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Sustainability Certificate Awarded to Citizens’ Forum
The Citizens’ Forum study centre and association have been awarded the OKKA Foundation’s Sustainability Certificate for their high-quality and continuous work in promoting sustainable development.
Erkka Laininen, Planning Manager at the OKKA Foundation, presented the Sustainability Certificate to Citizens’ Forum staff on 4 December 2026.
— Cultural and social sustainability lie at the core of the Citizens’ Forum mission, and we have been working on sustainability long before entering this process. The certificate is an excellent way for us to highlight the sustainability work carried out in liberal adult education. We have not reinvented the wheel; instead, we will continue strengthening the practices through which we already promote various aspects of sustainability. We pursue this work with long-term vision and imagination, yet also in very practical ways in our everyday activities, said Citizens’ Forum Secretary General Anneliina Wevelsiep.
Not Just an Award, but a Tool for Guiding Our Work
As part of the certification, Citizens’ Forum compiled a new three-year sustainability programme, now actively used to guide all activities of both the study centre and association. The OKKA Foundation’s certification process is tailored to different educational institutions, taking into account the specific nature of liberal adult education, and includes numerous development measures related to various functions.
The process is not undertaken merely to earn a certificate; at the same time, the OKKA Foundation provides support and tools for examining one’s organisational practices in depth. The certification process closely mirrors strategic development work and helps institutions identify their strengths as agents and promoters of sustainable practices.
— We are truly proud to now be a certified sustainable educational institution! The well-known certificate signals to our partners that our sustainability work is of high quality. In addition to our staff, the process involved people from our member organisations, students, and our board, says Head of Education Anna Kirstinä, who led the process.
Sustainability Work Continues
Erkka Laininen warmly thanked the team at Citizens’ Forum for their excellent work. According to him, the transformative, hope-strengthening educational work done by adult education centres is key to building a more sustainable future.
— I can see that your work is rooted in a strong tradition of liberal adult education, grounded in community, interaction, equality, and democracy. These values of social sustainability offer an excellent basis for expanding our perspective beyond the human world and recognising that we are part of a much wider whole. Research also shows that young people who take care of the people around them are more likely to take responsibility for the environment as well, Laininen noted.
Although the biggest work still lies ahead, the entire team at Citizens’ Forum is proud and delighted to receive the certificate, as it places the organisation among those educational institutions that want to make their sustainability efforts visible and impactful.
Further information:
Education Manager, Quality Assurance Manager Anna Kirstinä, anna.kirstina@kansalaisfoorumi.fi
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Sustainable development certification of educational establishment