Svensk partner: Region Gotland

Region Gotland and Kibaha, Tanzania

Together Towards Sustainable Development Goals

The project aim is to create awareness and engagement on the Global Goals among students and stakeholders in secondary schools in Kibaha and on Gotland. The method will be to analyse strengths and weaknesses together in a dialogue based process in both organisations. Then an action plan on how to implement the work towards Sustainable Development Goals in teaching in two schools in Kibaha and Wisbygymnasiet. By creating awareness among students of the connection between local and global, the contribution from schools in the work toward SDG:s will increase.

Gotland and Kibaha, Tanzania

Project: Gender Equity project

This project’s aims at reducing gender inequality in decision making bodies in Kibaha Education Center and Kibaha Town Council.

Through the problem analysis a high level of gender inequality was revealed. The definition of Decision-making bodies in this application is politicians and management at different levels from street leaders all the way up to full council. Some of the causes of this this problem consists of lack of awareness in Decision-making bodies on gender equality, lack och self-confidence among women, absence of gender-based budgeting at local level and ineffective implementation of gender mainstreaming policy at a local level.

The intermediate objectives of this project are: Decision-making bodies awareness and education on gender balance enhanced, self confidence among women boosted, gender education among men enhanced, policy on gender mainstreaming at local level effectively implemented, experts of gender education and gender mainstreaming produced, gender based budgeting at Kibaha Town Council enhanced.

Some of the indicators to capture these intermediate objectives are: number of gender awareness workshops conducted, percentage of women empowered for self-confidence (self assessment), the amount of budget allocated for gender activities at the municipal level. This project is planned to run for three years from 2019 until 2022.

Zmijivka – Pilot village in a period of transition 2017 – 2020

The background is that in 1930 Gotland receive the majority of the returning Swedes from Gammalsvenskbyn in Ukraine, after they arrived in Sweden in 1929. The Swedish villagers have been a very substantial part of Gotland since. After Ukraine’s liberation in 1991 written a twinning agreement between the Municipality of Gotland and Gammalsvenskby 2001. Since July 1, 2016 are two ongoing ICLD funded projects focusing on democracy and agriculture.

In the Ukrainian village called Zmijivka now, it has about 2,400 inhabitants today. Most live on self-agricultural. The standard of living equivalent to about 50 years behind in development compared to Gotland. Tourism is alongside agriculture is the dominant economic sector. It has since Ukraine’s liberation from and to have been a pretty important source of income for the village.

The main objective of the project is to Zmijivka begin the journey towards becoming a pilot-village in times of change within the community. It should be done by bysovjeten working actively to develop both the democratic decision-making bodies/processes and local businesses.

Berislav municipality, which consists of 29 villages which Zmijivka is one, is currently facing a local government. It can best be likened to large municipal reform in Sweden in 1952. The individual villages will be merged into three municipal centers, or will all power centralized in the only city that exists, Berislav.

Today there is no collaboration between business stakeholders in Zmijivka. There is also no democratic platform/agencies where business opportunities can be lifted. The lack of democratic work and capacity is palpable.

Women empowerment

This is a one-year project in the field of local democracy and local administration, resulting from the partnership between Gotland and Jhansi municipalities, focusing on the issues of women empowerment. The project is aimed at addressing issues that influence or affect women empowerment in one way or another. These include:

Issues of choice
Power and influence
Ownership of resources
Gender roles cast and classes
Education

The overall objective of this project is to come up with possible ways of addressing gender inequality. The main activities planned for revolve around capacity building and education; as these will boost morale and self awareness among the women and also give those skills and knowledge that will influence their ability to make informed choices.

It is hoped that from the trainings and capacity building exercises, the participants will become mentors to the entire municipality and in turn all the women living in the area will be reached in one way or another. Other expected results include; increased participation of women in decision making within the local authorities, perceived equality in the society and general improvements in democracy as a whole.

Kibaha Water Project

This is a mutually beneficial partnership to both Gotland and Kibaha municipality which was initiated in the year 2000, as a technical cooperation in the area of strengthening working environment and water supply.

The goal of the project is to strengthen labour safety, water supply and waste water management for about 4000 people at Kibaha Education Centre, (KEC), Kibaha.

Substantial rehabilitation of KECs water distribution system is the objective and this will be achieved through different activities including:

Constructing and installing water pipelines, reservoirs and 2 distributing pump stations.
A system for water metering and charge of water is also included in the plan.
Inputs for maintenance and administration will also be improved to cater for sustainability.

It is also a hope that achieved results will be replicable in Kibaha town that has about 4000 residents. All activities are carried out in close cooperation, granting a substantial learning process for both parties. The parties’ expectations and overall objective is that Kibaha town will at the end of the project period, have a well functioning and sustainable water supply system and a strengthened work environment.

Kibaha Water Management Project

To cooperate with Kibaha Town Council (KTC) and Kibaha Education Centre (KEC) to achieve a sustainable water supply in Kibaha Education Centre (operational, maintenance and servicing) and a functioning water supply in the village Msangani.

The overall project objective: People and institutions within the KEC have a fully functioning water supply with operation of the procedures for billing of water charges and payment of costs. The facilities are operated and maintained by a well-functioning management, or private contractor. The people in Msangani, (KTC) have access to water at a walking distance not exceeding 400 m. The plants are operated and maintained by a well-functioning water group / committee, or private contractor.

