The Advisory Centre for Rural Women and Homemakers' work on landscape preservation, Finland

This advisory and planning work is highly esteemed by the rural population and liaison partners. This nationwide organisation has approximately 70,000 members and is one of the country's largest women's organisations.

The Advisory Centre's care of 'home management' has developed over 15 years into comprehensive advice on cultural landscape and the diversity of the countryside. The centre's 20 experts have been trained over several years on the organisation's own training scheme and now make up a network of experts specialising in the care of landscape and countryside in the villages.

The advisers have contributed to increasing interest in appreciating and caring for village culture and rural landscape and have achieved a focus on caring for and developing the cultural landscape. Throughout the years the organisation has also been responsible for many events and training courses, including 2,210 courses on urban and rural culture, with 40,000 participants.

The organisation has surveyed the towns’ most valuable goals for the landscape and buildings, and the residents have been given practical instructions on how they can restore and care for the urban environment and the countryside. The organisation is largely responsible for the fact that so many people now show an interest in and take an active part in caring for the landscape and planning new initiatives to make towns more attractive.