English
Service Centre for Development Cooperation - KEPA
Töölöntorinkatu 2 A, 00260 Helsinki
Phone: +358-9-584 233. Fax: +358-9-5842 3200
E-mail: info@kepa.fi.
What is KEPA?
KEPA, or the Service Centre for Development Cooperation, is a service base for Finnish NGOs interested in development work and global issues. Over 270 such organisations belong to KEPA. These organisations vary greatly in character - large and small, local and national, professional and ideological. KEPA itself is a politically and ideologically non-aligned organisation that operates with funding from the Finnish foreign ministry.
For an overview of KEPA's internal structure, please see KEPA's organisational chart.
KEPA acts as a trustee and spokesperson for its member organisations. It has carried out prominent work in areas such as improving the quality of development cooperation and increasing Finland’s development aid budget.
As its name suggests, KEPA offers services to Finnish NGOs. It provides training and advice on development issues, publishes magazines, bulletins and reports, and maintains a website and library.
- Read the KEPA Newsletter 2008.
KEPA campaigns together with other organisations for a more just world. In its development policy work, KEPA aims to transform the structures that cause and sustain inequality in the world. One way of doing this is to encourage the Finnish government to act on its own initiative in the European Union and other international arenas to eradicate poverty.
KEPA has country offices in Nicaragua, Tanzania and Mozambique. It also has staff working in the Mekong region in Asia. KEPA assists local organisations working on human rights’, democracy, debt and environmental issues.
Training and advice
KEPA provides training services and advice for NGOs both in Finland, and through field offices in Mozambique, Nicaragua and Tanzania. KEPA also organises courses on the internet.
Lobbying for Better World
People concerned about global justice and sustainable development have joined a network globbarit that lobbies the Members of the Parliament to work more actively on these themes.
Markets of Possibilities
KEPA supports the holding of the Markets of Possibilities, which are held throughout Finland and where local NGOs present their activities to the public.
World Village Festival
KEPA holds the massive World Village festival in Helsinki in May. This brings together NGOs, star performers and thousands of visitors. The programme includes music, dance, theatre, awareness raising - all free.
Working in the South
Each year some 60 people from Finland go to work abroad under the ETVO Southern Volunteer programme. Volunteers have to be 20 or older, have good language skills and the right attitude.
Global magazine
KEPA’s Finnish language journal Kumppani is the voice of the South in the North. In Kumppani you can read articles on daily life in developing countries and multicultural Finland.