The cornerstone of unity

participate in the planning and implementation of the projects.
The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs granted the Abilis Foundation 2.75 million euros in 2016 and 2.9 
million euros in 2015. The funding and budgets of the coming years have become increasingly uncertain due to 
the government’s cuts in development aid in 2015 and the public’s increasingly critical attitude towards 
development aid.
Despite the cuts, Abilis continues to be very active, finances about 250 projects annually, and is also looking 
for additional funding from abroad. In Africa, the most projects are financed in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda; 
in Asia, in Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Vietnam. In recent years, Abilis has successfully channelled aid 
into fragile countries such as Burma, Ukraine, and Somalia. Reliable local partners in these countries ensure 
that the background of the organisations applying for aid can be checked and that the progress of their projects 
can be monitored. The aid is only rarely misused whereas there are many reports of results.
The biggest single influence of the projects financed by Abilis is that they reinforce the empowerment of the 
individuals participating in the projects and change the attitude of the community towards disability. Previously 
socially marginalised disabled members of the community get to participate in and influence the development of 
their society. Annually more than 20,000 disabled people get the chance to participate, learn, and become 
stronger. Most of them get a job and the chance to earn their living. That is of crucial importance in a poor region. 
As 
is the respect that disabled members of a family get when they are able to help pay for their family’s daily 
expenses.
Kalle Könkkölä 
– chairperson of the Abilis Foundation,
Member of Parliament 1983
–1986 
76 CAREGIVERS ALLOWANCE
Families and communities have participated in caring for the sick and disabled for as long as humans have 
existed, and although society has assumed responsibility for functions that were earlier shouldered almost 
entirely by the family and close friends, they still play a significant role as care providers; people receive an 
important part of the help and care they need from this source. This so called informal care has a strong 
normative base due to its human indispensability and the feelings it involves. 
The care provided by family members differs considerably from professional care in that the norms and 
agreements between family members, generations and genders are also present in the care they offer. Caring 
within the family is based on a special and unique personal relationship between individuals and the built-in 
obligation created by feelings and attachment. A close relationship is the most important motive and is an 
indispensable precondition for providing care. The relationship has not been formed by a need to care, but exists 
irrespective of it. 
Nowadays the status of people who care for an old, disabled or sick person at home has come to be seen in 
a new light, and family care is perceived as a way of subsidising home care as a low-cost option which can 
replace intensive home care, service housing or institutional care. In Finland the debate on family care started at 

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the beginning of the 1980s with the introduction of a home care allowance for elderly and disabled people 
(Social Welfare Act), and it became a topic of real social interest in the 1990s when home and institutional care 
services were subject to cutbacks and support for informal care and assisted living was increased. Since 1993 
the caregivers allowance has been a statutory social service which is governed by the Social Welfare Act and 
the Decree on Support for Informal Care. The Support for Informal Care Act came into effect at the beginning of 
2006. 
Support for informal care is defined in the care and service plan and includes the supply of services required 
by the invalid and compensation, leave and support services for the carer. The amount of compensation is set 
according to how binding and demanding the care is. The minimum allowance (2017) is 392,00 euros per month, 
and 784,00 euros per month during a transition period when the care is very demanding and the caregiver has to 
take temporary leave from his or her job. The family caregiver is entitled to at least two days leave per 
month .The family caregiver is entitled to at least three days leave per month when he or she is providing round-
the-
clock care. The caregiver’s allowance can be claimed when 
1.
a person needs medical care or nursing due to impaired faculties, sickness, disability or similar, and a family 
member or close associate is prepared to take responsibility for their care with the help of the necessary 
services; 
2.
the health and ability of the caregiver fulfils the requirements for providing family care; 
3.
the provision of care, together with other necessary social and health services, is sufficient with regards to the 
well-being, health and security of the person being cared for; 
4.
the home of the person being cared for is suitable with regards to health and other conditions; or the granting of 
support is considered to be in the best interests of the person being cared for. 
The actual amount of people participating in some level of family care is however considerably higher, although 
the exact figure would be difficult to estimate as there is no register. The numbers in Finland have been 
estimated at 150,000 people over 60 years old and 300,000 people of all age groups. Support for informal care 
is a systemic innovation from the 1980s which generates added value in the service system, and family care has 
become an essential part of the present system of caring for the elderly. The inclusion of the care given by one 
family member to another in the official social service system has made both the individuals concerned and 
society as a whole redefine their mutual rights and obligations. Family care is currently subject to active research 
and development, which is all to the good, and new methods to support care-giving families individually are 
being developed. Different kinds of organisations have a big part to play in this development work because 
versatile support for family carers requires multi-actor cooperation between municipalities, organisations, 
congregations and private service providers. 
Päivi Voutilainen 
– Counciller of Social affairs,
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 
Reija Heinola 
– Managing director,
Central Union for the Welfare of the Aged