Rilli Lappalainen has been appointed as Demo Finland’s Acting Executive Director as of 28 August and will serve in the position until the end of March 2024. Lappalainen has 30 years of experience working on global development issues, including as the Secretary-General of The Finnish NGDO Platform to the EU, Kehys, and for the past five years as the Director for Sustainable Development at Fingo, the umbrella organisation of Finnish development NGOs. In addition, Lappalainen is currently the President of CONCORD, the European Confederation of NGOs working on sustainable development and international co-operation.
“It’s a great opportunity to deepen co-operation with political parties both in Finland and internationally. I have heard nothing but positive things about Demo Finland’s work from different stakeholders, and I hope that I can contribute in further strengthening this good work. The organisation’s ongoing strategy process is a good tool for updating priorities,” says Lappalainen.
Lappalainen also sees that Demo Finland currently plays an important role: “Only three percent of the countries in the world truly meet the criteria of democracy. Finland and most of the EU countries are among these. The decline in the state of democracy globally is a worrying trend and there is now a very high demand for democracy support.”