There are 18 regions in mainland Finland, and the Åland Islands. A regional council is the region’s statutory joint municipal authority; every local authority must be a member of a regional council. Each regional council is governed by a regional assembly and a regional board assisted by the council’s office run by the director of the council (regional mayor). The Kainuu region consists of 8 municipalities that also are the members of the Regional Council of Kainuu.

Organizational Chart November 2023
Organizational Chart November 2023

The Office of Regional Council

The decision-making of the Regional Council of Kainuu is based on municipal democracy. The Assembly of Regional Council is the regional council’s highest political decision-making body. The municipalities of the region elect representatives to the assembly for a four-year electoral term. The regional council’s preparatory, executive and administrative body is a board, which is elected by the regional assembly and is representative of the region’s political composition.

The regional councils in Finland have two main functions laid down by law: regional development and regional land use planning. The councils are the regions’ key international actors and they are largely responsible for the EU’s Structural Fund programmes and their implementation. Regional councils have the key role in promoting the region’s interests. The regional council protects the region’s culture and traditions in many ways by networking with the actors in the region and in the same fields to promote the well-being or the region in a broad meaning.

The tasks of our office are based on the legislation as well as the charter of the organisation, signed by the member municipalities.

Staff of the Regional Council of Kainuu’s office works in three remits:

  1. Land Use
  2. Regional Development and
  3. Administration

We have also several teams crossing the remit boundaries.

Administrative Bodies

The Assembly of Regional Council

The Assembly of Regional Council is the regional council’s highest political decision-making body. The municipalities of the region elect representatives to the assembly for a four-year electoral term. The regional assembly of Kainuu has 35 members, each of them have personal vice members.

The assembly’s composition must correspond to the proportion of votes exercised by the region’s political groups. Moreover, the members of regional assemblies must be local councilors of the member municipalities. The number of municipal representatives in the regional assembly is as follows: Kajaani 15, Kuhmo 4, Sotkamo 4, Suomussalmi 4, Hyrynsalmi 2, Paltamo 2, Puolanka 2 and Ristijärvi 2.

Regional Board

The regional council’s preparatory, executive and administrative body is a board, which is elected by the regional assembly and is representative of the region’s political composition.

Regional boards normally convene once a month.

The regional board of Kainuu has 12 members. According to the charter, there are at least 4 representatives from Kajaani and the other member municipalities each have at least 1 representative.

Regional Management Committee

The Regional Management Committee of Kainuu (MYR) is elected by the regional board. The Committee has 16 members and 8 specialist members.

The members represent the following groups: 1) The office of Regional Council and its member municipalities, 2) The state officials funding the programme and other government organizations and 3) Other organizations essential to the regional development.

The most important task of the regional management committee is to prepare EU programmes and steer EU funds to their implementation. The committee also issues statements on the financing of projects. In terms of national regional policy, the committee’s main task is to participate in the drafting and implementation of the Regional Programme.

Inspection Board

The inspection board of Regional Council of Kainuu has 7 members elected by the Regional Assembly. According to the charter the president and the Vice president of the board are elected among the actual members of the Regional Assembly, other members being either members or vice members of the Regional Assembly.

The board is to monitor that the objectives set for the operations of the Regional Council by the Assembly of the Council are met.

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