What is JAPA?
We are a non-profit and politically independent association promoting sustainable development in Jyväskylä. Our goal is to get sustainable development and living a part of the residents’ everyday lives.
What we do?
Our activities include planning and implementation of various sustainable development -related projects and events. We work in close cooperation with local residents’ associations, the city of Jyväskylä, and the waste management center Mustankorkea.
Award winning project ReWi Visions
ReWi Visions project was organized by JAPA ry and the Jyväskylä region 4H club between 2019–2021. The project was granted funding from the EU’s agricultural fund through the organization Leader Jyväsriihi. “ReWi” itself is short for Resource Wisdom. The project relies on themes that young people find interesting. These include sustainable development, circular economy, well-being and employment. The main goal of the project has been to strengthen young people’s entrepreneurship and work life skills from the viewpoint of sustainable ways of life, circular economy and their local communities.
ReWi Visions won the Rural Inspiration Award in the category of Green Futures in 2021. The award was awarded by ENRD (European Network of Rural Development).
See the projects website here.
Guidance on waste management
One of our tasks is to educate people on issues related to waste, such as waste reduction and recycling. We do this in cooperation with the waste management center Mustankorkea.
Promoting sustainable ways of transportation
One of our goals is to reduce private motoring and to promote public transportation and other, more sustainable ways of travelling. As one of our means to achieve that goal, we have set up the Cargo Bike Borrowing Shop, from which anyone can borrow a cargo bike, free of charge. You can find more information about the shop here (in Finnish).
Local food networks
There are altogether five local food networks in Central Finland that JAPA has founded. Through those networks, anyone can order produce and goods grown locally, close to their home. Deliveries are organized approximately once a month.
The aim of local food networks isn’t to make profit, but to connect food producers and consumers as well as to make fresh, clean, and healthy local food available to everyone, without any extra intermediates.
By buying locally produced goods you support the local producers and local economy.
For more information, visit: Lähiruokapiirit (in Finnish)
Other food networks in Central Finland: Students’ organic food network Jolppi ry
Different kinds of projects related to sustainable development
As a part of our goal to get sustainable development and living a part of local residents’ everyday lives, we plan and organize different kinds of projects in Jyväskylä. An example of those is a project called Resource-wise living, which we implemented in 2014.
The aim of the pilot project was to make housing cooperatives more resource-wise. Concrete changes such as renewing lighting, installing water-saving fixtures, and improving energy efficiency were done in the pilot housing cooperatives that were selected in the project. Even small changes in a co-op can have a huge impact on emissions, natural resources and expenses. Resource-wisdom cuts down on living costs, reinforces satisfaction in living and increases the value of the apartment.
The pilot was a part of Sitra’s project entitled Towards Resource Wisdom, the aim of which is to promote sustainable use of natural resources and to minimize harmful effects on the environment in cooperation with local citizens, businesses and communities.
To learn more about us and our activities, please contact us by email toimisto @ japary.f
