Pursuant to the Act on regional development, regional councils in Finland serve as regional development authorities. This includes drawing up regional development plans and coordinating regional development measures related. The plans and programmes of regional councils have mandatory legal consequences. Local and national government authorities must take account of the council’s plans and programmes in their own operative and other action.

Regional Plan 2045

The Kainuu Regional Plan is a long-term plan articulating the vision for the future livelihoods, services and regional structure in Kainuu and setting out the region’s objectives.

The Regional Plan 2045 (publication number A:16) is available in Finnish on our website.

Kainuu Regional Programme 2026-2029

The four-year regional programme is confirmed for each municipal election period, steering functional development measures. It contains tangible objectives and measures of development for the near future, as well as the list of essential projects to reach the goals. Implementation of the Regional Programme is monitored regularly and the programme is revised as necessary.

The Regional Programme 2026 – 2029 (publication  number A:17) is available in Finnish on our website.

The Implementation Plan

The Implementation Plan of the regional programme is drawn up each year to detail the implementation and financing of Kainuu Regional Programme.

The document serves as a draft budget for the Kainuu region as state funding is negotiated, regardless of the administrative sector in question. Regionally, the document defines the most important measures to be implemented each year. The document collects together the most important projects, cash flows and alignments of  regional-level financiers.

Follow-Up Report

The follow-up report of the annual implementation plan examines the progress of annual  priorities set, as well as the realization of goals set in the four-year Regional Programme. This is done with help of a separate set of indicators. The report also pays attention to the inputs and their outputs.

Sectoral Strategies and Work Groups

Several official strategies and programmes related to specific themes have been adopted in Kainuu. The goals of these strategies and programmes have been aligned with the Regional planning process so that those support the implementation of Kainuu Programme.

The regional planning and development work is on a regular basis carried out through various thematic work groups and advisory boards. Some of those are coordinated by the Regional Council of Kainuu and some by other actors.