Järvi-Suomen kylät. Workshop, North Karelia

	Järvi-Suomen kylät ry The Village Action Association in the region of South Savo
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Workshop 11.-13.3.2004, Vuonislahti, North Karelia, Finland. Participants from Austria, Italy and Finland. Arranged by the Village Action Association of Finland / The Village Economy Project.
		Tämä sivu SUOMEKSI / this page in Finnish >>> The conference in Italy, september 2004 >>> Exchange and workshop in Finland, nov-dec 2004 >>>
SELF EMPLOYMENT IN COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISES The three days lasting workshop was held in a fine sunny winter-weather and a very engaged spirit. Here are some pictures from the workshop and some comments in broken English:
The meeting started in the train from Helsinki, here the Adviser Juhani Lehto tells us about the rising of new cooperatives in Finland. He stressed that cooperatives lower the thresholds of entrepreneurship and that this form of enterprise suits almost every sector. The role of information from Pellervo confederation of cooperatives has been central when new cooperatives have started 100-300 per year the last years. Manfred Russmann from the Austrian Regionalforum told us about three successful associations that have developed employment in rural Austria. (a) The Farmer Women's Services is a group of women that get part of their incomes by offering bread and other food, fashion and other handicraft, party service etc. together. (b) A Bio-Farmers Beef-Cooperative that includes also butchers and consumers. (c) A Culture-Guide Association consisting of culturally interested locals that are offered training and sell their services to tourists. Behind Manfred is our interpreter Liisa Leppänen with a microphone for the simultaneous interpretation device. In Joensuu we visited Karellikeskus ltd. Managing Director Mirja Erlund told us about this women's entrepreneurship resource center and its many EU-founded projects. The italians listen to Mirja. The foreigners were interested in what resources the center provides: mainly information, cooperation and enthusiasm. Here we are at our destination Herraniemi in Vuonislahti. Merja Seppänen tells us about an Equal-project in the Kainuu region. It creates new kinds of care entrepreneurship in the region. Reino Kuivalainen from Vuonis village cooperative. The cooperative consists of 15 tourist entrepreneurs and it offers service "packages" for travelers. Vuonislahti is a little and remote village. Already 100 years ago the village's development was influenced by the railway, the building of the Finnish school system and Koli tourism. Today tourism is the only growing branch in the area. The cooperative has got contacts to Japan and Great Britain. Some japanese groups have already visited the village and more are coming. Thanks to the cooperative enterprise the villagers have been able to reach international customers and to offer them diverse services. Another kind tourism was found on the other side of lake Pielinen, on the Koli mountains, here the start of Koli ski slope. In the Koli area we find hotels, a national park with its information center and cottage villages. On the top Akka-Koli. In the middle our guide Irja Tanskanen whose enterprise Eräsniekka offers guiding, ski schools etc. Hanna-Leena Asunta, Tarja Helanen, Hildegund Morgan and Irja Tanskanen. Massimo Alesii is familiar with walking in the mountains where he lives in Italy. Lasse Lovén is the Manager of Koli National Park. The park cooperates with local municipalities, towns and universities. Lovén tries to combine protection of the nature and development of the tourist sector. In Finland information centers in national parks are usually free but in this center there are more services and they are financed by a entrance fee, a "passport" to the center. The services are provided by private enterprises Järvi-Suomen kylät main page / pääsivulle >>> Tämä sivu SUOMEKSI / this page in Finnish >>> The conference in Italy, september 2004 >>> Exchange and workshop in Finland, nov-dec 2004 >>>		Manfred Russmann and Hanna-Leena Asunta. After Koli we went to Jakokoski village 25 kilometers from Joensuu. Here some of the italian participants are in the village community house. The house is built partly inside the rock and it is a former store for ammunition. On the wall there is a bird of the local puppet theater. Village Association Chief Pentti Seutu told us about the success of the village. In the late 1980's both school and local grocery store was about to end. Both were rescued by the village's own activities and the population has grown from 350 to 500. There has been all in all 12 different projects with a total expenditure of 390 000 euros. The most important campaigns: A plan for land use. The aim was to find places for new houses and to still preserve the village structure. A campaign to rescue the village grocery store Renovation of the village festivity house Founding of a summer theater Building of a cooperation network: municipality, local Leader group, university, firms etc. Building of water pipes Founding the traditional associations in the village. The village association did not try to suppress other associations (sports, culture, farmers association etc.) The next steps are a wireless local broadband network, a sports hall for the school ... In the discussion the foreign participants asked questions about the villager's attitudes towards new technologies, about their participation in village activities etc. In the picture is Manfred Russmann. In the village observatory: local chief Pentti Seutu and Dorothea Dorfbauer from Frauenstiftung in Austria. In the observatory there is a big mirror telescope and it is partly owned by Joensuu University. In the evening we went to the smoke sauna, swam in a hole in the ice in lake Pielinen, ate well and listened to Manfred playing the jew's harp. The songs were in English, in German, in Italy and in Finnish. On our way home in the train Hildegund Morgan summed up the feelings of the Austrian group: a lot of interesting impressions in a short time. Good to have both theoretical work and visits. The spirit of entrepreneurship in the places we visited and in the group was impressive. Nice to hear that cooperatives can be used to a wide variety of things and to hear about the democratic spirit in them. It would have been interesting to see more about the background: to interview the working people, to hear about the problems in the cooperatives etc. Also Barbara Magliani and the rest of the Italian group were very satisfied with the program, the landscape, the sauna ... Especially she mentioned the visit to wood sculptor Eeva Ryynänen's home museum. Already on the way to Karelia Barbara mentioned a very interesting researcher on social economy: Stefano Zamagni and his thoughts about reciprocality as a basis for economy. Now on the way back she stressed, that the situation in Italy is very different to that in Finland. The cooperative movement is in great difficulties, financing is a problem for thousands of the cooperatives. The italians stressed the need for good local plans on how to reach wider markets and lessen the dependence on government financing. Text and pictures: Henrik Hausen, henhaus@gmail.com