The questionnaires will study, for instance, what kind of primary production ingredients are being used in the food industry and how much local food is being used by public kitchens. Ruralia Institute prepared similar calculations last year for for provinces. The current project will expand the survey to cover the whole country.

Pipsa Salolammi Village Action Association of Finland For additional information contact: Leena Viitaharju, Project Manager, University of Helsinki, Ruralia Institute, or visit www. helsinki.fi/ruralia

Welcome Home!

The Finnish countryside offers tourists many opportunities to enjoy the clean and beautiful nature. There are guided activities, and plenty of trails, roads and rivers for independent tourists to discover.

Unfortunately, the tourists' needs and the services offered in rural areas often do not meet. A small store and a cafe in the parish village are not enough to cover one of the basic needs of a tourist: accommodation.

There are problems with the sufficiency of the accommodation capacity in Finland also outside rural areas, particularly when there is a large event close by.

A non-mainstream alternative

Experts familiar with tourism trends have highlighted the changes occurring in the sector. Tourists want more personal, unique and genuine experiences and services. This also applies to accommodation. Some help to the lack of accommodation capacity in rural areas and the need of further capacity during large events could be offered by bead and breakfast type home accommodation.

Home accommodation means private persons offering other people a bed in their own home without aiming at any major financial gain, but still charging something for the accommodation.

Home accommodation is an alternative worth consideration for many tourists even if other forms of accommodation are available. A hotel, holiday village or farm tourism company will surely offer great service, but what would be closer to genuine local life than staying at a local family's home, chatting with them in the evening and

having a tasty breakfast with them before continuing on your way?

Could I offer home accommodation?

In practice, anybody can offer home accommodation. A model for home accommodation has been developed for Finland.

The project in charge of the development, Homestay, has laid down the basics for home accommodation, determined basic requirements for the accommodation facilities and services to be offered, studied related legislation, and drafted pricing guidelines. All of these are available in a Home Accommodation Provider's Guide available on the project website. Anybody can use the guide to see whether offering home accommodation would be right for them.

Sustainable tourism at the grass root level

Home accommodation is a sustainable form of tourism. Since the accommodation is provided in facilities that already exist, no new buildings need to be constructed and there will be no facilities for tourism purposes only to give rise to extra costs. If the hosts use products from local producers when offering their guests breakfast, etc. and recommend the guests local services and sites of interest, the home accommodation will also support the local economy and promote cooperation between local parties.

Let's welcome tourists to Finnish homes!

For additional information: Tero Taatinen Project Manager Homestay project Tel. +358 50 311 9504, tero.taatinen@karelia.fi www.karelia.fi/of

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The Rural Network of Finland

THE RURAL NETWORK OF FINLAND Text: Viivi Lakkapää Photos: Ylä-Savon Veturi ry&Joutsenten Reitti ry

International Cooperation Fulfils the Objectives of Rural Development We asked three rural actors how internationalisation supports action groups’ own activities and the fulfilment of rural programme objectives.

Juha-Matti Markkola, Network Coordinator, Rural Network Unit Markkola believes that the greatest contribution made by international cooperation has been the creation of new perspectives on rural areas, and teaching those involved to appreciate the strengths of the Finnish countryside.

– Even if the cultures differ, the challenges are often the same.

International projects are a form of rural development that helps in meeting the challenges facing rural areas.

– When we receive project ideas, we help to find a counterpart in another EU country.

The required contacts are quickly made via the European Rural Network.

However, international cooperation involves much more than just projects. The Rural Network relays information to rural actors on rural development in other EU countries, letting them know what is going on elsewhere. In Markkola’s opinion, international work has become more active and efficient, now that action groups have enlisted the help of international coordinators.

At its best, international work involves an almost everyday exchange of information and experiences, and doing things together.

– We offer broad-based cooperation, in which Finns are highly active. We encourage actors to engage in international cooperation, because this opens up new perspectives and information on rural development, as well as creating enthusiasm for engaging in your own activities.

Leena Anttila,Senior Officer, Food Department, Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry In Anttila’s view, international cooperation enables learning about other countries’ practices and, wherever appropriate, applying them in your own work. Finland’s most popular project partners are Estonia and Sweden, by some margin.

– In the previous period, Finland was involved in as many as 10 cooperation projects with Estonia, even though the country did not join the European Union until 2004.

The organizers of international LINC Finland event Sari Hyttinen, Juha-Matti Markkola and Laura Vinberg participated enthusiastically in the activities of LINC Estonia event in June 2012.

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In Anttila’s opinion, the reason for this is that you cooperate with neighbouring countries anyway. Over the years, Leader work has changed. This has many reasons, of which the sheer increase in the number of EU member states is one.

– One big change is the increasing presence of Eastern European countries, evident in the shift of focus among our project partners.

We now cooperate more with Eastern European countries, whereas in the previous programming period our partners were mainly from Western Europe.

The Rural Network of Finland The Leader initiative has been implemented for almost two decades. The framework for project activities was created in the first programming period of 1996–1999.

– Then, the implementation period was short. Activities began in 1997 and the programming period ended as early as 1999.

At that time we had 13 international projects and 22 action groups. In the Leader+ programming period of 2000–2006, as many as a hundred projects were implemented.

– The current programming period has coincided with tougher economic times.

This is also evident in the number of projects, with 59 projects in progress involving 23 countries, and some twenty pending.

This programming period has seen a fair number of international projects targeted at young people, most being related to rural livelihoods or leisure activities.

