Also see: www.localfinland.fi

AFLRA - The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities is the interest and service organisation of all Finnish municipalities/cities. It also serves regional authorities owned by municipalities both sectoral joint municipalities like tertiary level education or special welfare needs eg. specialized health care in district hospitals. It activities concerning infrastructure and environment cover among other land use, building, traffic and streets, waste, water, also energy issues like district heating, elecricity production and delivery. Promoting energy efficiency and struggle against climate changes in municipal activities have been its primary issues for many years.

AFLRA is made up of the municipalities and towns in Finland. The Association is bilingual (Finnish and Swedish) and it also serves regional councils, hospital districts and other joint municipal authorities.

The service areas comprise municipal finance, legal matters, social welfare and health care, education and culture, urban planning, infrastructure and environmental issues, research and development, information society, information and international issues. The Commission for Local Authority Employers deals with labour market issues in the Association.

The companies of the Association Group, i.e. Audiator, Efektia, Gustavelund, KL-Hallintopalvelut, KL-Kustannus, Kuntakoulutus and Plancenter serve the municipalities and joint authorities.

There are four hundred and fifty municipalities and towns in Finland. The annual budgets of the municipalities and joint authorities exceed 145 billion FIM. A number of 410 000 employees provide services for municipality residents.