Swedish partner: Strängnäs kommun

Strängnäs – Entebbe

The partnership between Strängnäs Municipality in Sweden and Entebbe Municipal Council in Uganda focuses on tackling climate change and enhancing youth participation in local democracy. The project aims to raise awareness and involve young people in schools and workplaces in climate-smart initiatives, addressing the lack of systematic youth engagement in climate action.

Strängnäs contributes experience in youth engagement, while Entebbe offers strong leadership and collaboration expertise. The project aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 13 (Climate Action) and highlights gender equality.

During the inception phase, the municipalities will engage stakeholders, conduct virtual meetings, and organize mutual visits to identify challenges and co-create solutions. This collaboration seeks to foster knowledge exchange, strengthen local governance, and empower communities to address environmental challenges sustainably.

Project Area
EducationEnvironment/Climate change
Sustainable Development Goals
13 - Climate action
Topic
Child rights and youth participation
Swedish partner
Strängnäs kommun
International partner
Entebbe Municipal Council

Strängnäs-Emboreet,Tanzania

Project: Social Sustainability

Strängnäs and Emboreet previously had a partnership between the years 2012-2016. In their new project, they intend to increase both Emboreet’s and Strängnäs’s ability to take young people’s ideas into account and thereby increase the level of democratic dialogues with adults in the village and higher decision-making organs to formulate strategies and policies within the thematic topic of the environment and climate change.

Project Area
EducationEnvironment/Climate changeInclusive leadership and governance
Sustainable Development Goals
10 - Reduced inequalities12 - Responsible consumption and production13 - Climate action4 - Quality education
Topic
Child rights and youth participationParticipatory democracy, citizen dialogues and budgeting
Swedish partner
Strängnäs kommun
International partner
Emboreet, Simanjiro

Strängnäs and Dar es-Salaam channel young people’s engagement

The municipalities of Strängnäs and Dar es- Salaam have been working on a project that aims to increase the participation of young people in politics. Their partnership enabled new methods to be tested and applied for the younger generation to meet with local politicians and officials in the municipalities. This partnership shows how the Convention on the rights of the child can be implemented on a local level through international partnerships.

The partnership with Dar es-Salaam is one of several partnerships between Strängnäs and different local governments in Tanzania. This specific project was focused on the role of youths in politics. The participation of youth in politics in Sweden has become a higher priority since the Convention on the Rights of the Child became Swedish law on January 1st 2020. Helena Edvinsson, coordinator of the partnership, emphasizes the importance of including children and young people in the process of policy-making. She also highlights the importance of having local structures to include young people, and why Strängnäs aimed to develop these structures within a municipal partnership.

– “As a local ombudsman for the rights of children, I am very concerned with ensuring that children and young people can be part of democratic processes and get answers from politicians. We noticed, at our youth congresses in Strängnäs, that the challenge was that children rarely got answers on the spot. Politicians took the questions with them, but it stopped there. Through ICLD and our municipal partnership, we wanted to get better at meeting young people and engaging with the issues that are important to them.”

Helena Edvinsson, Local ombudsman for the rights of children in Strängnäs.

Strängnäs municipality got new ideas and methods for the inclusion of children and young people through the project. Among other things, they wanted to create platforms for conversations between young people and politicians, where the issues that were on young people’s minds were setting the agenda. These new forms of meetings were aimed to give power to the youth over the topics of discussion, based on their interests and needs. The representatives and politicians that were to participate were then picked according to their ability to provide answers to those specific topics. Children and young people in Strängnäs could thereby get direct answers from the responsible actors.

The participation of youth in the political process is crucial for the development of democratic and inclusive societies. The meeting culture that they experienced in Tanzania inspired Strängnäs to try such new practices at home. It also provided the children that participated with an opportunity to learn from how youth participation works in other cultures. The municipality now plans to spread these practices further across Sweden by sharing their good results through a dissemination project.

Source: Strängnäs municipality
Global solutions to local problems

All of Strängnäs partnerships in Tanzania have been reciprocal and aimed to generate results both in Sweden and Tanzania. For instance, the student council that was created at a school in the village of Emboreet in Tanzania provided an opportunity for committed young people to take a place in politics. This showcases how implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child through the municipal partnership programs leads to positive changes, both in Sweden and internationally. The partnership between Strängnäs and Dar es-Salaam on young people’s participation has led to more meaningful meetings between the younger generations and the politicians and officials in the municipalities.

Strängnäs got inspired during their visit to Tanzania, as new practices were taken home and applied in the municipality. What practices will you be inspired by in your partnership? Contact us at ICLD through partnership@icld.se to declare interest from your municipality, county or region to participate in a municipal partnership.

Swedish partner
Strängnäs kommun
International partner
Dar es Saalam
Tags
ungdomars inflytande,

Strängnäs and Ilala, Tanzania

Project: Youth Council

In Ilala municipality in Dar es Salaam, the youth have no opportunity to bring forward their opinions and ideas. The City Council don’t know how the youth’s situation looks like in Dar es Salaam.

The project aims to start student councils in three schools in Ilala, which later transfers into a youth council that communicates with the City Council.

The three schools will then educate the other schools in Ilala on how to work with student councils. Strängnäs municipality has a long tradition of dialogue with youth, but needs to learn new ways to ensure that the youths opninions and ideas are utilized early in the process.

Project Area
Inclusive leadership and governance
Sustainable Development Goals
16 - Peace, justice and strong institutions
Swedish partner
Strängnäs kommun
International partner
Dar es Saalam

Quality education

The project objective is to enhance pupils council and develop entrepreneurial learning.
All classes are represented in pupils council. The expected results are that more pupils dare and are able to communicate in English and more pupils are active to analyze how to solve problems.

The overall objective is to create independent youth who dare to express their opinions in dialogue with elders and will take part in decisions for the future.

Project Area
Inclusive leadership and governance
Swedish partner
Strängnäs kommun
International partner
Simanjiro District

Student Democracy

Emboreet: A school youth council for younger children is established, where the students have the courage to share their opinions regarding the school and the development of the village. Students in standard 1-4 should be a part of the council and have a grownup for support and help to arrange meetings. The school youth council should increase the influence in the village government, and their ideas and suggestions on solutions should be respected by the village government.

Strängnäs: A work group is created with a defined responsibility regarding one area/matter that effects the youths. The group should consist of one politician from the majority and one from the opposition, affected public servant and chosen youths. The mission is to agree regarding a decision which is made in consensus.

Project Area
Inclusive leadership and governance
Swedish partner
Strängnäs kommun
International partner
Emboreet, Simanjiro