Sanna Sihvola, Senior Officer, Food Department, Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry In Sihvola’s opinion, international development has introduced new ideas and practices to her own area.

– International cooperation enables the sharing of best practices. Cooperation between countries is one way of achieving the goals of rural development, at both national and international level.

In Finland, the rural network in particular has promoted international cooperation by disseminating best practices and organising various training events.

According to Sihvola, the focus groups of the Commission’s LEADER sub-committee have also helped to promote international cooperation. One of them focused on promoting international projects, for instance by pinpointing and seeking solutions to bottlenecks in international project work.

– At times, work by the authorities has progressed slowly between partner countries, and attempts have been made to rationalise it. Partly thanks to the focus group, the mantra that ‘a project must be solved within four months at the latest’ has been included in the proposed regulation concerning European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. In addition, the group has simply compiled a contact list of the authorities in various countries, making it possible to request further information directly from the right person.

The aim for the following programming period is to introduce regeneration and experimentation into working methods.

This is what LEADER was originally about.

– It is very important that cooperation is conducted in a positive spirit. All actors play their own roles within the programme: the better the cooperation, the better the results and the greater the effectiveness.

Problems always need to be solved, in one way or another.

At the Brussels’ Leader-gathering in year 2012. From the left Vice President of ELARD Patras Panagiotis, Senior Officer of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Sanna Sihvola and President of ELARD Petri Rinne.

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The Rural Network of Finland

THE RURAL NETWORK OF FINLAND Text: Viivi Lakkapää Photos: Joutsenten Reitti ry

The Leader Approach as Part of Development Cooperation Petri Rinne has several irons in the fire: he has been manager of the local action group Joutsenen Reitti ry (the Swan Route) since 2001, and was elected President of ELARD, the European LEADER Association for Rural Development (the international umbrella organisation of EU’s Leader action groups), in 2010.

– I’ve enjoyed this work enormously. The international dimension just adds spice to it.

Rinne became interested in internationality as a student.

– I studied rural development at University College Dublin in Ireland in 1996–1997. My language skills took off, which raised my interest in cooperation with other countries. When you are able to discuss issues fluently, the nationality of colleagues is irrelevant.

Cooperation with neighbours

Finland, Sweden and Estonia top the European Union’s statistics on projects.

– For instance, we have cooperated with Sweden on the topic of local food, studying models for bringing produce from the surrounding rural areas into the city of Gothenburg. There, producers do not transport produce to the city themselves.

Instead, a logistics link is built between producers.

Sweden and Estonia are Finland’s most natural partners, being most familiar to Finns and having most in common with them. According to Rinne, in terms of development Sweden is ahead of the others in many ways, which makes it the place to turn to if you want to learn.

– For example, immigration is fairly prominent in Sweden’s rural programme, while the Finnish equivalent doesn’t even mention it.

Rinne is also interested in Russia and the potential it offers. Cooperation with Russia could involve rural tourism, for instance.

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– In particular, recreational hunting and youth exchanges with Russia are major issues. We have tried to inspire young people to find out more about their roots in Karelia’s Finnish family lines.

Cooperation outside Europe

Rinne is deeply involved in Joutsenten Reitti LAG’s cooperation activities in Alto Ligonha, Mozambique. In cooperation with locals, Africa’s first Leader group was founded there.

– We are seeking visibility for Mozambique. Our cooperation began in 2006 and the group started work in 2009.

The action group has financed projects and new jobs have been created there, in retail and agriculture, says Rinne.

Due to its relatively stable democratic development, Mozambique was an easy destination for cooperation activities.

– Thanks to cooperation across regions, awareness of Leader has spread and the number of applications has grown.

According to Rinne, people from all over Africa have travelled to Mozambique to learn from LAG cooperation.

– Each time you return, you can see that they’ve made progress. At present, the total number of projects is 35. More than 137 project applications have been received, but only a fraction, around 10 – 20 per cent, will be chosen.

Africa a model for Finland

Having worked with Leader for twelve

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years and inhabiting the world of projects, Rinne finds that development cooperation has proven in concrete terms what Finland can teach others, and in what respects Finland can learn from them.

– Travelling to another culture and level of development is a true eye opener. For instance, cutting through unnecessary red tape is one thing that Finland could learn.

Rinne is particularly pleased that the Leader action points in Mozambique not only provide project guidance, but also instruct on issues such as how to tend a nursery.

The future of development cooperation

Development cooperation is continuously expanding. Cooperation with developing countries has reached Finland more slowly than, for instance, EU countries with former colonies in Africa or South America.

– People in Finland may not have realised what they have in common with the cultures of developing countries. You see the points of resemblance when you are on-site. Coffee, tea and many other cultivated plants are a connection. During our latest trip to Mozambique, we got to know a Danish company that imports mangoes, grown by smallholders, to EU markets.

Rinne says it is not always easy to combine family life with ELARD presidency and work as the Manager of LAG Joutsenen Reitti. However, it helps that his spouse’s job has a very different pace.

– Awareness of the possibilities and continuous learning of new things are what inspire me at work. I have noticed that it is vital to get enough sleep, however – otherwise you start to run out of steam at some point.

Mozambique’s first Leader local action group in Alto Ligonha.

The Rural Network of Finland

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The Rural Network of Finland

THE RURAL NETWORK OF FINLAND Text: Mari Voutilainen Photos: Antero Lehikoinen ja Mari Voutilainen

International CULTrips Project Brings Buzz to Villages At the height of summer, a party of German ladies marvels at car-heating poles in the parking lot of a terraced house in Kesälahti, Eastern Finland. The local hostesses of the CULTrips project explain the purpose of these poles to the test persons on a pilot trip. – During severe winter frosts, we heat up our car engines before starting them.

‘That sounds very practical’, many of the visiting ladies comment, nodding and recording photos of the poles in their digital cameras. Both visitors and hostesses are full of wonder and smiles. The car-heating pole crystallises the idea of the international CULTrips project: getting to know different cultures, guided by local people and villagers.

The project consists of seven Leader groups in five countries: Central Karelia Jetina and LAG Joensuu Region from Finland, Raplamaa from Estonia, Urfahr-West and Oststeirisches Kernland from Austria, the region Valle Umbra e Sibillini from Italy and Redange-Wiltz from Luxembourg.

The latter is the lead partner and main coordinator of this international project.

Development of local village community through international cooperation

– We exchange everyday experiences by doing things together, says Esko Lehto, Project Manager and ‘village trip host’ of the Finnish end of the project. We view village trips as everyday cultural tourism, encouraging people to engage in inter-cultural dialogue while reflecting on our own cultural identity and its origins. In practical terms, village associations and activists are the ones who engage in this kind of cooperation.

– When you meet foreigners, you see things from a different angle, says Lehto.

Here, we have returned to the roots of tourism. In Finland, visitors and locals are fascinated by the forests and waterways.

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Villagers participating in the project can examine their local community and its activities, welcoming visitors and introducing them to the related activities. The results include presentation material on the local community, exchange of development ideas and experiences through study trips, and a guide well-versed in village tourism.

This international project also concerns development in the local community.

According to Esko Lehto, key aspects of participation include personal enthusiasm and that of the community, interest in the project, willingness to cooperate and make new friends, and willingness to invest time in doing and learning things together.

On pilot trips you find out about villages.

To date, five trips have been made, with the next one, which is also the last, destined for Styria in Austria in June. Villagers themselves can choose what they show to test tourists, while acting as test tourists themselves. After the trips, feedback is processed together, in face-to-face and web meetings.

Esko Lehto mentions that the project results are not yet ready.

– We will jointly create a village tourism model. With so many countries participating in the project, account will be taken of a huge variety of viewpoints. The main

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product will be a manual describing the process, and listing participants and activities. This manual will then serve as a model for others. We have constructed a village tourism model through trial and error, with Luxembourg as the lead partner, showing the way to others. In Finland, we have emphasised the process-like development of village tourism. Local people are the heart and soul of this activity, states Esko, summing up the project.

Hannele Autti of the Honkavaara region village association comments that positive feedback and good experiences have been the main outcome of the project. – CULtrips has clearly strengthened the identity of our village – this is an empowering phenomenon. We have the courage to engage in direct contact with strangers, even without a common language.

Auli Partio from Oravisalo in Rääkkylä agrees. – The project has boosted local village activity, too. We gained courage, so much so that we disbanded two inactive village committees and established a single, joint village association. We have reaped all of the project's benefits here in our village. I do hope that we have also given some to others!

Sari Hirvonen, from the archipelago villages of Rääkkylä, summarised the main

The Rural Network of Finland Finnish actors of the CULTrips projects. Pilot trip experiences and lessons learned are reviewed together, while exchanging experiences. Photo by Mari Voutilainen.

features of the CULTrips projects, from the viewpoint of local village activity: 1. Enhanced cooperation and community spirit.

2. The pilot trip tested organisational ability and capacity (see problematic points).

3. Everyone has the possibility to participate to the extent their skills and abilities allow (increasing motivation, new skills discovered).

4. The pilot trip created a positive feeling for the entire village.

5. Media attention brought the village publicity.

6. The feedback inspired confidence in the future.

Read more: http://www.cultrips.org/ Esko’s village tourism blog: http://kylamatkailu. blogit.fi/ and Marvelling at the heating poles: http:// yle.fi/uutiset/lammitystolppa_varasti_turistien_ huomion_-_katso_video/6170193 Cultrips is on Facebook, too!

The kick-off meeting of the CULTrips project in Italy, Valle Umbra e Sibillini. Village tourism representatives of seven Leader groups from five countries participated in the meeting. Photo by Antero Lehikoinen.

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The Rural Network of Finland

THE RURAL NETWORK OF FINLAND Text: Pasi Laajala and Pirjo Heikkinen Photos: The Rural Network of Finland, 123rf Stock Photos

Bees and Biodiversity Team Up to Halt the Decline of Pollinating Insects and Protect Biodiversity GAL Pays Voironnais sent out a project invitation in the summer of 2011. LAG Living Kainuu Leader passed this on to MTT Agrifood Research Finland in Sotkamo, which found the project topic interesting because beekeeping is dying out as a livelihood in the Kainuu region. Work began with a preliminary analysis project in the autumn of 2011. In Kainuu, this project was funded by LAG Living Kainuu Leader and administered by MTT Agrifood Research Finland Sotkamo Research Station.

After a meeting, all eight LEADER partners worked on local projects with three main goals: land management (all types of land use so that measures take account of pollinating insects, biodiversity and environment-friendly farming), beekeeping activity and economy (increasing the volumes of beekeeping, enhancing product marketing, development of networks, financial support), and information and education.

