• FEM 2004-2007
  • Project information »
    • Action plans
    • Principles
    • Schedules
    • Best practices
    • Strategic working group
  • Participating organisations
  • Work packages »
    • WP 1
    • WP 2
    • WP 3
    • WP 4
    • WP 5
  • Entrepreneur presentations
  • Advisor and Mentor presentations
  • Studies of female entrepreneurship
  • Gender equality
  • Contact information
  • Useful links

• Feedback
• Suomeksi
• På svenska

Participating organisations

Finland I Sweden I Norway I Estonia I Latvia I Lithuania I Poland

Finland

The Ministry of the Interior
The Ministry of the Interior is the Lead Partner in FEM-project. The Ministry of the Interior in Finland has the responsibility for local and regional administration, regional development and internal security in Finland. Together, the national regional policy and European Union regional policy form a whole which promotes the equitable and independent development of different parts of the country while also supporting less developed areas.

The common targets of regional development in Finland are based on the Regional Development Act and the Government decision on national regional development targets. Under the Act, one of the targets is to improve the potential for economic growth, the development of business and industry and the improvement of employment that are based on expertise and sustainable development and ensure the competitiveness and prosperity of regions. Another target is to reduce regional disparities in development, improve the population’s living conditions and promote balanced regional development. Furthermore, the aim is to create a balanced regional structure which keeps all the regions viable. The responsibility for regional development rests with the State, municipalities and Regional Councils acting as regional development authorities.

Due to re-organization of Ministries the Ministry of Employment and the Economy (Finland) has from 1 January 2008 onwards been the lead partner in FEM project.

The Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia
operates as authority for regional development and regional planning and looking after regional interests

• articulates common regional needs and works to promote the material and cultural well-being of the region
• is involved in developing EU regional policy and draws up the programmes required for the granting of support from EU structural funds to the region
• takes care of international affairs connected with its work

The Regional Council is a joint municipal authority which operates according to the principles of local self-government. The delegates of the decision-making bodies of Regional Council are political appointees of the member municipalities.

The Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia is one of the Finnish partners in the FEM project. The main regional activity in the FEM project is implementation of group mentoring to support entrepreneurship. The regional coordinator of activities is the Rural Women´s Advisory Centre of South Ostrobothnia.

Regional Council of  North Karelia
North Karelia is one of the nineteen regions in Finland. North Karelia comprises sixteen municipalities. It is the easternmost region of Finland sharing a common border of approximately 300 kilometres with Russia. The region has 170 000 inhabitants. The Karelian Republic in Russia is a significant co-operation partner of North Karelia. Approximately 1 million people pass through the international border crossing point Niirala-Värtsilä annually, one half of them Russian.

The Regional Council of North Karelia - the regional development authority - employs 50 persons, professionals with wide experience in project management, regional development, strategy formulation and cross-border activities.

The highest decision-making body of the Regional Council of North Karelia is the Assembly. All 55 members of it are elected municipal council members. The practical management is taken care of by the 11-member Managing Board appointed by the Assembly.

Rural Women's Advisory Centre of South Ostrobothnia
With a membership of 75.000 Rural Women’s Advisory Organisation is one of the largest women’s organisations in Finland employing more than 70 professionals in various fields of expertise. In provinces of Finland there are sixteen Regional Rural Women’s Advisory Centres.

Rural Women’s Advisory Centre of South Ostrobothnia is located in Seinäjoki, a small town in western part of Finland. In South Ostrobothnia there are five experts advising small enterprises in rural areas, households and consumers and the promotion of landscape management. Main areas in the business advisory services are training and advising in business planning, product development and in quality issues.

We are co-operating in many national and international development projects, for example “FEM -female entrepreneurs’ meetings in the Baltic Sea Region”, “Women are the Strength of the Countryside” and “Influential Women”.

Contact:  Pirjo Väisänen
phone +358 64163425, fax +358 64163448, pirjo.vaisanen@proagria.fi.
  Advisory Centre

Rural Women's Advisory Organisation
Rural Women's Advisory Organisation is a nationwide organisation offering counselling for households and customers, promoting landscape management and small enterprises in rural areas.

With 75.000 members, it is one of the largest organizations for women in Finland, employing more than 70 professionals in various fields of expertise. This makes the organisation a powerful development agent as well as a network for women in rural areas.

