Nazarenko started working with Vikes in the early years of the Foundation, when she was living in Central Asia and working for freedom of expression. After returning to Finland, Nazarenko began to explore whether she could continue similar work through Vikes. In the end, a few projects in the former Soviet Union were carried out with her valuable contacts.
In 2012 Salla Nazarenko became Vikes’ first full-time Executive Director. Previously, Juha Rekola and Marjut Helminen had held the role on a part-time basis. However, in order to grow the Foundation’s activities, it was time to hire a full-time Executive Director. Nazarenko served in the role for a few years, after which she joined the Foundation’s Board in 2021.
Vikes was a much smaller actor at the time. I was the only full-time employee, the others were freelancers. The funding was purely project-based and the activities were much smaller. It was a hand-to-mouth existence.
Under Nazarenko, Vikes developed a strategy for professionalization. The aim was to move from free speech activism to becoming a strategic development organization. Development experts were brought in, including from Fingo. Over the past ten years, Vikes has been on the path of professionalization and, according to Nazarenko, has moved forward in leaps.
Activities have expanded, there’s more staff and visibility. Vikes has grown nicely. The importance of freedom of expression and freedom of the media has also been recognized internationally. We now see in many environments, starting with the United States, what happens if you don’t have a free media. I would like to say that governments are also interested, but that is not the case.
Finland’s current direction in development cooperation does not make her happy. Nazarenko recalls Finland’s commitment to the UN’s sustainable development obligations and sees development policy as an important part of foreign policy. In the past, Finland has been a bigger actor than its size in terms of cooperation with developing countries, strong rule of law and freedom of expression. Promoting business alone is not enough to justify development cooperation, according to Nazarenko.
It should be seen that by making cuts, Finland will become a less important player on the international arena than the other Nordic countries. I think this is a question of country branding.
When asked about a single pearl of the Foundation’s work, Nazarenko mentions the peace journalism that Wali Hashi has done for Vikes in Somalia. On a personal level, Nazarenko feels she has gotten a lot from the Foundation. The post of Executive Director was her first managerial position in Finland and thus a great learning experience. Alongside other international work, working at Vikes has been essential in shaping her professional identity.
In general, all the cooperation I have had with colleagues in developing countries and in difficult circumstances has taught and grown me a lot and made me see how easy it is here in Finland. Somehow it has also given me a sense of responsibility that in situations where there is freedom of expression, it must be exercised and protected.
Nazarenko sees a threat to smaller domestic players like Vikes in the current trend towards a philanthropic society of private money with a diminishing role for the state. She sees private money flowing easily to international organizations with a long-established strong brand and a large fundraising organization. However, Vikes has stood its ground and raised its profile among the other players. Good steps have been taken recently, for example through various discussion events and the Development Journalism Award. However, there is still a lot of long-term work to be done to make the Foundation’s name known beyond Helsinki’s journalistic circles. The role of Vikes is, of course, of the utmost importance to her.
I think that if Vikes had not been founded then it would be founded by now at the latest. There is a real need for this work, no one questions that.
Text: Jani Keinänen
Picture by Vanessa Riki