At the second meeting in Voiron in 2012, participants familiarised themselves with regional objectives and agreed on the scope of cooperation, and the related budget and measures. Responsibility for organising seminars was allocated to GAL Pays Voironnais of France, LAG Dübener Heide of Germany and LAG Zlata Cesta of Slovakia. The project has been punctuated by frequent information exchanges via SKYPE. Plans also include the creation of a joint website and Facebook pages, a brochure and centralised reporting. Work has progressed well in all directions, roles have been clearly allocated to participants, and contacts have been lively.

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Forest and field ecosystem services – crop yields of berries on the rise

This local, two-year project encompassing the entire Kainuu region was implemented by MTT Agrifood Research Finland in Sotkamo, and financed by LAG Living Kainuu Leader and Oulujärvi Leader. The work aims to secure a favourable habitat

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The Rural Network of Finland for pollinating bees through a variety of measures, and to share information gained in trials. The Kainuu region beekeepers’ association, Kainuun Mehiläishoitajat ry, is a key partner in Kainuu.

Pollination service trial on two strawberry farms

The pollination service trial in Kainuu involved the introduction of bees and other pollinating insects to berry farms, and a specific forest area, in which crop volumes were to be increased. This measure was also aimed at diversifying cooperation between berry farmers and beekeepers. If a berry farmer earned more money, could some of it be allocated to the provider of the pollinating service? On another strawberry farm, bees were also harnessed to help control organic grey mould.

In addition to cultivated berries, experiments with pollinating activity have included the pollination of bilberries. In Metsähallitus’ lands in Kuhmo, in cooperation with the berry industry six beehives and 20 hives of wild pollinating insects were scattered over an area totalling a few kilometres.

Project to alleviate the housing shortage among wild pollinating insects, hold briefings and organise study trips

Wild pollinating insects play a key role in securing the crop yield of wild berries.

Artificial hives were introduced in order to alleviate the housing shortage affecting

these insects. The hives are made by drilling holes of various sizes in pieces of aspen or birch logs. Hundreds of new buzzers can hatch from a single log. The key idea of the pollinating service is to take the insects living in the logs to places in need of pollinators. Briefings were arranged during winter and spring 2013, for beekeepers and others with an interest in the business, and in the summer of 2012 a high number of requests were received for the placement of hives.

However, not enough hives were available to meet demand, so one new beekeeper began operating in the region. In addition, the local 4H-Club is willing to take care of pollination in one location next summer.

A study and networking trip to Slovakia is scheduled for May 2013. A meeting of LEADER partners will be arranged in Slovakia’s Zlata Cesta region, alongside a seminar with the theme “Beekeeping activity and the economy”. At this meeting, the partners will process the results of joint measures, approve reports and prepare an action plan for the remaining period.

In the forthcoming pollination season, activity will be expanded in Kainuu to the environs of Lake Oulujärvi. Local farmers are also interested in organic grey mould control for strawberries. One of the key goals for the coming summer is the introduction of the European dark bee to the region.

Why a joint project?

Kainuu can benefit from the experiences of Central Europe, because problems with pollinating insects emerged there much

A beehive with windows for teaching purposes was introduced during the Voiron kick-off meeting. From the left: Kalle Hoppula, MTT Agrifood Research Sotkamo, Finn Chemnitz of LAG Lolland, Denmark, Axel Mitzka of Dübener Heide, Germany, and the French “designers” of the hive.

earlier. Here, in Kainuu, the first problems arose in 2008. Cooperation in Kainuu needs the support of awareness enhancement and practical demonstrations for farmers and beekeepers, to enable more contacts between the two groups. Using practical methods to prove the benefits of such measures will form the best consultant, in this respect.

Some action groups have already committed themselves to continuing measures to promote biodiversity and beekeeping.

A Grundtvig Learning Partnership project application has been drawn up for this purpose. A decision on this is due in the early summer.

In Voiron, Kalle Hoppula, Director of MTT Agrifood Research Sotkamo, representing the project administrator, and Pirjo Heikkinen, LAG Manager, LAG Living Kainuu LEADER. THE RURAL NETWORK OF FINLAND 2013

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The Rural Network of Finland

THE RURAL NETWORK OF FINLAND Text: Marjut Haapanen Photos: Aktiivinen Pohjois-Satakunta

Small but effective:

TRADITIONS ON THE MARKET SQUARE The project Traditions on the Market Square, run by Karvia’s local tourism association, Karvian Matkailuyhdistys ry, is a prime example of how a small-scale project (total budget in Finland €9,700) can achieve a great deal – on a totally voluntary basis without a single paid employee. Reciprocal cultural education with Italy led to the creation of photo exhibitions, tourism promotion events, the collection of cultural traditions and the networking of rural entrepreneurs, all in a single year.

Karvia’s partners included GAL Monti Sibillini e Valle, Spoleto, Castel Ritaldi and Campello di Clitunno, and small entrepreneurs from the rural areas of the Umbria region. Cooperation between Finland and Italy was characterised by music, traditions,

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food and tourism promotion. Reciprocal visits excelled in highlighting the gems of the Karvia and Umbria region – so much so, that one visitor from Italy is seeking a plot of land and a lakeside house in Karvia.

Cooperation continues

The project ended in February, but Karvia is now engaged in unofficial friendship town cooperation with the municipalities of Castel Ritaldi and Campello di Clitunno. At the Karvia Days 2013 event, food products from Umbria will be sold, entrepreneurs will introduce themselves, school cooperation will continue, tourists will again make the journey to Karvia and, alongside other actors in Northern Satakunta, there will be further cooperation in the music sector.

