Svenska folkskolans vänner r.f. (abbreviated SFV) is a Finnish association aiming to support the schooling of the Swedish-speaking minority in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. Since the introduction of compulsory education in Finland in 1921, the association's main task has been to promote education, culture and free learning in Swedish in Finland. Each year, SFV also awards prizes, scholarships and medals, as well as grants in the sectors of education, culture and libraries, and liberal education. The association also maintains Swedish folk high schools and

vocational training Vocational education is education that prepares people for a Skilled worker, skilled craft. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self em ...

within the framework of .

History

The association was founded in 1882 by , a physician. In the 1880s, Finland's language policy became more Finnish-centered. This led to the founding of SFV in order to guard the interests of the Swedish-speaking minority. This manifested itself in the founding of Swedish-speaking schools throughout the country (until 1917 part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

). The association published magazines, organised events and raised funds as well as tried to show the Russian authorities that they did not want to lose their mother tongue and go to Finnish-speaking schools or become Russian-speakers. The first secretary of the association was Axel Lille. According to its mission, SFV's activity consists of three main things: * Awarding grants and scholarships * Maintaining educational programs and publishing houses * Publishing its own works SFV is the seventh largest owner (with 7.88 % of the shares) of Veritas, a Finnish pension insurance company. The association also is the biggest owner of , a Swedish-language vocational school operating in nine municipalities. Until 2012, the association owned

Schildts Schildts Förlags Ab was a Swedish-language book publisher in Finland. The publisher published textbooks as well as fiction and non-fiction. The head office was in Helsinki and there was a branch located in Vaasa. The publisher was owned by Sve ...

publishing house, and after a publishing merger in 2012, it is the second-largest owner of the Finnish-Swedish publishing house

Schildts & Söderströms Schildts & Söderströms is a Finnish book publisher, which was established in February 2012 through a merger between Schildts Förlags Ab and Söderströms Förlags Ab, Söderström & Co. The publisher is based in Helsinki. Its first managing d ...

, which it owns together with . SFV also maintains ('the Swedish Study Centre'), which has its origins in the SFV Lecture Bureau, founded in 1919. From 1998 to 2015, SFV also ran ('the Swedish Production School', Sveps) in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

and Föregångarna in

Vaasa Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ),Folkhälsan Utbildning Ab on 1 August 2015. The seat of SFV is located in

but it has side operations in both

Vaasa Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ),Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

. The association is a member of the European Foundation Centre. the association's chair is Wivan Nygård-Fagerudd.

Publications

Since 1886, the association has published an annual calendar, and since 1922 a member magazine, ''Svenskbygden'', called ''SFV-magasinet'' since 2015. Four issues are published per year. Svenska folkskolans vänner sponsors the online version of the encyclopedia ''

Uppslagsverket Finland ''Uppslagsverket Finland'' ('Encyclopedia Finland') is a Swedish-language encyclopedia with a focus on Finland and in particular Finland-Swedish subjects. The encyclopedia is published by initiative of an association dedicated to this task, ( ...

'', launched in 2009, which can thus be offered free of charge to readers.

Awards and grants

In 2023, the SFV awarded a total of more than 2.2 million

euros The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

in grants, scholarships and awards. One of the association's biggest awards is Kulturpriset ('the Culture Award'), which is awarded from the Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Fund. The award is worth 15,000 euros. The 2018 Kulturpris went to Anna-Maria Helsing. In 2019 SFV gave a grant of 20,000 euros to ''Projekt Fredrika'', which aims to make the Swedish-speaking culture in Finland more visible on

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...

References

Organizations established in 1921 Educational organisations based in Finland Swedish-speaking population of Finland Finland Swedish {{DEFAULTSORT:Svenska Folkskolans Vaenner