The actual advisory work occurs in the 16 national Regional Centres that operate in connection with the ProAgria Rural Advisory Centres. The national organisation is The Centre for Rural Women’s Advisory Organisation. It’s located in City Vantaa.

The Centre for Rural Women's Organisation participates in national and international realisation and coordination of WP 2.

FEM in Päijät-Häme               
According to the Law of Regional Development Regional Councils are working for an integrative and persistent development of the region, being responsible for regional development and planning. It promotes the interests of the regions, the interests of the municipalities, the inhabitants as well as the interests of trade and business. Numerous studies, plans and reports also form a part of the Regional Council´s work.The Regional Council implements and supervises the programmes of the European regional politics. It is within the responsibilities of the Regional Councils to realize these tasks.

The Regional Council of Päijät-Häme is engaged in international cross-frontier co-operation with several countries and it promotes the international relations of the Päijät-Häme Region and builds connections in the international field. The Regional Council of Päijät-Häme is a partner in the FEM –project. The Region of Päijät-Häme is involved in WP 2 and WP 5 in FEM -project. The Regional Council of Päijät-Häme (www.paijat-hame.fi) implements the FEM-project in co-operation with HT-Metka Ltd (www.ht-metka.fi, hilkka.perttola@metka.fi). 

Sweden

Baltiskt-Ryskt-Svenskt Resurscentrum /  Baltic-Russian-Swedish Resource Centre for women  
in Norrköping is a NGO. Norrköping is a rather big city at the border of the Baltic Sea in the region of Östergötland.  The members of the organization are women who are interested to cooperate with the New Independent states (NIS) in Eastern Europe. The aims of the centre  are  to be a meeting place  and have activities and projects in cooperation with women and women´s organizations in  NIS in Eastern Europe and Poland.

The  Baltic-Russian-Swedish Resource Centre is Sweden´s Country Lead Partner in the FEM-project  and Lisbeth Holmquist-Arbrandt is the  responsible for Work-package 1in the project  concerning  building up and networking between Resource centres.

Contact: Lisbeth Holmquist-Arbrandt,
phone/fax  +46(0)11 160999, info@baltrusse.com 
  Resource Centre 

• women take their part in using the resources of the society
•  women`s competences, experience and perspective are embraced
• women`s and men`s work are equally valued
• women`s influence over the development of the society increases

The NRC  has about 100 Swedish resource centres for women  as members. It is dealing with lobbying towards the Government  to promote these centres and women´s issues  and acts as a partner in different projects all over Europe concerning women´s resource centres. The Interreg III C-project Winnet is going on .

The role in the FEM-project is to give experiences and to connect the new resource centres in the countries around the Baltic States with  the existing Swedish centres.

Contact: Bodil Nilsson,  
phone +46 (0)40 359211, bodil.c.nilsson@skane.se 
  NRC

The Regional resource centres for women in Region Skåne works to promote women´s participation in regional development. In Region Skåne are 25 local resource centres for women working from grass root level in different areas. Region Skåne have different agreements of cooperation with regions in Poland, Germany, Latvia and Kaliningrad. The participation in the FEM-project will include the women  and women entrepreneurs in this work.

Coompanion – Cooperative Development Agency in the County of Jönköping

To promote cooperative development in Sweden there are 25 cooperative development agencies with around 80 professional advisers combining knowledge about broad social needs and small business requirements. The focal point for the advisory service, information and training courses is people and their own solutions such as joint enterprises in the public, private and voluntary sector. The information and advice is free of charge.

The Cooperative Development Agencies contribute to the rising importance of the social economy as a phenomenon and concept. They especially strive to strengthen the importance of the social economy as a breeding ground for economic growth.

A large part of the people the cooperative advisers meet can be described as non-traditional entrepreneurs. Many groups that the development agencies meet are predominated by women.

Föreningen Kvinnor i Norden /  Women in Norden
is a NGO and a regional resource centre for women  in the region of Kalmar. Kalmar is situated at the border of the Baltic Sea in the southern part of Sweden. The aims of the organization are to have exchange of experiences  with women and women´s organization in the Nordic and the Baltic countries.

The Women in Norden participates in different transnational projects around the Baltic Sea.

