OMAidea (“Own idea” in English) is a citizen participation platform launched in October 2020 and developed under the Northern, Periphery and Arctic Programme funded EMERGREEN project to promote innovative and versatile citizen participation in the region of South-Savo in Finland.

Since late 2020, four small-scale piloting events have been conducted with local residents of the Finnish region on sustainable development themes such as food waste and recycling. The functionality and potential of the platform have also been demonstrated to the representatives of other educational and development institutions in the South-Savo region.

EMERGREEN project partner Toni Ryynänen from Ruralia Institute says that “the piloting events and demonstration sessions of the OMAidea participation platform have reached at least 500 people. The social media reach through the OMAidea social media accounts is multifold”.

The OMAidea platform has been well-received by local residents and the importance of the piloted participation themes has been highlighted in the regional media: the newspaper Länsi-Savo on 26th of April 2021 published a two-page article on the climate action campaign targeted to the youth and also the local newspaper Ristiinalainen published a similar story on its front page.

“We can safely say that the platform has a potential to inspire local citizens toward a more sustainable lifestyle” concludes Toni Ryynänen.

Find out more about the OMAidea participation platform at https://omaidea.fi.