Swedish partner: Borlänge kommun

Borlänge and Lodwar, Kenya

Project: Inclusive municipalities for refugees

Borlänge and Lodwar municipalities have succefully implemented an inception phase project (dnr 2017-0049) that laid foundation for a long-term partnership between the two municipalities. The focus of the inception phase project was to create a municipal partnership that foster a democratic inclusion of refugees. The two municipalities met in Borlänge and Lodwar and discussed challenges related to democratic inclusion of refugees into the Kenyan and Swedish societies.

By using the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) the municipalities identified gender equality and segregation to be the main challenges related to integration. The two municipalities agreed to apply funding from ICLD for a three year long municipal partnership project and a three year long steering group project, in order to realise democratic inclusion of refugees in both municipalities.

The overall aim of this project is to contribute to democratic, inclusive municipalities for refugees which is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

This will be achieved through increased competence among political and none political decision-makers and mainstreaming gender into integration policies and approaches. The two municipalities will learn from each others’ efforts for minimizing and preventing segregation. The project will be connected to UN:s Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for the implementation of project activities and measuring of the achievement of project objectives.

Project Area

Inclusive leadership and governance

Sustainable Development Goals

10 - Reduced inequalities11 - Sustainable cities and communities

Swedish partner

Borlänge kommun

International partner

Lodwar (Turkana county)

Borlänge and Chisinau, Moldova

Project: Increase the competence of the teachers in the areas of Autism & ADHD

Internationally, around 1 in 68 children are now diagnosed an autism spectrum. In Chisinau, Moldova, there 150 children with autism registered at the municipality until 2016. Many of them have ADHD at the same time. Those children enjoy the equal right of receiving education and they join the normal schools for both learning and integration. The students with autism and ADHD often present unique challenges to schools, and teachers can often find it difficult to meet their needs effectively. Due to lack of competence and knowledge of the teachers, the students’ individual needs could not be met and quality education could not be reached. The opportunity to reach their potential was limited. Compared to Chisinau, Borlänge is far ahead in this area but it also faces the challenges such as making proper adjustments in schools according to the needs, lack of specialist staffs who help the teachers and the parents etc.

Therefore the two cities applied for the common project with the short term purpose to increase the competence of the teachers and specialists, in the long run the school can offer better and appropriate support to meet the educational needs of students with autism and ADHD in both cities.

Project Area

Health

Sustainable Development Goals

3 - Good health and well-being

Swedish partner

Borlänge kommun

International partner

Chisinau City Hall

Youth Project

Improve the youth power of influence, awareness and participation in issues of local democracy.

2 visits per year to each municipality, to support and help develop the work of creating a common platform to work on.
Job-shadowing.
Analyze the results of job-shadowing and utilize the information for the creation of new work strategies; both long-term and short-term, under both individual and joined circumstances of the participants.
The creation of joined public events, to support the work within the project.

Project Area

Inclusive leadership and governance

Swedish partner

Borlänge kommun

International partner

Chisinau Municipality

Good Public Meals for Happy Citizens

To make good public meals for our happy citizens.

Offer 20 employees in each municipality capacity building in the method of FAMM (Five Aspects Meal Model), chemistry of the food and ecological food
Ensure the quality of the public food by creating strategy documents, standard menus and so on to ensure quality and nutrition
Reduce the wastage of food by including this in the strategies
Four meetings with the youth councils and representatives of elderly and politicians in the municipalities
Increase understanding of and the awareness of the work with public meals in the municipalities by two kick- off
Employees in the municipalities feel that they know about the importance of food for the target groups

Project Area

Health

Swedish partner

Borlänge kommun

International partner

Chisinau Municipality

Water and Sewage Treatment

This is a three-party cooperation where the municipality if Piesti in Rumania is the third part.

This project comprises an exchange of knowledge and experiences in providing efficient management from a financial/technical aspect of investments, operations and long-term planning within water and sewage treatment. A prioritised issue, identified and relevant in the project, are the need for long-term funding of infrastructure for water, sewage and sludge treatment. Due to very high costs during the investment phase, inefficiency remains due to lack of financial resources.

Experience of this kind does matter for political/economical reasons and aims to give technical support in handling these issues. This implies that AB Borlänge Energi will be sharing own experiences of technical assistance to capacity building in the corporations of Apa Canal within a time frame of three years, starting in 2009.

Main activities are study visits, training sessions, workshops, seminars, university cooperation, PhD posts, examination papers and youth activities to obtain clear perceptions and eruditions from all three partners. Expected results are prioritised activities to be considered by both corporations of Apa Canal and AB Borlänge Energi, partly required by the European Directive and for initiation of projects towards economic growth. Also, by entering a EU membership for Republic of Moldova, investment programmes will become available for Chisinau Apa Canal.

Expected project results are:

at least four people from each Apa Canal corporation have got more than one week of practical training organised by AB Borlänge Energi and performed by Swedish corporations of water and sewage treatment
at least one person from both Apa Canal corporations have been offered a PhD post at KTH/IVL and National Agency of Higher Education
both corporations of Apa Canal have got in on all results from the Swedish expert project – Project of Hammarby Sjöstadsverk
all three partners have performed a mutual informative activity focused on youth, involving “Clean Water – The future”
a simplified future investment plan has been produced for both corporations of Apa Canal with most focus on Chisinau Apa Canal.