Östgöta Resurscentrum / The Regional Resourcecentrum for women in  Östergötland
is a part of the County Administrative Board  in Östergötland. Östergötland is situated close to the Baltic Sea , north of Småland. Länsstyrelsen/ The County Administrative Board of Östergötland is the National Government’s representative office in this county. They are  to ensure that government policies and decisions are enacted, but also to advance the cause of the people of Östergötland in the communication with the Government. Länsstyrelsen performs a wide range of different tasks, eg regional development.
  Östgöta Resource Centre works to promote women´s networking and entrepreneurship.

Kooperativ utveckling i Skaraborg is responsible in Sweden  for work-package 4 in the FEM-project and part in work-package 5.

Contact: Ulla Landenmark and Silvia Nörbäk
phone +46(0)51115950, ulla@kooperativutveckling.com and silvia@merautveckling.com
  www.kooperativutveckling.com/fem

Norway

Innovation Norway
The responsible organisation for the FEM project in Norway is Innovation Norway (www.invanor.no)

In Norway the FEM work is organised as a team of consultants responsible for the 5 Work Packages. Our main focus is micro credit, coaching, training and networking to promote motivation, inspiration, knowledge and international cooperation. During the three year project period the Norwegian FEM team will organize several meetings and events within these areas throughout Norway.

Innovation Norway promotes nationwide industrial development profitable to both the business economy and Norway’s national economy, and helps release the potential of different districts and regions by contributing towards innovation, internationalisation and promotion.

As of 1 January 2004  Innovation Norway has replaced the following four organisations: The Norwegian Tourist Board, the Norwegian Trade Council,  The Norwegian Industrial and Regional Development Fund, SND and the Government Consultative Office for Inventors, SVO.

The state owned company employs more than 700 people. Innovation Norway has offices in all the Norwegian counties and in more than 30 countries world wide. The head office is situated in Oslo.

The Norwegian delegation consists of the following:

• Ingeborg Knevelsrud, Head of Delegation, Innovation Norway
• Elin Sabbasen, FEM coordinator and micro credit loans elin@sami-eg.no
• Annika Saanio, networks and events
• Tone Allum, training
• Inger Karin Larsen, mentoring/coaching
• Elisabeth Gullner, internationalization

The URL for the Norwegian FEM website is: www.feminfo.no

Estonia

NGO ETNA
NGO ETNA in Estonia will alliance women, who are interested from development of small scale enterprises and female entrepreneurship in all regions of Estonia for improving image and vitality of rural life, also to balance development between urban and rural areas. The end of the year 2005 had ETNA 18 members.

Fulfill the goal, ETNA will:

• Collect and share information;
• Build up, coordinate and develop networks;
• Support development of small scale entrepreneurship (female entrepreneurship) in the villages;
• Support self initiative and locale activities;
• Develop producing, which uses locale resources and saves environment;
• Familiarise principles of gender equality and gender mainstreaming.

Organization’s goals for 3 years are:

• In every county in Estonia are acting 2 well trained grass roots business support persons, who are ready to give assistance and advice, to share info, experiences about the (female) entrepreneurship and gender equality issues.;
• Formed sustainable locale and regional networks of rural women/entrepreneurs with meeting places;
• Worked out female entrepreneurship strategy with action plan for improving female entrepreneurship in Estonia;
• Active participating in the over-Estonian and international networks;
• Members of the networks are creating work places for their selves and others;
• Rural women know well ETNA in Estonia;

The Estonian Union of Women in Business (EUWB)
EUWB was created by 51 women entrepreneurs on July 8, 2002 and was registered on August 14, 2002. By the beginning of 2005 the Union had 107 members.

The main goals of the Union are as follows:

1. To function in the society as an influence group, which shapes the decisions pertaining to women business, protects the rights and interests of women in business;
2. To encourage and support women in becoming involved with business;
3. To resolve issues, which are specific for women in business;
4. To pursue continuous learning and training of women.

The main activities of the EUWB have been following:

1. The consolidation of Estonian women entrepreneurs and creation of network with an aim to exchange information related to the entrepreneurship between the enterprises/entrepreneurs of the network.
2. Lobby-work.
3. Protection of interests of women entrepreneurs.
4. Organising information seminars for women entrepreneurs.
5. Introducing the situation of women entrepreneurs to governmental institutions.
6. Participation in holding companies/organisations of women organisations.

