Situation in Finland
In Finland, the civil society sector is very well developed. Over 110.000 civil society organisations exist, out of which at least 60.000 are active. Finland has a long tradition in building open government and public consultation, the tradition started in the post-war years. But one critical point is that consultation is not equally divided; in some areas consultation is much more common. Another negative aspect is that the ministries tend to work with the CSOs they are familiar with and to neglect the younger and more ad hoc kind of organisations. This is why the current government developed a new policy program in order to strengthen citizen-government participation. As a part of this program principles of citizen consultation were defined, which were signed by all secretaries of the ministries. But enough challenges remain which need to be dealt with in the future, for example the application of e-consultation or the effects of globalisation on decision-making and citizen participation.
Source: Ministry of Finance, Finland, 2007, www.vm.fi
Finnish Federation for Social Welfare
The Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health is a nationwide social policy organisation taking up various issues on the transversal level of civil society. Federations’ goals are to improve basic security, reduce disadvantage, strengthen social responsibility and increase peoples’ scope for influence and participation. Fields of activity are influencing social policy in local, national and international, especially European level, promoting social services and citizens association activity and promoting international social policy activity.
Founded in: 1917
Based in: Helsinki
Riitta Sarkela
Kotkankatu 9,
FIN-00510 Helsinki, Finland
Tel.
Fax +358-0-738123
SosiaaliturvanKL@stkl.fi
CEDAG Memeber in FINLAND
The Finnish Federation for Social Welfare