Our strategy

The Martat Organisation strategy

Agreed at the Martha Association annual general meeting on April 27, 2019

The Martat’s mission statement

The Martat is a home economics advisory organisation advocating for sustainable everyday life and wellbeing at home and for all families. The Martat embody will to action. The Martat’s activities build up skills for the future and promote lifelong learning. Joining in in our activities will enable anyone to discover and learn skills and to develop abilities that will enrich their everyday life. Wellbeing at home frees up human capacity and allows focusing on things that give added meaning to one’s life.

This strategy steers the Martat into the 2030’s and ensures that we may celebrate our 130th anniversary in 2029 more influential and popular than ever. We will be active and dynamic throughout Finland, working to ensure that everyday skills are passed on from one generation to the next. We will be vocal in promoting sustainable and equitable practices in everyday life. We will advocate for equality and for equal rights in Finland and internationally.

In the Martat professionals and members, the marthas, work side by side. This strategy is shared and upheld by all Martat members, Martat local clubs, Martat district associations, and the Martat Association. We cordially invite all our partners and everyone in Finland to join us in promoting these aims.

Changing world, evolving Martat

The foundation of the Martat strategy is predictive planning for the future, and all Martat members and our partners are invited to join in in this work. The future cannot be foretold, but we can tool ourselves for it. Accordingly, our predictive planning focuses on the likeliest outcomes. The Martat strategy considers the following future events:

  • Climate change and the ensuing extreme weather events and human displacement.
  • Fragmentation of democracy and the civil society, transformation of communality. Traditional ways of influencing and ways of cooperating can no longer be taken as read.
  • Diversification of the society due to aging population and increasing immigration.
  • Technological development and digitalisation. New technologies will shape the ways of connecting with one another.
  • Urbanisation and depopulation in 60 per cent of Finnish municipalities.

Aim:
Everyday wellbeing is possible for everyone.

Fundamental mission:
The Martat promotes workable and sustainable everyday practices for all households and families.

Values

Joy in working together

The Martat is a courageous and strong community for doing and learning things together. The Martat changes the world by doing small things in a big way. Being a Martat member is fun!

Sustainable choices

The Martat’s work is based on making sustainable environmental, economic, and health choices.

Openness

Anyone can be a martha. Our advice and know-how are available for all. We welcome everyone to join us.

Our promise: The Martat acts today, for tomorrow

Tomorrow’s everyday life is built on action we take today. We acknowledge the finite nature global resources and the necessity of sustainable consumption. We emphasise practical and influential choices in all our work. The Marthas work to effect change.

Strategic aim: The Martat is an expert organisation for carbon neutral households, foods, and sustainable consumption. By 2045, living in Finland is carbon neutral.

Strategy:

  • Our knowledge and skills are sought after and utilised. We will build up our capacity further through recruitment, training, and knowledge gathering.
  • Carbon neutral households are made up of concrete and effective solutions for resource wisdom, energy saving, food, sorting and recycling, repairing, reusing, and sharing as well as for the use of new technologies.
  • Every Martat member serves as an ambassador for sustainable practical solutions and enables change in the realm of everyday choices.
  • The Martat work in sustainable and resource wise ways at every organisational level.

Strategic aim:

  • The Martat provides capacity for preparedness for large-scale disruptions and extreme weather events. The Marthas act to contribute to societal resiliency and safety.

Strategy:

  • The Martat will strengthen its contribution to societal resiliency, enhance its competency in everyday skills and in preparedness for disruptions and aberrant events.
  • The Martat shares information and provides training on preparedness and stockpiling.

Our promise: Martat connects and enables connections

Connecting with people enables and supports the work of recognising the limits of our planet and promoting moderate consumption. The Martat is a force for good for me, for us, for our community, and for our planet.

Strategic aim:

  • Increasing numbers of people act in line with the Martats’ aims and values and for sustainable climate actions and moderation.

Strategy:

  • The Martat facilitates diverse, impactful, and substance-led connections between people. There are many ways of being a martha. The local clubs provide the platform for outreach.
  • We will foster new, shorter, or longer-term, ways of acting alongside, and with, marthas. Spread across the country, the Marthas are near.

Our promise: To Martat, all are equal

We will empower and support everyone to achieve everyday wellbeing. We will promote equality and parity.

Strategic aim:

  • We are a leading proponent of equitable everyday wellbeing for all.

Strategy:

  • With efficient advice and services provision, we will help especially those in need of assistance, and address social stratification.

Strategic aim:

  • The Martat is for anyone and everyone.

Strategy:

  • We will promote equality and parity.
  • We will enable experiences of agency, of acting together, and of belonging to a community for anyone, regardless of their age, gender, or background.
  • For the Marthas, human agency is key. We will strengthen equality in our work and demonstrate this in our communications.