Village Activities
It is important that villages together, and not as undefined groups, work for their local communities wellbeing, environment and development. The villages decide independently what should be done and how. If villages themselves do not believe in their future and take responsibility for it, then nobody else will.
Village activities must be democratic; village resources include those actions when villagers themselves make voluntary work. Without any real influence it can be difficult to encourage people to volunteer their services.
A village can be described as a unit where people cooperate in a social and meaningful way ; in Sweden this is called the fourth level of planning.
Village Movement
A village or city district is a small actor in society which demands cooperation and good personal contacts. A village needs to cooperate with neighboring villages as well as with villages within their municipality. Cooperation is also needed at regional, national and international level.
Only via good personal contacts, network units and solid cooperation villages are able to fully utilize their resources and possibilities.
Village organizations alone are therefore not enough, even though they form the real base.
There are contact network units for villages called Byaverksamhet i Finland r.f. (Village Activities in Finland), Byanätet (Village Network Units), Svensk Byaservice (Swedish Village Action Movement) as well as several others who with their individual expertise work for the same goal: a strong village movement.
Swedish Village Movement
We strive to support and help villages in their activities. We are not an umbrella organization, our aim is not to steer activities. The villages make the decisions, we distribute information and help villages to learn from each other.
Organization
The Swedish Village Movement is maintained by Svenska Studiecentralen in cooperation with Svenska Österbottens förbund, Österbottens högskola (Åbo Akademi University, The Unit of Östrobothnia), Nylands svenska landskapsförbund and Åbolands kulturråd (The last two mentioned are presently represented by Sydkustens landskapsföbund).The Swedish Village Movement also works within the framework for Byanätet - Kyläverkko (Village Network Unit) who also address the same questions nationally.
Address: Svensk Byaservice
c/o Fortbildningscentralen
Österbottens Högskola
PB 311
65101 Vasa
Finland
Contact person : Peter Backa
Tel: +358-40-5950444
e-mail : pb@multi.fi
bya.net
An important channel of communication for future village activities is
the Internet. The Swedish Village Movement maintains a homepage on the
internet with information and debate for villages:
www.bya.net
Projects
The Swedish Village Movement works via projects.
Village Network Unit (Byanät Östnyland, Annika Björk, +358-19-579818)
The New Local Community in Ostrobothnia ( Det nya lokalsamhället
i Österbotten, Malin Karlsson, +358-500-668212).
LEADER-coordinator (Ulf Grindgärds, +358-6-2213700) and
Village Network Unit (Kyläverkko, Peter Backa, 040-5950444) are just
a few of the comprehensive projects The Swedish Village Movement is involved
in.