NGO Home Place – Võru County

Estonian village movement KODUKANT
Movement of Estonian Small Towns and Villages, working for rural development

Kodukant is an association of non-governmental organizations, structured at 3 levels:

• A National Association made up of the County Associations and 8 other NGOs
• 15 independent County Associations, one in each Estonian county
• Village Associations

 Formed officially on 9 October 1997, it now has about 5000 members.

Rooted in the “home place”
KODUKANT embodies the spirit and values of the villages and is driven by a passion to retain rural life and traditions. It is a voice and market place for rural people and a uniting force for the many dispersed rural communities.

Supportive of local development
The movement undertakes a wide range of activities in support of rural communities. These focus on building the capacity of the villages to become organized, to plan their priorities, to raise and manage funds, to undertake projects, and to link with other villages and organizations.

Influencing policy
An increasingly important role for KODUKANT is advocacy to shape local, regional, national and  EU policy. We try to open up the views and needs of small rural communities to the distant policy-makers.

Internationally connected
Trans-national links have always been  important for KODUKANT. We are members of NGO Forum Synergies,  the Nordic network Hela Norden Ska Leva and  PREPARE network . We are in close cooperation with many rural development organizations in Europe.

Our trademark is networking. Independent associations are formed at each level, but are connected through the umbrella of the movement. This enables KODUKANT to operate more effectively across the country, and also to connect to the decision-making process at each formal administrative level.

Rural Parliament is a biennial forum, which brings village people together with representatives from local and international organizations, authorities and decision-makers. Plays an important role in setting overall strategic direction and making links with the membership and government.

KODUKANT Training Center was established in November 2003.  It is a private school with a manager, secretary and an advisory board. Mainly project-based, but gets some support from the state

Estonian regional and local development agency (ERKAS) 
The national grass-roots development organization reporting to local self-governments, ERKAS was established in co-operation by three unions of local self-governments: The Association of Estonian Cities, the Union of Local Governments in Estonia and the Union of Estonian County Municipals

Mission
The mission of ERKAS is to act as a national grass-roots development organization, which uses the benefits arising of cooperation between local governments and supplies local governments, public and private institutions and organizations with a variety of goods and services, called for in their development activities with the overall aim to assist regional and local development.

Latvia

Latvia University of Agriculture
Latvia University of Agriculture (LLU) founded in 1939 and its oldest faculty- the Faculty of Agriculture, founded in 1863 have close cooperation with many universities abroad. The LLU has been rapidly growing over a period since Latvia regained its independence.

The university is located in Jelgava - an old cultural city which is only 40 km from Latvia`s capital Riga, where there is good transportation service. The number of students is near 10000 and the number of teachers and researchers is 450. The university is multi-profile – the studies as well as research deal with agriculture, forest branches, food technology, veterinary medicine, civil and environmental engineering, economics, education, social sciences and information technologies. The teachers of the university carry out research significant for Latvia. They also carry out research on the actual problems in the Baltic Sea Region. Teachers are involved in programs of the European Union.

Association of Rural Women  of Latvia
Association of Rural Women  of Latvia (ARWL) is one of the organizations formed in recent years. It started working in the autumn of 2000. 123 representatives of local organizations took part in its formation conference. The representatives took decision that it is necessary to join forces because separate people and small groups can do and influence less.

The Association has aims to realize:

• activating of rural women for different activities;
• consolidating separate organizations into one whole and
• increasing their influence on the state and local governments institutions.

One of it’s main strategic focuses is to found unions of women organizations in all the regions, to set offices for work co- ordination in regions, to register the organizations/ clubs and to summarize the results of work to form general conception on investment of the organizations of rural women in the development of the country of Latvia.

Preiļi Women’s Club / Preiļu Sieviešu klubs
was established by women willing to broaden their view, educate themselves in psychology, economics, gardening, health care and other spheres; to help other people and to take active part in local community life. The main task of the Club is to raise the selfconfindence of women.

As non-governmental organization was registered in April 3, 1996. In 1998 the Club became one of the founders of Preiļi NGO’s Support Center. Club has established cooperation with Preiļi District and Preiļi County Municipalities,  NGO “Baltā māja” in Līvāni, organizations GAMMA and STUW from the Netherlands, Jelgava ZONTA Club, SEB Unibanka, Sweden Folkuniversity etc.

 The club works actively in several directions:

• Education of youth and adults
• Popularization of harmonious family
• Charity
• Experience exchange and cooperation with other non-governmental organizations

Kinds of activities: Organization of lectures, meetings, camps; Charity events; Project design and attraction of financial resources and Information distribution about the Club.

