Description (brief history)
Village Action Association of Finland (SYTY) was created in 1997 on the foundation of the Board of Village Affairs which was founded in 1982. SYTY is a national cooperative body for villages on the national level and functions as a cooperation network and service unit for the village comitteed and associations in our country. SYTY has a total of 133 member organisations in November 2006. Its membership includes regional village coalitions (19), all rural development associations that are local action groups (55 LEADER LAGs groups), the most important rural central organisations and other regional and national organisations and associations functioning in rural areas. Resident associations are also taking part in the activities. The membership is still on the increase.
Activities
The focal points for strategic choices and the main goals in the near future for finnish village action movement are the following: 1. The most important issue is the service duty of the villages, alliances and other local actors 2. Support services for the Local Action Groups (LAGs) will be offered also in the future 3. Reinforcing the village action system and gathering joint resources under the same roof 4. Divistion of labour between the LAGs and the alliances 5. Tightening of national cooperation 6. Municipality and service structure project, challenges and opportunities brought forth by the project 7. Realisation of National Village Action Programme 2003- 2007; preparing for compilation of National Local Development Programme 2007-2010 8. Information: MaaseutuPlus magazine and web pages 9. International work will be strenghtened SYTY a part of the rural policy network Rural Policy Commitee (YTR) 10. Reinforcing operative work and management; office at Suomusjärvi, arranging telework, making the team effective, rearranging the LEADER Network unit.
Organisation Rules
Rules only in Finnish or Swedish language - are on the way to translate in english and will be posted later on.
Aims & Objectives
The main focus of village action development has, until now, been the strengthening of structures essential to functioning. The strenghthening of structures is still important, but gradually the focus is getting more and more to the functional and continual development of village action, so it can take a more responsible role as a service provider for village residents and as a cooperative organ for all local actors.