Etpähä in English

Etpähä ry – Southern Päijät-Häme Rural Development Association

Communities where it operates are Hollola, Hämeenkoski, Kärkölä, Orimattila, Nastola.

Etpähä in a nutshell

Southern Päijät-Häme Rural Development Association Etpähä ry is a regional developer and regional LAG operating in the southern parts of the Päijät-Häme province in Finland. Its purpose is promoting services and employment in its operations area.

The association promotes cooperation between residents, businesses and associations of the region and the public administration. The association’s operations area consists of the municipalities of Hollola, Hämeenkoski, Kärkölä and Nastola as well as the town of Orimattila.

To guide its activities, Etpähä ry has drafted a southern Päijät-Häme rural development programme for 2007–2013, and the association has obtained Leader funding from the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the status of a local action group (LAG) for the purpose of implementing the programme.

Etpähä ry’s board of directors consists of 15 members who equally represent – in compliance with the Leader tripartite principle – municipalities, associations and private inhabitants of the operations area.

Established in 2000, Southern Päijät-Häme Rural Development Association Etpähä ry is a rural development organisation. Objectives of the association are:
developing cooperation between local residents, associations, businesses and other organisations; promoting the development of general preconditions for services and employment; and integrating active civic action and entrepreneurship into activities that maintain and develop quality of life in the association’s operations area.

In order to reach its objectives, the association has drafted a customer-centred development programme. The association carries the responsibility for management and monitoring of the programme. For implementation of the development programme, Etpähä ry has obtained partly EU funded Leader funding from the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the status of a Leader group for the years 2007–2013.

As a Leader group, the association is able to grant – in cooperation with the local Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment – financial support for different types of rural projects and businesses. Etpähä ry finances its own activities by means of normal fund-raising and with a contribution obtained through the local Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment.

Etpähä ry’s operations area consists of five municipalities of the Lahti region in the Päijät-Häme province of Finland: Hämeenkoski, Hollola, Kärkölä, Nastola ja Orimattila. However, the municipal centre of the Hollola municipality (called Salpakangas) and the adjacent industrial areas are not included in the scope of the Leader funding available through Etpähä ry.
The municipalities of the region pay 20% of the costs of Etpähä ry’s Leader activities.

Contact
Etpähä ry
Mariankatu 8 A 3rd floor
15110 Lahti

Mobile.: +358 400 876 442
Fax. +358 (0)20 747 3091
etpaha (at) phnet.fi