The Äänekoski phenomenon attracted nationwide interest in the Municipal Market
Äänekoski's city strategy The Äänekoski phenomenon was presented last week at the Municipal Market in the Ministry of Finance's open administration information attack.

Director of Administration Aleksi Heikkilä presented the strategy of the city of Äänekoski at the Ministry of Finance's open administration point at the Municipal Market. The Äänekoski phenomenon arises from a new kind of thinking, genuine openness and constant interaction.
The Open Administration Unit of the Ministry of Finance presented its work and goals and how open administration is implemented in Finland in practice. The cities of Oulu and Äänekoski serve as the ministry's municipal examples.
Open governance is important, especially when the world changes and becomes more complicated. Democracy is about reliable and safe governance.
The principles of open administration were presented by the ministry's special experts Ira Alanko ja Matti Kuivalainen. The permanent work areas of open administration are comprehensibility, participation, open operation, administration as an enabler, open data, communication, trust and publicity.
According to the OECD open administration recommendation, the goal of open administration is to promote transparency, integrity, accountability and inclusion. These are promoted both in the preparation of decision-making and in the planning and implementation of services. This is done in an open and participatory way.
- In this time, strengthening democracy and building trust between administration and people is particularly important, says the administrative director who presented the work of Oulu's open administration Ari Heikkinen.

Openness and transparency
Administrative director of Äänekoski Aleksi Heikkilä presented the joint journey made with decision-makers and residents from the strategy to the Äänekoski phenomenon.
The strategy work of the city of Äänekoski started in the summer of 2021 by listening to and involving residents. During the process, around 2 responses were received to various surveys, which were used in the preparation of the strategy.
- We needed new thinking and bold perspectives. We also wanted to increase the participation of the residents, and satisfaction and well-being goals emerged from them, Heikkilä describes the starting points of the strategy work.
Everyone has been invited to participate in the implementation of the strategy and it is lived out together with the residents - this creates the Äänekoski phenomenon. The new way of thinking is that the strategy includes exemplary actions that implement it also for those living and doing business in Äänekoski, not just for the city organization.
In Äänekoski, they boldly embarked on the path of involving residents and open administration.
- Many Äänekoski trustees feel that they represent the residents, and not so much the city organization. That's why trustees usually don't consider involving residents and increasing transparency as risks, Heikkilä states.

We also want to measure how we are doing
With the new strategy, the ways of participation will be increased in the city of Äänekoski across the board, in all the city's activities. Implementation programs outline how to involve residents. Examples of participation methods are village evenings, zoning afternoons, forums for different actors, residents' hearings, recruitment events, participatory budgeting and village parliament activities, requests for opinions, business impact assessments, user involvement in service planning, and various polls and surveys.
The implementation of the strategy is made visible through the city's communications, and the goal is to get the residents involved in the dialogue.
- We emphasize our strategy, i.e. the Äänekoski phenomenon, in all our narrative and at every level of operation. In addition to participation, our goal is to increase awareness of the city's services and thereby also increase satisfaction, says Heikkilä.
In Äänekoski's presentation at the Municipal Market, the listeners were interested in incorporating these different ways into practice. However, the most questions raised by Äänekoski's new thinking also begins to measure the implementation of the city strategy in practice.
The implementation of the strategy will be monitored with the help of a new type of measurement tool. The number of this Äänekoski barometer, or phenomenon meter, lives according to how we are doing.
- Even small actions are important for the well-being of the urban community, and we want to make the actions visible also with the help of the phenomenon meter. Every person from Aunekoski can make a difference, and through this, they are also partly responsible for reading the phenomenon meter. The visible consequences of the activities inspire us to make better choices in the area of the strategy's main goals of a good life, a sustainable environment and effective livelihoods, Heikkilä describes.
The city of Äänekoski already monitors many issues, such as budget implementation, tax revenues, education level, employment and air quality. On the other hand, a good life is a human experience that cannot be measured by mere numbers. For the good life section of the phenomenon meter, a resident survey with changing questions is carried out once a month. The results of the survey directly affect the figure, the Äänekoski barometer.
The phenomenon meter will probably be completed in October 2022, when to the phenomenon website the first resident survey will also be opened. The phenomenon meter with its monthly surveys will work throughout the strategy period 2022-2028, and thus its development can be monitored.
For more information:
Administrative Director Aleksi Heikkilä, 040 823 7921, aleksi.heikkila@aanekoski.fi

News published 19.9.2022, modified 23.9.2022/10/20 at XNUMX:XNUMX