Project Area

Technical Services and Infrastructure

Swedish partner

Borlänge kommun

International partner

Chisinau Apa Canal

Developing Children

All the children are born artists. They have tremendous talents and they are full of fantasy, creativity and thoughts. However most of those talents disappear along the way they grow up. Many children do not receive the opportunities at school to think, to express and to discover. If this continues, the children will lose their creativity, freedom of expression and a lot more. It is difficult to imagine how a country can reach the sustainable development without innovation, to have democratic society built without the freedom of expression. With the ambition of making a change which can give the children a free world to discover, to invent and to dream, Wuhan and Borlänge decide to launch a common project.

Under this project, a creative and interactive exhibition will be built in Wuhan, based on the knowledge from Borlänge Asken Culture Center.

At the exhibition children are encouraged to explore with their own imagination and fantasy, to think independently, to express freely and learn to respect each other. Meanwhile exchange activities between the municipal art teachers will be carried on in order to enhance the teachers’ professional skills and experiences of working with children’s creativity.

Project Area

Culture, leisure, sport and/or tourism

Swedish partner

Borlänge kommun

International partner

Wuhan Culture Bureau

Dialogue and cooperation-towards a democratic sustainable and environmental friendly local development

The overall objective of the project is to create a democratic local society in Wuhan and that the municipality is working in a structured way to ensure a sustainable environment in the City of Wuhan.

The cooperation between Wuhan and Borlänge also strives to contribute to a positive democratic development, through increased understanding of dialogue and interaction, and increased knowledge of available and future environmental technologies and improved working methods to promote a better environment.

The expected results of this project are:

staff in the two co-operating municipalities have learned methods and acquired tools to collaborate between different entities and other actors
Borlänge and Wuhan have started a cooperation within a specific environmental area such as solar energy research or waste management
all participants in the project have received training in environmental technology
companies and organizations in Borlänge and Wuhan have been given opportunities to find each other – work together and interact for green development
that we, through our cooperation and interaction contributes to greater understanding of the value of democratic processes and how it leads to greater added value in municipal development.

Project Area

Environment/Climate change

Swedish partner

Borlänge kommun

International partner

Wuhan Municipality

Influence and participation – a democratic and human right

In a democratic society of today all people should have the same influence and participation no matter what age, social situation or life circumstances they might have. Everybody must be included in society and get a good chance to live a meaningful and long life. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, known more commonly as ICF, is WHO:s (World Health Organization) framework for measuring health and disability at both individual and population levels. This framework will be used as a take off point and tool in this project. By increasing the awareness and knowledge about ICF the municipal and county council employees will be able to use this framework as a tool in their ordinary work. Applicants will also cooperate with nongovernmental organizations in this project.

This project will focus upon municipal and county council employees working with caretakers that have some sort of disability, within the following fields:

Elderly care – the care and activities of/for old people with dementia
Psychiatry – the care and activities of/for people with psychiatric diagnoses
Intellectual disabilities – the care and activities of/for people with intellectual disabilities

Job-shadowing, seminars, workshops, dialogues and debates are important activities within this project and those activities are directly designed for municipal and county council employees. The last activity will be a Symposium in Wuhan during which final reports and results from a questionnaire study will be presented. The participants will then also sum up what they have learned and discuss how their own organisations can take care of and implement the results in their ordinary work in the future. The symposium is the only activity that will be opened for the citizens and should therefore also be seen as an activity that will help raising these issues in society, open up peoples´ eyes and develop society in a democratic and human direction.

Objectives and expected results:

increased awareness and knowledge about WHO:s (World Health Organization) framework The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health
- especially among municipal and county council employees but also among NGOs and citizens in both municipalities
increased awareness and knowledge about different activities and methods that are used to meet the demands of old people with dementia and people with intellectual or psychological disabilities – western and eastern perspectives
- especially among municipal and county council employees but also among NGOs and citizens in both municipalities
three common reports have been produced, published and spread – one for each project area
a House of Opportunities for people with psychological dysfunctions have been opened in Wuhan
daily activities such as choir or a theatre group for intellectually disabled persons are created in Wuhan

Project Area

Health

Swedish partner

Borlänge kommun

International partner

Wuhan

Creating a supportive environment for health and learning

The proportion of children and young people with mental illness and disorders is increasing both in Sweden and in China. There is also, in both countries, an increase in lifestyle-related diseases such as overweight and obesity, even among adolescence. These risk factors affect both the motivation to maintain a healthy lifestyle as well as the ability to acquire knowledge. School failure often leads to difficulties later in life and can obstruct the entry into the labour market. In turn, social exclusion contributes to poor health, which can lead to entrapment in social and economic hardship for the individual – a negative spiral is created.

The overall project objective will be, based on this background, to create a safe school environment that promotes health and learning for students aged 13-16 years in Borlänge and Wuhan.

This project will during the stated time period lead to a higher self-rated health, improved lifestyles in terms of diet, physical movement and sleep, an increased sense of ownership of the students’ own learning processes and increased achievement/merit points for the students at the chosen project schools in Wuhan and Borlänge.

Project Area

Health

Swedish partner

Borlänge kommun

International partner

Wuhan Municipality