Finnish-Arab Friendship Society (FAFS) / Arabikansojen ystävyysseura (AKYS)

National Network
Finland
Address

c/o Ilona Junka, chair
Metsäpurontie 17 A 7
00630 Helsinki
Finland

Telephone
+358443002039
E-Mail
posti@akys.fi
E-Mail (2)
Ilona.junka@gmail.com
Mobile Phone
+358443002039
Organisation Type
Non-Governmental Organization
Year of Establishment
1977
Fields of Activity
  1. Human rights
General Information

Finnish-Arab Friendship Society was founded 24.10.1977 (Lic 124 465). Business ID0774016-7 Fundraising licence RA/2018/1232. Auditor Antti Väliaho. Finnish-Arab Friendship Society (FAFS) has 230 members but no office nor any employees. In Tampere and Oulu FAFS has local activity groups. We have 9members in our board and all board members work without any compensation. Our annual income is somewhat over 5000 Euros consisting of membership fees and fundraising campaigns for Bethlehem and Gaza projects. Moreover the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland supports our development project 2019-2020 in Lebanon.

Mission and Objectives

Our Mission is to raise the friendship between Arab people and Finns, to speak about the difficulties people face in Arab countries because of Israel and because of their own dictatorial regimes. We try to speak also for Syria, Iraq and other Arab countries, but our activists are mainly concerned about Palestine and Palestinian refugees.

Main Projects / Activities

With the help of Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland we run a development project in Lebanon "Mental health fir groups with complex needs: A multidisciplinary model combining client centered and community approaches, North Lebanon. This project is based on the sponsorship program of FAFS, running since 1982. These activities we implement in close cooperation with Finnish Psychologists for Social Responsibility (FiPSR).

We publish our FAFS-journal twice a year in spring and in autumn. The autumn journal is made in cooperation with the Finnish Peace Committee. For reports we have Reports-serie (http://akys.kapsi.fi/wordpress/raportit/) We have web pages www.akys.fi and facebook account https://www.facebook.com/akystiedotus. We are active in politics, too.

We cooperate with other Finnish NGOs, which work for Palestine. We write petitions and we send letters to policy-makers. FAFS supports in Gaza the medical emergency work of Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) and in WestBank, Betlehem, a psychosocial project together with Amjaad Community Development.

How can you contribute to the Network in your country?

We deliver our journal and we can inform about our petitions and letters to policy makers.

Why do you want to join the ALF Network?

We believe that organizations which work for peace and are interested in Middle East problems, should cooperate or at least inform each other.

Contact (1) Full Name
Sirkku Kivistö
Job Title
Coordinator of the development project
Head of the organisation
Ilona Junka