Finland Times

Mahnaz Afkhami, President of Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP), Executive Director of Foundation for Iranian Studies, and former Minister of Women’s Affairs of Iran. FTimes Photo by Iqbal Hossain.

The World Ngo Day 2014 forum ended at the Scandic Marina Congress centre in Helsinki on Friday highlighting innovative ideas for global development.  

 

In the concluding ceremony of the forum, British Council Country Director Hanna Klinge said the development organisations should come forward with more innovative ideas in terms of services.

 

She pointed out that the active participation of the civil society as well as the proper use of resources would strengthen the process of achieving sustainable development.

 

NGO Time Show. FTimes Photo.

Two non-governmental organisations from Finland won the award for promoting sustainable development and dealing with social problems through innovative ways. 

 

Six NGOs participated in a competition to showcase their organisation and activities. They were Red Cross of Finland, Vector of Friendship from Russia, FinFami from Finland, the Finnish Federation of University Women (FFUW), Women Journalists in Finland and the Multicultural Women’s Association in Finland. The two winners were FinFima and FFUW.

 

FinFami - The National Family Association Promoting Mental Health in Finland was awarded for its excellent work in solving problems innovatively. 

 

FFUW meanwhile, deals with determining the role of women in the society. It cooperates with several local non-governmental organisations on mutual themes.

 

Two panels of judges evaluated the works of the NGOs. They were Marjo Heinonen, executive director of the Abilis foundation, Jamie Bolling, executive director of the European Network on Independent Living from Sweden, Ramadan Assi, International Medical Corps country director in Turkey, Gunvor Kronman, secretary general of the Icelandic-Finnish cultural foundation, Lina Abou Habib, executive director of the Collective for Research Training on Development Action of Lebanon, Aicha Bah Diallo, vice-president of NOG-UNESCO liason committee, Elina Multanen, executive director of the Finland national committee of Un-Women and Leena Zittling, board member of the World Ngo Day. 

 

Winner announcement. FTimes Photo.

On the final day, the inspiring success stories of Elina Multanen, Pia Tornikoski from the Finnish Fundraising Association, and Irina Siltanen, board member of the Women Entrepreneurs of Finland, were presented.

 

The day’s discussion focused “Universal Education – NGOs and Private Enterprises,” “Health and Social Welfare,” “Children and Youth Empowerment - A Multi-Sectoral Approach,” and “Society Empowerment via Gender Equality.”

 

International Development Minister Pekka Haavisto inaugurated the two-day program on Thursday. In his opening speech, Haavisto urged the NGOs to ensure effective and quality services for achieving sustainable development goals for creating a better world.

 

Haavisto also talked about the plan for working actively with the international NGOs and supporting the initiatives for the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals agenda. 

 

The forum is organised by the World NGO Day Initiative, in association with European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs. The initiative recognised a new international calendar day dedicated to the NGOs, the important work they do locally, nationally and internationally, and all the individuals behind them worldwide.

 

Finland Times Correspondent wins raffle draw prize

 

On the concluding day, the organiser arranged a raffle draw for the participants in which Finland Times Correspondent Iqbal Hossain won the maiden prize.

 

The iPad Mini was sponsored by the Public interest Registry.