During the project, new areas of coope-

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ration include truffles (the Finnish Forest Research Institute will perform planting trials with summer truffle) and mushrooms, nature tourism and school cooperation.

– The project was easy to implement, because the actors knew each other in advance and were familiar with each others’ starting points. This was due to the lengthy negotiation process upon the launch of the project, since the bureaucracy was heavy and labyrinthine, particularly at the Italian end, says Krista Antila, international project coordinator at LAG Aktiivinen PohjoisSatakunta, commenting on how difficulties were turned to good account.

Children from the Kantti School in Karvia made the most of Finland’s reputation as the home country of Father Christmas, enjoying fun and games at the Spoleto Christmas market.

THE RURAL NETWORK OF FINLAND Text: Marjut Haapanen Photos: Karhunseutu

The Rural Network of Finland

Handicraft Traditions Given New Splendour The internationalisation of Juustola artisans is a gem among projects. In under two years, more success has been achieved than anyone could have expected. Implemented alongside Jögevamaa Koostöökoda from Estonia and Darisim Pasi from Latvia, the project gave Juustola artisans and other participants new ideas, approaches and perspectives on handicraft traditions and the creation of handiwork. Likewise, inventive novel ways of advertising events, creating decorations and products were learned, not forgetting international distribution channels.

Juustola’s inhabitants were impressed by the idea that an entire village can get involved in organising events, and were inspired to try the same in Finland. Linking communities together began at a very high level indeed: Kokemäki and Skrunda in Latvia conclud-

ed a twin city agreement, inspired by cooperation under the project. Cooperation flourished on many levels in other respects too. The chain of partners included not only artisans but also ambassadors, municipal executives, students, entrepreneurs and LEADER groups.

Own collection and a new twist

Traditional products by partners in Estonia were the inspiration for the Juustola collection. During the project, a common Helvi collection was created. This will help raise the association’s status and enhance internal cooperation.

The idea of making national costume patterns trendy was also copied from Estonia. Last autumn, a handicrafts seminar in Kokemäki focussed on new trends in national costumes. All national costumes

of the Karhuseutu region were displayed in Juustola, alongside new ideas based on them. The special collection by Sataedu, the Satakunta Educational Federation of Municipalities students in Textile and Garments, was shown in a spectacular fashion show. In addition, international partners displayed costumes, and new ideas based on the fabrics used in the costumes.

National costumes and their patterns were truly reborn and have aroused huge interest on a broader scale. This proves the idea wrong that handicrafts are just for grannies!

Jenni Tanski spinning wool at the castle yard handicraft market during the 2011 study trip to Põltsamaa. Traditional patterns used in trendy items.

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The Rural Network of Finland

THE RURAL NETWORK OF FINLAND Text: Hannu Alatalo, The writer Hannu Alatalo is the Project Manager, the Finnish translator of the Mustaparta novel and a direct descendant of Mustaparta.

Photos: Esa Rautiainen & Advertising Agency Crea

PIRATE OF THE BAY OF BOTHNIA

Reconquers Tornio Valley in the 2000s The ’Mustaparta archipelago and Tornio valley’ is an international business development project financed by the Leader group LAG Outokaira tuottamhan. The project applicant is the University of Lapland and the international partner is the LAG Mare Boreale in Sweden, from across the River Tornio. The roots of the project, which will be implemented between 1 November 2010 and 28 February 2013, extend back to the 18th century. Planning aimed at developing the topic into a Leader project began in 2009, when two cultural activists joined forces and ideas. This resulted in events in two countries, with performers from both sides of the cross-border Tornio valley.

Total cost estimate in the project (EU + state) is 153,550.00 Region in two countries

The Tornio Valley is a region around the border between Finland and Sweden, with a common history and culture. The languages spoken there are Finnish, Swedish and the common meänkieli (“our language”), which has minority language status in Sweden.

Three million shopping tourists visit Tornio and Haaparanta every year. In the spring, endless columns of ski tourists’ cars travel along the Tornio Valley. So, there is ample customer potential. The cross-border affinities between Tornio Valley inhabitants, with their common background of historical and cultural ties, are very strong. Can these be developed into tourism products?

Can a feeling be productised? Shopping 24

and ski centres are mass products. Does their clientele include anyone interested in cultural tourism products? Yes, and there are plenty of them.

Iisakki Mustaparta

Everyone is attracted to products that include the common touch and the ideas of equality, overcoming injustice and putting it in its place, as long as the products in question are original.

Iisakki Mustaparta lived between 1751 and 1809, the year that Tornionlaakso was bisected by a new national boundary, splitting families, lands and fishing areas in two. When Mustaparta returned from the seas as a young man, he saw that his home region was now characterised by decline, oppression and distress.

Against the will of bourgeois shopkeepers, he and his farmer friends built a decked ship, with the intention of carrying tar to Stockholm and returning with grain for the poor. With the most prominent local citizens at their head, the civil servants turned against him.

Mustaparta and his men were declared outlaws, imprisoned and thrown into foul-smelling dungeons in Stockholm. But Mustaparta did not give up. Instead, he proved that his actions were legal.

Novel in Meänkieli language on Mustaparta

A Swedish novel on Iisakki Mustaparta, written by Haparanda-based writer Olof

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Hederyd, has been translated into Finnish and its dialogue has been translated into meänkieli. The key events of the novel have been acted out as a serial play in the villages and harbours of TornioHaparanda.

