Amazing Leader is an action-packed, international, rural event for young people, an adventure exploring the work of the Finnish Leader rural grant programme.
“Amazing Leader is a new way of getting young people in rural areas involved in the development work, of helping them get to know each other and also of marketing Leader itself,” says network coordinator Juha-Matti Markkola from the Rural Network Unit.
“The event tours the Finnish countryside and participants will find out more about rural life, get involved, carry out tasks and try out different things together, as well as sharing their experiences,” says Amazing Leader tour “adventure manager” Tomi Kervinen from Outokumpu, a lecturer in cultural youth work at Niittylahti Polytechnic.
It all takes place in August 2011, when young people from the Baltic countries and other European Union areas are expected to arrive in Finland, although with room for around 80 young people there will still be plenty of places available. Along the way they’ll be performing tasks, partly aimed at spreading the word about what the Finnish Leader programme does and particularly about the special features of rural areas. The groups will constantly be documenting their own adventures on the event’s community website. The event starts off in Helsinki where participants will be divided into teams and given their first task. From Helsinki the teams will head for central and eastern Finland. The event is being organised by the Rural Network Unit together with the four Leader groups.
“The event is all about working together, trying out new things and sharing experiences. Amazing Leader, known as AL, will start in Helsinki with the young people being divided into small groups or teams. Along the way the teams will be given various tasks, either taking the form of experiences or just associated with everyday life in the Finnish countryside. And some of them might purely be for fun. We can guarantee there’ll definitely be "wife carrying" and a tractor rally” says Tomi, summing it all up.
On the Amazing Leader adventure, besides a rucksack, sleeping bag and a camping mat, you’ll also need to bring a good dose of get-up-and-go and an anything goes! outlook – you too could join the Leader adventure!
Interested in taking part or would you like further information? Come on in:
Text: Mari Voutilainen