Water treatment study tour by KA198

The Karelia ENPI CBC project KA198 “Support to sustainable development of Sortavala town for the improvement of environmental situation” is on its way to the finish line. The last study tour, the third one within the project, was organized in Finland for the Russian partners on 15.-16. April 2013. 

The first day of the study tour was devoted to water treatment. Six experts from the partner organization of the Project CJSC Karelvodokanal, who is a water supply and waste water treatment operator of Sortavala, visited the Kuhasalo waste water treatment plant of Joensuu. The purpose of this visit was to compare sludge treatment system in Joensuu with the one in Sortavala. The Russian experts were mostly interested in utilization of sludge, which is a serious environmental problem in Sortavala. However, they found out, that in Finland sludge utilization is also rather problematic because of legal restraints of sludge usage for fertilization.

The afternoon programme of the study tour was organized by Keypro Oy, who specializes in utility planning and maintenance systems. During the previous seminar in December, the partners agreed to arrange a demonstration of duct location system provided by Keypro. 

This experience is crucial for the Karelvodokanal experts, because location of many water pipes is unknown in Sortavala, and it creates a potential ecological hazard. Such a method may be successfully applied by Karelvodokanal, if necessary equipment and expertise are obtained. On the video it is shown how fast it is possible to specify location of water pipes, as signal transmitter is dipped into the expection hole.

http://www.keypro.fi/files/training/video/ductlocating/ductlocating.html

The experts of Karelvodokanal showed a particular site on the Sortavala map, where such a method is crucially needed, because the lack of information on pipe location there prevents from conducting necessary construction works. 

Karelvodokanal and Keypro are negotiating about the visit of the Keypro expert to Sortavala with the duct location equipment.

The second day was devoted to planning and coordination of work on the pilot project. A documentarist, who was invited to make a documentary on waste management opportunities in Sortavala based on Finnish experience, arrived to Joensuu to take part in the study tour and get acquainted with the project partners. Another guest visitor was the director of the MUU “Blagoustroystvo i ozelenenie” from Sortavala and the manager of the Sortavala landfill.

The study tour participants visited the Joensuu landfill and a landfill gas station. 

Landfill gas collection opportunities, as well as separate waste collection, will be the focus of the future documentary. 

The last study tour finished, but we are working on the screenplay of the documentary and preparing for the first shooting days, that are planned for the beginning of June.

Inna Aladina

KA198

New ways of resolving conflicts introduced

 

The project KA462 - Mediation in progress (financed under the theme Social wellbeing) is working at full steam.  The first group of Finnish volunteer mediators got continuing education and training on restorative justice in Finland already in January and soon the training of mediators will start also in the Russian side of the border.

On 16^th April, 2013, took place the official opening of the first Mediation services office in the Republic of Karelia. Work on mediation has been going on in Petrozavodsk for several years, but now the mediators have their own office in the Republican Children's eco-biological center. In September, mediation offices will also be opened in the areas of Pryazha and Sortavala, where they will be offering their services in centers for psychological, medical and social support.

In developing mediation services good connections with local officials are essential. Specialists of the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Social Development of Karelia, Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Commission on Juvenile Affairs as well as the Commissioner for Children's Rights, actors of different NGOs and teachers attended the opening ceremony in Petrozavodsk. Cooperation between the mediators and officials will be supported further in joint seminars in Petrozavodsk and in the areas next summer.

There were several journalists in the opening ceremony and the opening of the office was reported in the news in Russia 1 Karelia and Sampo-tv.  A new website on the Mediation services in the republic of Karelia was also published in the event.

Furthermore, Russian specialists will come to Finland on a benchmarking trip (25.-28.4.2013). During their visit they will meet the employees of the Mediation office in North Karelia, volunteer mediators and representatives of Finnish police force and prosecutor’s office. They will also attend the National Mediation Seminar in Jyväskylä together with 480 other mediators!

If you want to know more about mediation itself, check out the North-Karelia Mediation Office’s website (in Finnish / English / Russian). Information about the project and its future actions can be found on the Lead Partners project page.

Sonja Kortelainen, project manager

Aducate, Centre for Training and Development,

University of Eastern Finland

Contracting of culture concluded

All projects funded under the Cultural Cooperation theme have now been successfully contracted. There were a total of 9 projects in the call. The contracting process took about 3 months, which was probably as fast as it can possibly be under the current circumstances and resources. Taxing though it was for everybody, we can finally start concentrating on the actual work – the projects themselves. I am quite interested to see how we will succeed but if everything goes according to plan the results will be considerable. The general quality of project ideas for the Culture call was high and partners seem eager and excited, so there is no reason why the projects should not be fruitful. 

Even though the contracting process was arduous, from my side I can say that the new contracting method (i.e. face-to-face negotiations) worked extremely well compared to all the emailing back and forth that we did in previous calls. It is easier to reach mutual understanding when we are all sitting around the same table and both sides can ask questions and make sure that everything has been duly considered. It seems that this possibility has been much appreciated by both by us and the project partners.

I urge all project partners to explore the project descriptions on our website, including that of your own project. If you think that the description of your own project could be better, you are welcome to send me an updated text and we’ll replace the old one. You should read the other descriptions so that you know what the other projects are trying to do. This can prevent overlap between projects, but it can also help you find links between projects, which in turn can lead to cooperation between projects. The impact and effectiveness of activities that are implemented jointly are often higher than if implemented only within one project, so it might be one way to improve your project. 

Toni Saranpää 

Programme Coordinator