Musical performance programmes have been created based on the story. These have toured Finnish and Swedish restaurants, schools and ski centres in the North, and it seems that they are still in the early stages of their run.

Mustaparta is a Finnish-Swedish trademark

The Mustaparta winter clothes collection has been introduced at fairs. The winterwear range combines old and new features, and a made-to-measure captain’s coat or lady’s jacket are available by order.

Although production of a famous beer brand ended in the region a few years ago, people now quench their thirst with a Mustaparta beer in a number of restaurants in the Tornio Valley. By the end of the year, a Mustaparta restaurant, complete with a special menu and entertainment programme, will be opened on the high street of Tornio.

A few prominent entrepreneurs have spotted the potential for good products, and the related marketing and profitable sales, in the spirit of Mustaparta. The forging of a stronger local identity is also working in their favour.

The Rural Network of Finland Pirate of the Bay Bothnia visiting Visby.

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Culture Supports Sense of Community in Rural Areas of Wales Cultural heritage and artist networks are an essential part of the Welsh projects.

Promoting the sense of community is very important. Old is being made new in Victorian festivals and at the village of Raglan.

"What struck me the most when visiting Wales was the versatile way in which culture supports the sense of community in the countryside," says Heli Talvitie, special expert in the Thematic Group on Culture of the Finnish Rural Policy Committee (YTR).

The Thematic Group on Culture and the Rural Network Unit arranged a study trip in culture and creative sectors to Wales last March. There were a total of thirty participants from Finland.

"Forming cultural heritage and artist networks is only part of the innovative project activities in the rural areas in Wales.

'Revitalising' the community spirit and empowering the local residents are the background factors influencing a lot that is being done," says Talvitie.

The population of Wales is three million.

Many Welsh people living in rural areas are interested in culture and arts. Creative projects range from Living Stones that promotes church culture to Walking with Offa that improves hiking routes.

Exchanging experiences and cultural entrepreneurship

The Wales Rural Network invests in cultural activities in rural areas. A local approach, sense of community and LAG work are the keywords. Village development starts with their history and culture.

"Culture is being used in a broad-minded manner in rural development. Examples of this include cemetery tours at the Raglan Village that are led by schoolchildren," says network agent Hans Bergström of the Rural Network Unit.

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and creative economy are based on traditions. The traditions in the UK are very old when compared to Finland: the foundation is a thousand years deep.

"Wales offered us new models of culture development. These models can be used to support the creative economy and cultural entrepreneurs also in Finland. Some of the ideas need to be fine-tuned, however," Bergström says.

Culture and cultural heritage projects are supported in Wales with funding from

the rural development programme. Many of the LAGs have their own policies for this purpose. The Rural Network works in close cooperation with local LAGs, the administrative authorities and municipalities.

Pirja Peltomäki Rural Policy Committee/Thematic Group on Wellbeing

Eagle's nest. Photo: Eila Heikkilä

VILLAGE ACTION

Art is created in a park at a Victorian Festival The Victorian Festival is arranged in August in a beautiful park in Llandrindod Wells.

The event is very important for the local people and their sense of community. It brings villagers and tourists together to celebrate the Victorian era.

"Be Victorian – be more than Victorian.

Painting outdoors in the fresh air is a very Victorian tradition, " explains Karen Latham, a member of the Victorian Festival Committee.

Lathan came up with the idea of combining art with the sense of community and nature. The event, called Art in the Park, was arranged simultaneously with the traditional Victorian Festival. One reason for arranging the art festival was reviving the Victorian Festival. The Victorian Festival was in danger of dying out because of the lack of new ideas and participants.

"Our goal was to encourage everybody to participate. You can come to the park to draw even in a wheelchair. The oldest

participant was 90 and the youngest three years of age. Art brought people of different ages together and improved the community spirit."

Art workshops and painting outdoors

A local business donated the art supplies, which kept the costs low. All of the participants brought their paintings to an exhibition. Everybody was able to vote for the best piece to be sent to an exhibition in Cardiff.

This also promoted neighbourhood democracy in art and in the community at large.

"The best ideas start from people's own needs and starting points. They are based on the abilities of the local people and allow them to feel empowered. An interesting thing is combining the therapeutic element of nature with art."

Forty local artists participated in the event. They offered workshops in which

people could try out calligraphy, photography or glass art. The artists acted as art tutors, providing the participants with advice and showing them different techniques in practice.

"The feedback was very good; people were enthusiastic. Some of them had not painted or done anything related to art in decades." Some of the participants were disabled or had some sort of a physical disability.

Art in the Park was arranged for the first time on 18–23 August 2012 at Victorian Rock Park. There were a total of 200 participants.

Pirja Peltomäki Rural Policy Committee/Thematic Group on Wellbeing For additional information, please visit: http://raglanpedia.org.uk

History of Raglan is attractive "We want to attract people to Raglan Village. Many people drive by or go to see the main attraction of the village, an old castle. We wanted a fresh approach," says an active member of the local congregation, retired teacher Cheryl Morgan.

There is plenty of historical information about the Raglan Castle in Monmouthshire, but little about the surrounding village.

This was one of the reasons why the villagers wanted to record the local history. The buildings are part of the cultural history, but the history, stories and tales are created by the people.

The Raglan Roots project tries to awake the villagers' passions about tradition and stories. The goal is to make the small village a cultural tourist attraction. A village map has been prepared. It includes all the key buildings, businesses and sights.

Instructions based on the QR code can be downloaded from Raglanpedia.

