We love Finland

The main focus is to increase the awareness in the three northern regions in Finland of opportunities provided by the Barents Cooperation.

Strengthening of Barents Awareness
Barents Regional Youth Council (BRYC) is a network of engaged youth who work internationally with other youth in order to strengthen the cooperation in the Barents Region. BRYC works all over Barents, and thus regard strong local support and network as significant. BRYC has recently had a big turnover of members from some of the member regions, and has as a consequence decided to focus a lot on the areas where the turnover is big.

The affected areas include the three Finnish member regions, and the two Swedish member regions. In order to work for youth all over the Barents Region, BRYC regards the need for strong regional support among the youth in the regions as inevitable. We love Finland is going to enthuse Finnish youth on the Barents Cooperation, and secure Finnish participation in the multilateral youth cooperation in the region. The board of BRYC will work as a steering committee for the We love Finland project. Isa Tolonen from Kainuu will be the project coordinator. She will plan and realize the We love Finland project in cooperation with workshop leaders who will facilitate the workshops.

We love Finland Workshop Tour
We love Finland includes a tour of creative workshops to get local youth involved in the Barents cooperation and gather local initiatives and ideas for the annual BRYC event, which this year will take place in Rovaniemi, fall 2011. Workshops are planned in Kajaani, Oulu and Rovaniemi, where the team will meet the youth and regional council representatives. The workshops are designed to gather input from local youth and to make them aware of their opportunities within the Barents cooperation, and get familiar with BRYC.

The project is intended to produce ideas for future BRYC projects and promote local Barents initiatives from youth in the three regions. The local youth will get access to the whole BRYC network in order to facilitate that their ideas become reality.

Meetings will be held with regional councils; political leaders and civil servants, in order to highlight the importance of cross-border cooperation among youth in the High North.

The workshops will aim to get local Barents youth groups gathered and brainstorm on ideas they want to develop. The project targets to ensure that BRYC have members from all three Finnish regions who has the spirit and lust for international cooperation. It is important that the members have adequate knowledge about Barents, feel connected to the BRYC network and have a good local and regional network.

The campaign also include the Facebook page We love Finland, which will function as a platform for the participants to communicate online. The facebook profile will be updated continuously with information about the project (facebook.com/welovefinland).

Text: Anne Figenschou