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Kesko's awards for sustainable development were presented today in Helsinki. There were four awards with an aggregate amount of €20,000. Two nationwide projects, i.e. the Finnish Diverse Learners' Association and the Ilmari project, received €12,000 awards. There were 46 applicants, including firms, corporations and private persons who have worked for the promotion of sustainable development in, for example, educational, research, training, publishing, product development and organisational activities. Awards
A €12,000 award was granted to the Finnish Diverse Learners' Association of Helsinki.
A €12,000 award was presented to the nationwide Ilmari project.
€3,000 awards were presented to journalist Jussi Laitinen of Petäjävesi, and civil entrepreneur Markku Jussila of Helsinki, the founder of the www.kuinoma.fi-palvelu lending service.
Jury The jury members included Professor Sirpa Kurppa of MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Research Professor Eva Heiskanen of the National Consumer Research Centre, Senior Researcher Ari Nissinen of the Finnish Environment Institute, Researcher Aleksi Neuvonen from Demos Helsinki, and Paavo Moilanen, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications and Responsibility of Kesko Corporation.
The criteria of the jury emphasized the scope and social significance of the projects. The innovativeness of the activity and especially new forms of community orientation were also valued.
Additional information on the activities and merits of the awardees is attached.
Kesko granted awards for sustainable development for the sixth time This was the sixth time Kesko granted awards for sustainable development. The total number of awardees is now 36. Kesko itself has worked systematically for environmental protection and sustainable development and has been recognised for its achievements several times. For its part, Kesko wants to recognise other promoters of sustainable development and give publicity to their work.
Further information: Assistant Vice President Ulla Rehell, Corporate Communications and Responsibility, Kesko Corporation, tel. +358 1053 22464
Kesko (www.kesko.fi) is a retail specialist whose stores offer quality to the daily lives of consumers. Kesko has about 2,000 stores engaged in chain operations in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Russia, and Belarus.
ATTACHMENT:
Kesko's 2008 awards for sustainable development
The Finnish Diverse Learners' Association (€12,000): As many as one million Finnish people have some kind of learning difficulties, which are practically not identified in school health care or occupational health care at all. The identification of learning difficulties is not included in the basic education of teachers, subject teachers or medical doctors. Unidentified learning difficulties may cause people not to apply for further education, studies to become delayed or discontinued, work fatigue, depression and early retirement, substance abuse or social exclusion.
The Finnish Diverse Learners' Association is a nationwide dyslexia organisation with 17 regional sub-organisations. It has worked for ten years for the promotion of the identification, consideration and well-being of diverse learners. In addition, the association founded four clinics for diverse adult learners in 2005-2008. During that period, the clinics helped 25,000 people and trained over 4,000 professionals representing different areas of expertise, and the association published a diverse learner's handbook. The association publishes the LukiSitko magazine, which is the first Finnish multi-professional magazine to discuss learning difficulties.
According to the jury - especially in view of what happened in Kauhajoki - the long-term work for the identification of learning difficulties and the support for diverse learners that generates well-being and helps maintain the ability to work deserve recognition.
Further information: President Airi Valkama, the Finnish Diverse Learners' Association, tel. +358 9 4763 6666 or +358 50 598 4198, airi.valkama@erilaistenoppijoidenliitto.fi, www.erilaistenoppijoidenliitto.fi, and Communications Officer Riitta Hämäläinen, tel. +358 9 4763 6666, riitta.hamalainen@erilaistenoppijoidenliitto.fi.
Ilmari project (€12,000): The four participants of the Finnish Ilmari project are the Youth Academy, Dodo, the Finnish Nature League and Friends of the Earth Finland. They have developed a new model for climate communications with "climate ambassadors", i.e. lecturers they have trained, visiting schools making youths think what they can personally do to slow down the climate change. They also provide schools with the basic information on climatology, energy production and consumption, and explain how energy can be saved in communities, organisations and homes.
The Ilmari project has been running for six years during which time it has trained over 200 professional "climate ambassadors", who have reached nearly 33,000 youths in upper levels of comprehensive schools, upper secondary schools or vocational schools. The Ilmari project has mainly been financed by a Ministry of Trade and Industry funding programme ceased in 2007.
According to the jury, the Ilmari project has established a communicative model based on voluntary community participation, with youths distributing information about climate change to schoolchildren and students of almost the same age. According to the feedback from teachers, the "climate ambassadors" have very well succeeded in activating youths and discussion among the audiences. The jury also appreciated the joint efforts of the four different youth and environmental organisations in producing the contents of the school visits. The jury was of the opinion that such good work for addressing a significant environmental problem should not end because of lacking funds.
Further information: Petra Yliportimo, the Finnish Nature League, tel. +358 44 331 3431, petra.yliportimo@luontoliitto.fi, www.ilmasto.org.
Journalist Jussi Laitinen (€3,000): Jussi Laitinen has been a freelance environmental journalist since 2000. His versatile articles on climate change and other consumer-related environmental issues can be read in the Hinta & Laatu (price & quality) column in the Helsingin Sanomat daily. In addition, Laitinen writes the climate news column for the Vihreä Lanka magazine.
According to the jury, Jussi Laitinen's articles perfectly highlight the consumer perspective and explain often difficult and complicated matters in a clear and popular style. Laitinen actively finds out the latest research results and presents matters and phenomena from different points of view, often also weighing their pros and cons. The jury especially appreciated Laitinen's efforts to widen the readers' understanding of different issues, and their sense of proportion about the magnitude and influence of different phenomena.
Further information: Journalist Jussi Laitinen, tel. +358 50 4042 006, jussi.laitinen@netti.fi.
Civil entrepreneur Markku Jussila (www.kuinoma.fi) (€3,000): Markku Jussila founded the community oriented lending and renting service Kuinoma.fi in December 2007. It operates on the principle of increasing the service lives of goods while reducing new product purchases and excessive consumption. The lending stock includes some 300 products, of which more than 200 relate to outdoor activities and hobby interests. The web pages of the service have more than one hundred daily visitors browsing the products and the service.
According to the jury, kuinoma's operating principle is innovative and promotes sustainable consumption in Finland. The jury believes that the lending service will gain popularity especially among youths, because it enables groups of people share, for example, some special sports equipment.
Further information: Entrepreneur Markku Jussila, tel. +358 50 364 9075, markku.jussila@kuinoma.fi, www.kuinoma.fi.
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