Children guiding cemetery tours

Interest in local agriculture, countryside and village traditions is increasing in Wales.

The ancient story culture is part of the continuum, the village's story. It can also be a tourism asset.

"We offer schoolchildren clubs at the church and the cemetery. The kids have been very excited to be able to tell tourists about the former residents and past generations of the village," Morgan explains.

The children acting as guides call themselves "history detectives". Studying the stories of the people buried in the cemetery has been one way to collect the history of the village. The local congregation has a key role in many rural development projects.

"The church is not a building; the people are the church. Everything starts with the village residents," Morgan says.

Pirja Peltomäki Rural Policy Committee/Thematic Group on Wellbeing

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VILLAGE ACTION

Innovative Village – Finnish initiative for a 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.

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. University of Applied Sciences School of Business and Services Management (JAMK), LAG Viisari and LAG JyväsRiihi in Central Finland started the project in 2011.

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.

Project born through GOPP

To overcome the challenges of cultural and language barriers between the different partners, JAMK delivered two project workshops using Goal Orientated Project Planning (GOPP), the first in Latvia, the second in Finland.

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.

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 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.

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.

Gathering ideas for the project in a craft workshop that restores old furniture.

Photo: Outi Raatikainen.

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VILLAGE ACTION

transnational project The 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.

Conference Communities as part of sustainable rural tourism – success factor or inevitable burden? will be held on 10–11 September 2013 in Kotka, Finland

The event is open to participants from all over the world.

The 5-day event brings together self-taught, nonprofessional artists from different countries to work together, sharing their skills, techniques and experience, learning from each other and sharing their talents to the younger generation.

The primary tool of the sculpting competition is chain saw, but other techniques are welcome as well.

This international conference aims to provide the latest information and practical experiences on community based tourism.

Communities take a central role of the development of this type of tourism and, in rural areas in particular, entrepreneurs typically need community support to successfully develop their tourism destination.

The conference presentations will highlight how communities can be successfully included in the development of rural tourism, what kind of benefits they will get and which practical challenges they will meet. In addition, the conference will provide an excellent opportunity for participants to share their experiences and learn from each other!

The conference is meant for community facilitators and developers, business advisors and developers, researchers, entrepreneurs, administrators and policy makers related to the topic.

On the first day, Professor Jarkko Saarinen of the University of Oulu, Finland will speak about the The role of the communities in rural tourism and rural development and Ms. Diana Condrea from the Tourism office of PanParks in Hungary will present a Case Study; PanParks – communities supporting national park development.

Tourism in rural villages – national co-operation in Finland will be presented by Ms. Tiina Perämäki, Project Manager, Lomalaidun ry., Finland and an example from Russia will be presented by Licentiate in Geography Inna Kopoteva, Project Manager, University of Helsinki, Ruralia Institute, Finland. Ms Kopoteva will speak about Rural tourism as a possible part of a strategy of communities development in Russia.

On the second day, there will be more parallel sessions and several interesting speeches, first of which will be by Professor Harold Goodwin, ICRETH, Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom with his presentation It is not tourism until it is sold: commercializing community based tourism. This will be followed

by Case Study: We have a waterfall...but how do you turn that into community based Ecotourism? by Dr. Kathy Velander, director Centre for Ecotourism and Wildlife Management, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland.

At the end of the day, the participants will hear about Funding opportunities for community based development in the new EU programming period 2014–2020 by Mr. Nivelin Noev, European Commission, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development. After the conclusions and coffee, the participants will be able to embark on one of the three study tours to Finland, Estonia and Russia.

For more information please contact: Project Manager Gyöngyi Mátray, gyongyi.matray@msl.fi +358 45142 8330 www.facebook.com/puustapitkaan

The registration deadline for the conference is 18 August 2013 (early bird price available until the end of April 2013). The conference programme, further information and registration forms are available at http://www.seprat.net/seminar2013. For further information, please contact Marjo Lehtimaki marjo.lehtimaki@seprat.net.

Outi Raatikainen www.jamk.fi/innovative-village

Bear in Mind! 20-25 August 2014 International Bear Sculpting Championship and Festival in Ilomantsi, Finland

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VILLAGE ACTION

Future Inhabitants of Rural Areas The generation that will step to the forefront as the people who were born in the 1940s retire are usually called generation Y. Their parents were born in the 1960s, they believe that the internet has always been in existence and they do not seem to understand at all when you talk to them about the "walls collapsing" in Europe. They are not impressed by someone having visited China.

They are relatively highly educated and can write their CVs without any problems. Like all the previous generations, they have not yet had time to learn from history. They are used to multitasking (juggling several balls at the same time, such as listening to music and reading while surfing on the web) and they have to make a lot of choices all the time. They have to choose not only which TV channel to watch but also which ISP, electricity provider and insurance company they want to use, what kind of food to eat, where and how to travel... An endless stream of choices that the previous generations did not have to make. But they also get plenty of skills and important information that they can use at work and leisure. They are prepared for being forced to have a longer career, and thus they do not hesitate to have a sabbatical if they feel they need one.

Social media

This is how researcher of the future Henrik Blomgren defines the Y generation. He works at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, and says that he meets excellent examples of this generation every day. Generation Y is also the first generation that has more in common with their children than with their parents. Their parents think that they are unable to take responsibility and be team players, and that they are egoists who are difficult to motivate and have no balance in their lives.