NGO Rural Women Club of Bauska “Apvārsnis” 
The club was founded in 05.07.1999. The club has 22 members. The main objectives of the organisation are:

• unite the rural women
• encourage entrepreneurship
• encourage self-education
• change the social and economical situation of the rural women
• maintaining and delivering folk traditions to the next generations
• provide equal opportunities
• involve the rural men‘ in social and economical life
• support for families

Lithuania

"Women and Business in Lithuania"

A public organisation “Women and Business in Lithuania” (WBL) was established in September 2002. At that time, the organisation united only 13 members, and now this number has increased to 89 and the members come from Klaipeda, Kaunas, Panevezys, Siauliai, Silute, Palanga, Gargzdai, Kretinga and Vilnius.

It is an organisation granting membership to the women who run a business (the women who are owners of individual companies) or the women who have not less than 20 per cent of the company’s capital (shares or interest) and occupy key positions in the company. Not more than 10 per cent of all the members can be hired heads of enterprises.

The goals of the organisation’s activities are the following:

• to unite Lithuanian women seeking to create favourable conditions for the businesses run by women;
• to encourage the business development initiatives drafted by women;
• to represent the interests of the WBL members in public and state institutions or organisations in Lithuania, the EU member states and other countries;
• to draft projects and to participate in Lithuanian and international projects related to the development of the businesses run by women in the Lithuanian and foreign markets;
• to organise the trainings, conferences, exhibitions, seminars and meetings promoting the development of the businesses run by women in Lithuania;
• to disseminate, in writing, orally or in any other ways, the information about the activities of the organisation, to formulate and to advocate the goals of the WBL and thus to form a positive public opinion about the WBL and its members;
• to create the conditions for closer co-operation among the WBL members as well as co-operation between Lithuanian and foreign business partners and representatives of public and public administration institutions and organisations;
• to incorporate financial resources and investments when implementing target programmes and projects of the WBL.

The WBL is a candidate to become member of Les Femmes Chefs d’Entreprises Mondiales (FCEM). It is one of the largest and most significant global organisations uniting women entrepreneurs. Currently, women entrepreneurs’ organisations from 43 countries are members of this organisation.

The FCEM is supported by the United Nations and European Union. In turn, the FCEM performs the role of a consultant in these organisations and in the International Labour Organisation, the Council of Europe and in the European Parliament.

Kaunas Women’s Employment and Information Centre

Kaunas Women’s Employment and Information Centre (KWEIC) is a non-governmental organisation promoting the interests of women. KWEIC was opened on December 1994 upon the initiative of Kaunas Town Municipality and the International Labour Organisation under the United Nations. KWEIC seeks to improve the status of women in Lithuania, solving their employment, business creation and development problems, training women leaders, as well as influencing public opinion on equality issues.

The principal goals of KWEIC activities:

• formulating strategic directions of women employment policy according to the local needs and possibilities;
• encouraging women to start their own business;
• providing consultations for new businesswomen on business related issues and helping to find business partners for them during their first year of activities;
• informing women about employment possibilities in Kaunas region;
• providing employment mediation services.

Seeking to achieve these aims, KWEIC is working in the following directions:

• in the field of employment and adult education - search for a job and employment mediation services, consultations and advice for the unemployed women, psychological rehabilitation seminars, consultations and seminars on accounting, computer literacy courses, English language courses, e-commerce courses, introductory courses for babysitters, surveys on women employment and discrimination issues, providing information to country women and educating them;
• in the field of social economy – promoting women to start their own business and the creation of a more favourable conditions in this sphere, encouragement of rural businesses, and organising fairs and exhibitions;
• in the field of equal rights and possibilities – women-leaders training programme, educating the society on equal rights issues and the implementation of the programme o prevention of trade in women.

KWEIC is a member of Kaunas Union of Social NGO, the Lithuanian Women Association and the Lithuanian Women’s Council.

Lithuanian Women Farmers’ Association

 It is an independent organisation joining women fostering Lithuanian country and creating its future. The goal of the association is to improve living and working conditions for country women, to strengthen the skills of rural women by giving them knowledge and confidence in order to improve life in the countryside. Association organizes training on self-confidence, promotes activities of rural communities, cherishes and protects national traditions and country heritage, trains leadership skills.

Poland

  City of Lebork