Perspectives on strategy work.

“Janakkala needs a bold strategy that meets new challenges”

Eerika Lampen

Strategy, strategy, what is a strategy? A dry little document that no one understands? Or a magical key to vitality and happiness?

Perhaps in reality, neither. Working as an intern in the Janakkala strategy working group has been an incredibly interesting project, where I have been able to truly learn and achieve! I am originally from Janakkala and have completed my education in Tervakoski from kindergarten to the end of upper secondary school. At 19, my studies in administrative sciences took me to Tampere, and my internship brought me back to Janakkala in May 2025. I could call myself someone who was carried away and brought back by a train.

The purpose of the internship was to gather information to support the strategy process, to form future scenarios for the municipality of Janakkala, and to conduct a survey to explore the perspectives of the residents. I quickly got to work on the strategy survey using the entirely new Maptionnaire software. Ideas for engaging residents in the strategy process were discussed a lot, but the tight schedule for developing the strategy largely determined how the project would progress. The residents’ strategy survey slowly but surely collected 1,910 responses. The respondents’ ability to bring forth new ideas and describe problem areas in various ways, such as through humor, has brought enthusiasm to my work. Thank you to every respondent for your honest, witty, and idea-rich comments!

Janakkala is in many ways an average municipality and faces the challenges of an average municipality. From my perspective, most residents enjoy a peaceful and nature-connected life, but the municipality’s challenges go deeper than everyday life. The population and birth rates have primarily been declining for nearly 15 years, so one cannot too eagerly identify as a growing municipality. While studying population development, I was surprised at how young people move away from Janakkala. I recall the year 2010, when there were so many children in Janakkala that there was hardly room in school buildings. These memories do not match the present. Of those children who were in elementary school at that time in various buildings, only a fraction still lives in Janakkala. Currently, there are only 32 women from my age group living in the municipality, whereas at our peak, there were over 100. The municipality faces challenges for which no one seems to have a direct and easy solution.

Janakkala and the municipal sector have changed immensely, even if it doesn’t seem so at first glance. The means by which the municipality was previously managed are no longer sufficient today. The strategy process has involved contemplating how to increase the municipality’s attractiveness and turn the direction of migration. We are indeed not living in past times, but the future of the municipality requires re-exploration and entirely new perspectives. Janakkala is strongly characterized as a municipality for families with children and logistics. These aspects have taken us far, but they are no longer sufficient for the dreamed growth. The beauty of the strategy lies in redirection and bold goal-setting.

The author is a student of administrative sciences and an intern at the municipality of Janakkala