They themselves believe in no authorities or politicians, they can get involved in single movements and consider social media, like Facebook, as social interaction, while speaking with someone is asocial because then the communication is limited to one

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person only. They believe themselves to be competent and good members of the society, and when they want something, they get it right away instead of later. They do care about things – the question is about which things?

Challenge for rural areas

Will the new generation be interested in building a future in the countryside and working for a shared goal together? The new generation is exactly what we will need, unless the future looks just like today, which is unlikely. Innovations and reforms in society will continue at least at the same pace as now. Generation Y is used to living in a continuously changing environment and is thus able to adapt quickly. Business life changes at a fast pace and only people who are able to adapt to new things will succeed. One of the challenges for rural areas is attracting the new generation to staying in villages and involving themselves in the activities, getting a family and caring for the shared projects. Environmentalists may choose this way of life, but the prevailing trend among generation Y seems to be staying single and wanting to live in large cities. As an example, only 17% of native New Yorkers have children. In single cities, people go to a restaurant to have breakfast and take care of themselves, do not care about their neighbours or other people in their region.

Own mistake

Henrik Blomgren concludes by saying that each generation must make its own mistakes and nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. He provided a very good exam-

ple by showing an old cigarette ad where a smoking man blows smoke straight into the face of a woman and the text goes, "Blow smoke into her face and she will follow you anywhere." Nobody questioned this ad in the 1950s, but now the people watching the ad in an auditorium at Campus Allegro wrinkle their noses and can hardly believe that somebody could've ever thought that.

Britt-Marie NorrgĂĽrd Project Counsellor of LAG Aktion Ă–sterbotten rf A summary of Henrik Blomgren's lecture in the seminar Den nya generationens arbetsmarknad (the New Generation in the Job Market) at Campus Allegro, Pietarsaari, Finland, 14 February 2013.

village action association of finland

c/o Willa Elsa Meijeritie 2, 25410 Suomusjärvi, Finland Email: info@kylatoiminta.fi www.kylatoiminta.fi/www.maaseutuplus.fi

Secretary General Risto Matti Niemi Tel. 050 599 5229 Email: ristomatti.niemi@kylatoiminta.fi

LEADER Officer Heli Walls Tel. +358 453 271 117 Email: heli.walls@kylatoiminta.fi

Development Manager Tuomas Perheentupa Tel. +358 505 922 726 Email: tuomas.perheentupa@kylatoiminta.fi

LEADER Officer Kim Smedslund Tel. +358 451 477 141 Email: kim.smedslund@kylatoiminta.fi

Managing Editor/Communications Advisor Pipsa Salolammi Tel. +358 451 233 254 Email: pipsa.salolammi@kylatoiminta.fi

Village service project Juhani Nenonen Tel. +358 451 115 222 Email: juhani.nenonen@kylatoiminta.fi

Controller Raija Tuppurainen Tel. +358 451 335 391 Email: raija.tuppurainen@kylatoiminta.fi

JÄSSI-wastewater project Kirsi Mäensivu Tel. +358 458 814 200 Email: kirsi.maensivu@kylatoiminta.fi

Project Secretary Marianne Lemettinen Tel. +358 458 871 511 Email: marianne.lemettinen@kylatoiminta.fi

Theme Group for Countryside Living, Senior Advisor Heli Siirilä Tel. +358 458 924 715 Email: heli.siirila@uwasa.fi

Business Cases project Juha Kuisma Tel. +358 458 847 884 Email: juha.kuisma@kylatoiminta.fi

Developer Peter Backa Tel. +358 405 950 444 peter.backa@ssc.fi

international associations with finnish contact persons:

European Rural Alliance, contact persons: Eero Uusitalo (chairman), Peter Backa (secretary) European LEADER Association for Rural Development (www.elard.eu), contact person: Petri Rinne (chairman) European Rural Community Association, contact person: Kim Smedslund Hela Norden skall Leva (www.hele-norden.dk) contact person: Risto Matti Niemi Partnership for Rural Europe (www.prepare-network.org), contact person: Kim Smedslund European Council for the Village and Small Town (www.ecovast.org), contact person: Heli SIirilä

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M Itella Posti Oy Itella Green

Splashing is permitted in North Karelia this summer

In the summer of 2013, a tour focusing on clean waterways and the bodies of water all around us, as aesthetic elements and as parts of nature, will start in the North Karelia province. Olavi, a ship that is more than a hundred years old, will take the tour through North Karelia from the harbours of villages and small towns all the way to the larger population centres of Nurmes and Kitee. The important issue of clean waterways will be promoted aboard Olavi at the harbours by means of art and meeting people.

Each event will be arranged in cooperation with a village association, organisations, private people and local actors. The large Water Tour will use water in a variety of ways: fishing evenings, water dancing, angling competitions, rescue exhibitions, draught and freestyle canoeing are just some examples of the programme arranged by the local partners. A swim across North Karelia to benefit environmental education will also be arranged in early July. The goal is continuous swimming in the different North Karelian bodies of water for one whole week (7–14 July 2013).

The tour will be arranged by the Union of Rural Education and several partners, such as the North Karelia Heart Association, the North Karelia Rescue Services, ProAgria's Rae project, Save the Children Finland, North Karelian villages, North Karelian Taito Association's handicraft bus Taito, broadband promotion association Sadan megan Itä- ja Pohjois-Suomi and several LAGs. Theatre Tractor will also attend the events with its rendition of Shakespeare's Tempest. The North Karelia Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment will also be involved with changing themes about the waterways. Come and join us splashing! www.vesikiertue.fi