Project purpose:

The water system at KEC has a supply of water to a lower cost per m3 than today. Water losses have been reduced from over 50 % to 25 % of delivered water quantity. KEC has an efficient management of finance, operations and maintenance of their water systems.
Msangani village has a facility for the distribution of water to the residents completed to at least 50 % of the final constructions. Msangani village has an ongoing training of a local water committee

Kibaha Solid Waste Project (KSWP)

Kibaha Town Council (KTC) and Kibaha Education Centre (KEC) in collaboration with the Region Gotland are working to improve waste management in Kibaha Town, an increased public awareness of waste in order to achieve such as reduced litter, increased collection of waste, improved safety, increased waste sorting and recycling.

The overall project objective: Kibaha Town Council works actively to promote a sustainable waste management in which examples of development and improvement areas are: working environment, collection, disposal of waste into recycling or disposal, and increased awareness among community members.

Project purpose: Kibaha Town Council carries out simple steps to improve the current collection system and enhance the collection of waste.

Staff is also given the opportunity for skills development and opportunities for recycling and disposal of waste are studied. KTC is also working to increase awareness of waste by participation and simple information campaigns, which can increase collection and reduce problems with litter and contribute to a cleaner urban environment / surroundings. Special risks associated with hazardous waste should be considered in the work and opportunities for collection of hazardous waste for separate disposal should be investigated.

Kibaha Cultural Information Project (KCIP) 2014-2016

The project will focus on finding a method for using music, dance and theater (also called story telling in Tanzania) for spreading information to school children and youth about important water, waste and environmental issues to improve the local awareness both in Gotland and in Kibaha.

Using cultural expressions when spreading important messages is well known in Tanzania and Gotland can learn a lot from this. The experience the School of Performing Arts in Region Gotland has with using music, dance and theatre when spreading information on different themes is also good in Gotland. But in this project it is a special type of information that needs a method in its concept.

Gotland has good examples to share with Kibaha. Information campaign through cultural expressions can give a very good support to the operative work the municipalities are doing in the water and waste areas. It will help the two parties to raise the local public awareness on issues like water, waste and environment. The project will focus on working in schools both in Kibaha and in Gotland. Teachers and local development officers will cooperate between the two municipalities how to develop a method which is applicable both in Kibaha and Gotland. This will also spread to the children’s families and others in the societies. There will be exchange activities in the school in Gotland and Kibaha.

Kibaha Waste Project 2:0

The first waste project preparations started with Kibaha Town Council (KTC) and Kibaha Education Centre (KEC) with the pre-study in 2011 (ICLD 2011:0001). The first Kibaha Solid Waste Project started 2012 (ICLD 2011-0060) and ended 2014. Kibaha Waste Project 2:0 (period 2015-2017) is a Project between KTC/KEC and Region Gotland.

The overall objective: “Create a sustainable waste management by creating awareness and economical prerequisite with both citizens and organization in Kibaha, and continue the work with constant improvements in waste management on Gotland.” (in 15 years)

The project objective: “Kibaha Town Council has a more functioning solid waste management compared to 2014 with strengthened and empowered cleaning groups which are self-sufficient and thereby an incentive for others to follow in a democratic process.” (in 3 years)

The Immediate objectives:

The collection of waste and waste sorting has improved through the local Cleaning Groups (CBO: s) which are getting support (equipments) from the project and KTC organization year 1, 2 and 3.
A sustainable organization and economical situation for the Cleaning groups (balance between collection fees and municipal operations fees, investigate from where the Cleaning groups can get increase in revenue).
Investigation of the possibilities to start composting of organic waste to produce fertilizer in Kibaha has started year 1 and is completed year 2.
Investigation of Hazardous waste and methods for handling of hazardous waste in Kibaha has started year 2 and a first plan for implementing a management system is ready year 3.
Increase capacity building/knowledge in the waste area for both Kibaha and Gotland partners.
Increase the public awareness in waste management and handling, in Kibaha and on Gotland.
Both partners meet and work together and in each country every year.

Zmejevka Agriculture 2016-2019

In 1930 Gotland received the majority of the returning Swedes from Gammalsvenskbyn in Ukraine that had arrived in Sweden the year before. These Swedish villagers have been a very substantial part of Gotland society ever since. The Ukraine was liberated in 1991 and in 2001 a sister cities’ agreement between the Municipality of Gotland and Gammalsvenskby 2001 was signed. The village Gammalsvenskby is now called Zmejevka. Currently Zmejevka has about 2 400 inhabitants. Most of them live off of small-scale farming. The standard of living in Zmejevka is comparable to the standard of living on Gotland 50 years ago.

An Inception Phase feasibility study was completed 2014-2015, ICLD 2014-0011. In that study we jointly concluded what mutual areas of needs we could use as a basis for a future collaboration. The greatest needs as identified in the Inception Phase study are in the development of democracy, tourism and agriculture.

The main problem is that today there is no real cooperation between the stakeholders in Zmejevka, especially around their main source of income, small-scale farming. There are no democratic platforms / agencies where agricultural development questions can be discussed. The lack of democratic work and capacity is obvious. There is also no knowledge exchange between the self sufficient farmers.

The main objective of the project is to set up an Agriculture Committee which will be an executive subgroup of Bysovjeten (the village council). This subgroup is meant to serve as a democratic platform where agricultural needs and opportunities can be actively discussed. The committee’s function contributes to positive economic development in Zmejevka.