Perustavoitteena

Perustavoitteena is a Finnish term used in planning, policy work, and project management to describe the fundamental or core objective of a plan, program, or project. It designates the central aim around which actions, resources, and evaluation are organized. In formal documents, it is often introduced with sentences like "Perustavoitteena on ..." and "Perustavoitteena pidetään ...", signaling the main purpose guiding work.

In practice, the perustavoitteena acts as an anchor for subordinate objectives, indicators, and activities. A well stated perustavoitteena helps align decisions, budget allocations, and evaluation criteria with the overall mission. It should be carefully defined to be specific enough to guide action while broad enough to adapt to changing circumstances. It is common to distinguish it from related terms such as tavoite (goal or objective) and päämäärä (ultimate or long-term aim). The perustavoitteena is typically placed at the top level of a logical framework or strategy, with more concrete objectives derived from it.

Etymology: perustavoitteena combines perus- meaning "basic" or "foundation" and tavoite meaning "objective," with the suffix -na indicating the role of "as the foundational objective."

Examples: "Perustavoitteena on lisätä energiatehokkuutta vuodelle 2025" and "Perustavoitteena on vahvistaa koulutuksen tasa-arvoa."

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