Salo: Organising afternoon activities for schoolchildren
- A description of an HuIA process
Background
According to the legislation on basic education, the City of
Salo is responsible for organising afternoon activities for
schoolchildren but it may also purchase the services from another
public or private service provider. The City may also acquire the
services by granting support to a service provider.
Since autumn 2005, afternoon activities for schoolchildren have
been organised in Salo in co-operation with the parish of
Salo-Uskela. The term of the current agreement will end on 30 June
2008. The Basic Security Committee was to consider the organisation
of afternoon activities from August 2008 onwards.
The HuIA process and participants
The criterion for conducting an impact assessment in Salo is
that the issue should be linked with the City's strategy, which was
the case here. The purpose of the impact assessment was to support
decision-making by bringing forth different viewpoints. The
assessment was conducted by the director of early childhood
education, who was also responsible for the drafting process. The
drafting and the impact assessment together took a few hours.
The identification of the impacts of the different alternatives
was based on the draftsman's expertise. The impact assessment also
made use of the findings of earlier job satisfaction and client
satisfaction surveys. The alternatives were compared qualitatively.
The cost savings to be achieved were an important criterion in the
comparison. The draftsman presented the assessment results in a
summary table.
Alternatives and impacts
A summary table was prepared to compare the following
alternatives from different points of view: The City of Salo will
produce the activities on its own; the City will purchase the
activities from a service provider; and the alternative currently
in use. The impacts were looked at from the points of view of
children, families, employees, basic security authorities and
municipal finances.
See the
table
Consideration by the Committee
The matter was considered by the Basic Security Committee on 1
March 2007. The results of the HuIA process were described in the
proposal text, to which the summary table was also attached. The
Committee followed the proposal and decided that the basic security
authorities will find out whether there are regional service
providers that could provide activities for schoolchildren in
accordance with the demand. Subsequently, it was decided that the
existing agreement will be extended by one year and the matter will
again be considered in the context of the merger of municipalities
in the Salo area.
Further information
Vesa Kulmala
Director of Early Childhood Education
City of Salo |