The year 2025 was full of new experiments and strengthening young people's opportunities to influence in Youth Leader. The Youth Division, which consists of young people elected from the municipalities in the Liiveri area, has played a key role in highlighting the voices of young people, evaluating applications, and in events and content production.
This past year, the youth division also gained new members, when Emil Garbali started as a representative of Ilmajoki and Tero Vuorenmäki as a government representative.
Youth Leader theme calls and LocalTapiola donation
In 2025, a total of 14 projects for youth groups (€8,475.10) and 20 projects for young entrepreneurs (€8,994.18 in total) were funded.
Theme search avenues were trialed for the first time in 2025 to clarify the advertising of applications and diversify applications. At the beginning of the year, the focus was on student councils, in the spring on summer events, in the autumn on sustainable development, and towards the end of the year on activating villages.
There were many first-time applicants, it was easier to market the activity, and the quality and quantity of applications improved. The theme searches clearly highlighted Liiver's operating principle – the courage to try new things and develop the activity to appeal to young people.
The theme search experiment exceeded expectations, and it will continue in 2026. The Youth Division has again come up with new themes, the first of which is the January search and Good schools.
Supporting youth projects was also encouraged by LocalTapiola South Ostrobothnia donates 20,000 euros, which is a testament to the significant work that Youth Leader does for the benefit of young people in our region. The donation will be used entirely for Youth Leader support.
LocalTapiola South Ostrobothnia granted a donation of €20,000 to Liiver's Youth Leader activities. The donation will support Youth Leader projects starting in November 2025.
Entrepreneurship applications for decision by the youth division
In 2025, the processing of youth entrepreneurship applications was transferred to the youth division. The change was welcome and was felt to be very effective: youth entrepreneurship is now supported by other young people who better understand the applicants' perspectives and needs.
The change has increased the youth division's understanding of young entrepreneurs in the area and has also opened up new opportunities for developing the visibility and networking of entrepreneurship.
“We get a better picture of the young entrepreneurs in our area and we may also be better able to market and act as consumers ourselves when we know what the core of the entrepreneurship application was.”
– Sofia Douka, chairman of the youth division
Youth Leader Days 2025
One of the highlights of the year was the national Youth Leader Days, which were held this year in Oivangi, Kuusamo. Four members of the Liiveri youth division went on the trip to network with young people from other regions and learn about different ways of working. This time, the Youth Leader Days were the largest in their history in terms of the number of participants, as there were
During the days, discussions included, among other things, opportunities for young people to influence, the future of rural areas, and the future significance of Leader activities. The trip to Kuusamo brought with it new acquaintances, fresh ideas, and more motivation to develop young people's participation in local decision-making.
The article was written and compiled by a member of the Liiver youth division. Laura Niemi and youth coordinator Noora Riippi.