Tapio Mattlar, farmer and editor, Finland
Born 17. March 1953
Alternative Nobel Prize 1992

Tapio Mattlar is an activist of Kylätoiminta, the Finnish Village Action Movement. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Finland experienced, like other industrial countries, rural depopulation. Opposing the common belief that the villages have no future, the movement was started spontaneously in the mid-70s. In less than ten years, the number of Village Committees rose from 50 to 2,000. In 2009, almost all of the about 4,000 Finnish villages had its own committee. The Village Committees are mostly informal organisations and their main task is to support any development in the communities that the inhabitants want: communal facilities are emphasised or restored, as are public and social services, such as health, postal or transport services. The activities encompass economic development and the encouragement of entrepreneurship, the arts, crafts, sports and social events of all kinds, involving the whole village and generating a palpable enthusiasm and liveliness.
 
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