City Diplomacy

Järvenpää was one of the first and few cities in Finland to create a position and recruit an EU-project planner in 1994, later renamed as EU-coordinator, and finally Manager of International Affairs. The consultative unit in international affairs deals with the information and training on EU-programmes, policies, and financing in project planning and management. The first pillar of the international affairs of Järvenpää consists in cooperating with nine twinning towns, "city diplomacy", the second pillar is international project cooperation and the third: communication, contacts and participation.

Official town twinning relations of Järvenpää started with the Nordic cities of Täby/Sweden, Lorenskog /Norway, Rodovre/Denmark in 1956. The similarity in cultural, geopolitical or other regional issues has been the main selection criteria of twinning. Culture, sport, youth, business, local administration have been the main themes of exchange. Järvenpää has been also active in international projects, and the project partnerships. EU-projects have been done in infrastructure, social and health affairs, employment issues, sport education, culture and in development of municipal administration. Now, on the doorstep of new programming of 2007-2013 two main planning processes and proposals have been fullfilled by the City International Unit. An application of one year INTERREG funding in order to disseminate the concept of "Job Market" to Estonia has been submitted. Another current application is the implementation plan for the cooperation between Järvenpää and the city of Ho in Ghana.

The North-South Programme, a sub-Saharan oriented cohesion programme is financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, coordinated by the Finnish Association of Local and Regional Authorities, and expected to build up local government capacities.