The Espoo parishes will continue to provide international aid in 2026

The 2026 budget reserves 1,930,000 euros for missionary work and international diaconal work. The budget reserves 120,000 euros for disaster relief to be distributed during the year.

All the applicants were granted appropriations: the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (FELM), the Finnish Bible Society (FBS), the Media Mission the Messengers (Sansa), the Finn Church Aid (FCA) and the Finnish Lutheran Evangelical Mission (FLEM).

The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission received 790,000 euros for its projects, the Finnish Bible Society received 145,000 euros for its projects, the Media Mission the Messengers received 158,500 for its projects, the Finn Church Aid received 809,000 euros for its projects, and the Finnish Lutheran Evangelical Mission received 27,500 for its projects.

The recipients must report on how they are using their appropriation, and commit themselves to ensuring that priests and other professionals who are women or represent sexual and gender minorities have, as a rule, the opportunity to be selected and posted to work for an organisation or foundation.

The projects the applicants have described in their applications were the basis for the allocation of the 2026 appropriation in the decision proposal. Based on the project and programme descriptions, the work carried out by the applicants will have a positive impact on the living conditions, wellbeing and future of the children and families in the target countries.

In addition to these, the Trees for Children project is part of the international responsibility of the Evangelical Lutheran Parishes of Espoo. The Trees for Children project was launched in 2023. It is implemented in cooperation with the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission. The Espoo Parish Union granted now the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission 40,000 euros of further funding for the project.

Planting trees and environmental work in Tanzania take care of nature and people. The aim of the project is to carry out important environmental work and combat climate change.