Leader Kuudestaan

Leader Kuudestaan is local association for rural development located in the province of South Ostrobothnia in the western part of Finland.

During the past program period 2014 – 2022, Leader Kuudestaan had several TNC (transnational cooperation) preprojects and projects with other European Leader groups. Since 2018 we have been organizing many international Erasmus+ Youth exchanges in Finland and other countries with our international partners.

We are going to carry on with more TNC projects on this program period 2023 – 2027 with our old partners, but are also willing to find new partners and new ideas! We are especially keen on projects involving young people, culture, environmental questions and entrepreneurship.

We also have Erasmus+ accreditation (Youth exchanges) for the program period 2023-2027, which means funding for Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges (3-4 exchanges per year). We are also looking for new international partners for these exchanges in the following years!

Please contact us for more details!

jenni.savolainen(at)kuudestaan.net

Region

Our region includes four municipalities: Alavus, Kuortane, Soini and Ähtäri. The distance to the Finnish capital, Helsinki, is 300-350 km. Leader Kuudestaan region has ca. 22 000 inhabitants.

 Untouched nature, numerous beautiful lakes, the peace and tranquility of the countryside can be found in our area. We have charming old wooden houses, typical in our region as well as modern civilization in the middle of genuine natural surroundings.

On the other hand, we have lots of cultural events, festivals, activities for kids, art galleries, museums as well as shopping possibilities in our region.

 

Our livelihood lies mainly upon timber industry as we have several companies producing timber houses, windows, doors and other wooden structures. We also have a long tradition in boat manufacturing and other engineering industries. Agriculture is still strong part of our everyday lives.

What is Leader?

LEADER is a local development method which has been used for over 30 years to engage local actors in the design and delivery of strategies, decision-making and resource allocation for the development of their rural areas.

It is implemented by around 2 800 Local Action Groups (LAGs), covering 61 % of the rural population in the EU and bringing together public, private and civil-society stakeholders in a particular area. In Finland there are 52 Leader groups.

Leader Kuudestaan`s international experience:

During the past program period 2014 – 2022, Leader Kuudestaan had several transnational cooperation preprojects and projects with other European Leader groups. Many of these projects have been targeted towards young people. The name of these international Leader projects were: Youth Power, Eco North, Grab the Landscape, Your Culture, My Culture and SUVI. Also the important goal has been to internationalize young people in Leader Kuudestaan area.  For the last decade we have coordinated many Erasmus+ youth exchanges. As a part of these projects we have been organizing a massive amount of camps (local and international), workshops, events and educational escape rooms.

Please contact us for the future cooperation and more details!

Jenni Savolainen
jenni.savolainen(at)kuudestaan.net
 +35840 051 3744