Prolonged pandemic puts confidence and faith in the future to the test
The next Lockdown Dialogues will be held on Thursday 12 November. Dialogue organisers are already signing up for this.
The Lockdown Dialogues provide participants an opportunity to discuss experiences of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic with others in their organisation, community or group, and to create a shared vision of the future. Participation also means helping build a bigger picture of the prevailing situation in Finnish society. The spring Lockdown Dialogues summaries were used, for example, as material for the OECD's confidence assessment, and also in COVID-19 preparedness work and in influencing policy at the Ministry of Finance.
The next Lockdown Dialogues will be held on 12 November. The dialogue organisers can freely choose the topic for discussion, or they can arrange it specifically on the theme of work and community. Under the work and community theme, the topic could be, for instance, how the pandemic has transformed work or what kind of impact current practices such as remote working will have in the future. Alternatively, a discussion could be organised on, say, how the group in question is doing, or how people in general are managing during the pandemic.
“Everyone is trying to be flexible, to adapt and be helpful in the current situation. We’re definitely getting through this.”
The Lockdown Dialogues of 22 October focused on discussing and building confidence and faith in the future. Participating in the discussions were people from a wide cross-section of society and from across the country: young people, pensioners, health and social care professionals, supervisors and managers, parishioners, employees of city authorities, trade union members, entrepreneurs and public officials. The subjects discussed included the following: the long-term impact of remote working; learning together; the effects of a prolonged pandemic on social ties and communities; and people’s trust in each other and in institutions. Although people’s confidence in getting through things together is being put to the test, there were also more positive elements.
Sharing hopes and concerns through the discussions gives participants the opportunity to stop for a moment and to think and engage with others. Feeling gloom and hope in parallel points the way to a challenging time ahead, where we will need new visions for the future.
An extensive summary is given in Finnish on the Lockdown Dialogues website. The website also includes summaries of all the other Lockdown Dialogues held so far.
Inquiries:
Dialogue Academy: Janne Kareinen, Director, janne.kareinen(at)dialogiakatemia.fi, tel. +358 456316516
Timeout Foundation: Laura Arikka, CEO, laura.arikka(at)eratauko.fi, tel. +358 445792686
Ministry of Finance: Katju Holkeri, Senior Ministerial Adviser, katju.holkeri (at)vm.fi, tel. +358 407649880
The aim of the Lockdown Dialogues is to offer individuals, groups and organisations the opportunity to engage in constructive discussion and to build an understanding about what it is like to live in Finland during the COVID-19 crisis. Discussions for the Lockdown Dialogues are currently being planned by almost 30 different organisers from all corners of society – from private individuals to organisations, municipalities, companies, foundations and government ministries. The autumn’s last Lockdown Dialogues day will be 3 December, as part of the Timeout Foundation’s nationwide discussion week.
Responsibility for the coordination of the Lockdown Dialogues and the preparation and publishing of the summary material and its distribution to central government and the municipalities is shared between Dialogue Academy, Timeout Foundation, the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance.