1990, 32 millions d’enfants de moins de cinq ans dans le monde étaient trop gros ou carrément obèses. Ils sont maintenant 41 millions. Les Finlandais, encore eux, se sont entendus pour prendre mesures impensables au Québec parce qu’ils ont tendance ” to take an uncomplicated, pragmatic approach to problems.”

Un article de Jörg Römer et Janita Hämäläinen pour le Spiegel

But what are the Finns doing right? The answer is multifaceted and likely has something to do with the Finnish mentality, which tends to take an uncomplicated, pragmatic approach to problems.

It is an approach that begins in the womb.

The many small elements of the Seinäjoki Project have been successful despite a lack of outside funding: No money was made available by the Finnish government. All of those involved emphasize that success has been a product of the way the various institutions involved complement each other, from the school to neuvola. There is no fighting over resources and nobody gets in each other’s way. Critics have noted that it is impossible to isolate the effects of each individual element. But if you ask Noponen what the secret is, his answer is strictly pragmatic: “No idea. I don’t know. I only know that it works,” he says. “And that’s what counts.”