In organising National Dialogues, resources are needed for the following areas:
The principle of the activities is that National Dialogues are genuinely a shared tool of national significance for Finnish society, and National Dialogues cannot be coordinated by central government alone. Coordination requires expertise and ownership from civil society. This requires non-state funding, which can be used to support civil society participation as a key actor in the core operational group of National Dialogues. The objective is that the resources for the coordination of National Dialogues will to a great extent come from central government appropriations and that civil society activities will, as a rule, be funded with additional funding from foundations.
When planning activities, contacting the organisers of dialogues and drawing up summaries, it is important to be able to utilise the expertise, networks and contacts of civil society and other actors. This way, the National Dialogues genuinely reach the communities and people whose voice in society is often ignored. Secondly, it is critical that the summary of the notes in the dialogues is legitimate in the eyes of all actors and participants. This may not be achieved if the summaries are drawn up merely by public officials and create a feeling that the summary places too much emphasis on the perspectives of administration.
Organisation and process of planning and theme selection: 4 person-days
• 50% of central government resources.
• Civil society funding 50%.
Contact and invitation material for discussion organisers: 12 person-days
• 50% of central government resources.
• Civil society funding 50%.
Induction and coaching of discussion organisers: 6 person-days
• 50% of central government resources.
• Civil society funding 50%.
• Notes: stakeholders linked to the theme also support the confirmation of background material.
Registration of discussion organisers and compilation of summary discussions: 6 person-days
• Can be managed by the central government.
• Note: Technical collection.
Drawing up a joint summary of the discussions: 12 person-days
• 50% of central government resources.
• Civil society funding 50%.
• Notes: research-level expertise must be included.
Dissemination of summary: 2 person-days
• Can be managed by the central government.
• Notes: All actors also share.
Meetings and network of permanent discussion organisers: 4 person-days
• Can be managed by the central government.
Communication at all stages of the process and translation of materials and summary: 126 person-days
• Can be managed by the central government.
• Notes: All actors communicate, but coordination of communication with central government funding. Media communications are not carried out by the Ministry.
Creation and maintenance of websites
• Can be managed by the central government.
• It should be noted: it should be ensured with a visual identity, etc. that it is credibly shared, even if the resources are only from the administration.
Impact assessment and development: 2 person-days
• Notes: Impact assessment see below.
The aim is to receive funding from foundations or other similar actors for 2-3 years at a time.
In practice, funding will be channeled to the actors representing civil society in the operative core group who are preparing the above-mentioned sections, such as inviting dialogue organisers and creating summaries.
The operative core group will implement a rotation model in which the Timeout Foundation and dialogue Academy/Areor will initially be the actors receiving funding for the first two years (2023-2024). According to the rotation model, the next two operators, which will be replaced by the beginning of 2025, will be involved by the end of 2024. The aim of the rotation model is thus to develop new strong dialogue actors to participate in the activities. This way, the change will be implemented without interruption and the dialogue competence related to national dialogues will be strengthened in Finland.
It is important to assess the National Dialogues every 2-3 years in order to ensure their effectiveness and effectiveness and to identify needs for further development. This report does not yet include a proposal for funding the evaluations. The possibility of funding the assessments will be examined separately as part of the work of the National Dialogues.