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Libraries began to develop ways to strengthen people's power - including Imatra's library
Release
21.1.2021 17:20
In the Libraries to People's Power Forums project, libraries of different sizes across Finland are developing concepts that would enable libraries to serve as platforms for participation, encounters and safe discussion. In Imatra, libraries organize virtual municipal election arenas for the elderly.
In six libraries in different parts of Finland, a project complex initiated by Sitra has started, the aim of which is to develop and expand the democratic work done by libraries. In the Libraries as Forums of People's Power project, concepts are planned and tested, with which libraries are developed as virtual and physical meeting places for a debating democracy, promoters of participation and enablers of encounters. The libraries of Imatra, Inari, Mäntyharju, Oulu, Pietarsaari and Turku are included. Sitra is the initiator, coordinator and financier of the project.
- Libraries play an important role as a guide and helper for citizens from different backgrounds. The digital leap that has taken place over the past year must also be made accessible to the elderly, the project coordinator of the Imatra city library Sari Toivonen says.
Recently, more attention has been paid to the importance of safe and constructive social discussion, as the general discussion atmosphere has hardened. One example of this is the five-year Well Said - Bra sagt campaign launched in November by Yle and Erätauko Foundation, in which Sitra is also involved as a partner.
In experimental concepts, we are dealing with big and small topics
The aim of the experiments is to test different forms of interaction and to improve the opportunities for citizens to influence and participate in social decision-making. In the experiments, working forms of meeting are sought and operating models are sketched based on the experiences gained, which can be used to develop public power forums from libraries in many different ways. All concepts are supposed to be usable nationwide.
At Imatra, the target group is the elderly, whose threshold for participation in the library's virtual municipal election events, Municipal Election Arenas, is lowered with the help of digital support. The project will organize two discussion panels before the April municipal elections and one after them. The questions put to the municipal election candidates at the events come from the seniors themselves. Qmore details about the trial will be given in week 5. The project's home page will open at the address Imatra.fi/kuntavaaliareena.
In Turku, the forms of activity include, for example, workshops that utilize the methods of art and the introduction of experimentation to places where people who feel distant from politics are already present. In Pietarsaari, on the other hand, the aim is to awaken people to realize that both small and big things can be influenced and ways are being sought to bring EU issues closer to people. In Oulu, the plans include the EU-themed "Global to Local" online discussions, as well as the library's "People's Government coffees" and Nyt saa saina! - discussion sessions. Mäntyharju, on the other hand, is developing a remote connection-based concept for meeting young people and politicians, especially suitable for libraries in small municipalities. Mäntyharju is already experimenting with scaling the concept to the Pieksämäki library in the pilot phase. Experimenting in Inari Explore and influence! -points for municipal residents to improve their daily lives.
The experiment is evaluated by an external evaluator. During the experiments, continuous funding is sought for the operational model and it is developed based on experience. The Libraries as Forums of People's Power experiment has been prepared in extensive cooperation involving, among others, the Speaker's Council of the Parliament, the Library of the Parliament, the Council of Public Libraries, the Finnish Library Association, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Finnish Delegation of the European Commission, the Association of Youth Councils, the Association of Municipalities and Sitra.
Additional information:
Project coordinator Sari Toivonen
p. 020 617 6607
sari.hope
imatra.fi (sari[dot]toivonen[at]imatra[dot]fi)
Library specialist Ari Sareslahti
p. 020 617 6603
ari.sareslahtiimatra.fi (ari[dot]sareslahti[at]imatra[dot]fi)
What is it about?
The background of the libraries for the people's power forums project
In the 2020s, social polarization seems to be deepening in different parts of the world, and democracy is no longer as widely shared as an absolute value as it was some time ago. In recent years, various countries have seen numerous examples of how voiceless and incompetent people have risen to the barricades. In Finland too, participation and the ways of citizens' participation and influence are in transition.
For a small country like Finland, citizens' trust in each other and in society's institutions is still and in the future an extremely important resource. This requires that everyone has the opportunity to get reliable information about decisions that affect their own lives and also to be heard in matters concerning themselves. For this reason, the conditions for social discussion must be strengthened.