Svenska Folkskolans Vänner

Svenska Folkskolans Vänner r.f. (abbreviated SFV) is a Finnish association aiming to support the schooling of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland.

Svenska Folkskolans Vänner
Formation1921
Legal statusassociation
HeadquartersHelsinki, Finland
Official language
Swedish
Chair
Wivan Nygård-Fagerudd
Chancellor
Johan Aura[1]
AffiliationsEFC
Staff
16[1]
Websitehttps://www.sfv.fi/sv/hem/

The association was founded in 1882 by a physician named Vilhelm Grefberg. In the 1880's the language policy of Finland became more dominated by Finnish-centered. This led to the founding of the SFV in order to guard the interests of the Swedish-speaking minority. This manifested itself by founding Swedish-speaking schools throughout the country (until 1917 part of Russian Empire). The association published magazines, organised events and fund-raising as well tried to show the Russian authorities that they didn't want to lose their mother tongue and go to Finnish-speaking schools or avoid becoming Russian-speakers. The first secretary of the association was Axel Lille.[2]

According to its mission SFV's activity consists of three main things:[3]

  • Awarding grands and scholarships
  • Maintaining educational programs and publishing houses
  • Publishing its own works

SFV is the seventh largest owner (with 7.88 % of the shares) of Veritas, a Finnish pension insurance company.[4] The association also is the biggest owner of Axxell Utbildning Ab, a vocational school operating in nine municipalities in Swedish.[5]

The seat of SFV is located in Helsinki but it has side operations in both Vaasa and Turku.[1] The association is a member of European Foundation Centre.[3] As of 2017 the association has been chaired by Wivian Nygård-Fagerudd.[6]

In 2019 SFV gave a grand of 20 000 euros to Projekt Fredrika that aims to make the Swedish-speaking culture in Finland more visible in Wikipedia.[7]

References
  1. "Kontakta oss". sfv.fi (in Swedish). 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
  2. "SFV:s Historia med Henrik Meinander". Svenska Folkskolans Vänner (in Swedish). 2012-05-09. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
  3. "EFC-Svenska folkskolans vänner r.f." European Foundation Centre. 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
  4. "Omistajat". Veritas. 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
  5. Montén, Veronica (2019-11-04). "SFV tryggar Axxells verksamhet med ekonomiskt bidrag". Svenska Yle (in Swedish). Retrieved 2021-09-07.
  6. Sirén, Stina (2017-03-27). "Nygård-Fagerudd ny ordförande för SFV". Svenska Yle (in Swedish). Retrieved 2021-09-07.
  7. Hansén, Magnus; Sundman, Sara. "Stora informationsluckor om Svenskfinland på Wikipedia – fonderna storsatsar på att få det svenska i Finland att synas". Svenska Yle (in Swedish). Retrieved 2021-09-07.
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