Ministry of Justice, Finland

Preparatory work on the policy programme began in October 2003. Within the frame of the Policy Programme different development processes have been launched in the fields of education for active citizenship, social participation and civic activity. At the moment around 20 different projects and operational ensembles have been started.

The Policy Programme aims to support its projects by promoting research regarding Finns as citizens, the changing challenges of citizenship, social capital, indicators of citizen participation and the state of democracy. It also promotes further research in social participation and supports studies as well as awakens discussion concerning the subject.

Projects:

Ongoing projects:

Ministry of Justice:

• Electoral systems and voting
• Democracy.fi -portal project
• Youropinion.fi and developing the public sector electric feedback system
• Citizen participation -project

Ministry of Education:

• Education for active citizenship in schools and organisations
• Citizen Participation in teacher training
• Participating pupil - communal school
• Project for youth inclusion (Ministry of Education/National Board of Education)

Ministry of Finance:

• SAG - co-operative working group

Ministry of the Interior:

• Development of municipal democracy
• Municipal democracy audit (Ministry of the Interior/Ministry of Justice/The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities)

Finished projects:

Ministry of Justice:

• Prequisites for the civil society -working group
• Democracy 2007 Committee on representative democracy
• Referendum and popular initiative
• Election information and voter activation
• Elections and representative democracy study
• Experimental think tank -project on globalisation (with a number of CSOs)
• Research, training and developing of civic activity -project (with University of Jyväskylä)

Ministry of Education:

• Civil Society 2006 Committee (Ministry of Education)

Ministry of Finance:

• Hear the Citizens – Draft Wisely
• Citizen participation in information networks (Ministry of Finance)
  

Prime Minister's Office:

• Appraisal of communication by the State administrative sector
  

Research and studies:

Published research and studies:

• Questions About Developing Democracy: Examples of Sweden, Norway and Denmark/Researcher Anu Mutanen, Ministry of Justice Finland. Published in July 2004 by the Ministry of Justice.
• Gender mainstreaming; Analysis of the state of equality between the sexes within the Policy Programme for Citizen Participation / University of Helsinki (GENUINE –Research Network). Published in October 2004 by the Ministry of Justice.
• The Land of Opportunities: Mapping and assessing of research regarding citizen participation in Finland/ Docent Sami Borg, Finnish Social Science Data Archive. Published in November 2004 by the Ministry of Justice.
• Study on education for NGOs/Secretary General Aaro Harju, Educational Association Citizen's Forum SKAF. Published in January 2005 by the Ministry of Justice.
• Report on Nordic active citizenship and lifelong learning/Director Björn Wallén, The Swedish Study Centre (SSC). Published in February 2005 by the Ministry of Justice.
• Report on Finns as citizens/Docent Sami Borg, Finnish Social Science Data Archive. Published in March 2005 by the Ministry of Justice.
• On committed education / Secretary General Jorma Turunen, Workers' Educational Association WEA Finland. Published in April 2005 by the Ministry of Justice.
• Developing media education in Finland 2005 –research project/Research Director Esa Reunanen, University of Tampere. Published in May 2005 by the Ministry of Justice.
• Media between power and civil society –research project/PhD Hannu Nieminen, University of Helsinki. Published in November 2005 by the Ministry of Justice.
• The state and development of local political organisational activities –research project/Professor Ilkka Ruostetsaari, University of Tampere. Published in December 2005 by the Ministry of Justice.
• Strenghtening of the basic information and requirements for research -project/Docent Sami Borg, Finnish Social Science Data Archive. Published in March 2006 by the Ministry of Justice.
  

Ongoing research and studies:

Updated on October 16, 2006