Almost 10 million SEK to result-oriented partnerships
Swedish municipalities together with an international partner can apply for funds to a municipal partnership twice a year. The purpose of the partnerships is to develop democracy at the local level through projects that address a mutual challenge, such as climate, health care, integration or citizen dialogue. Municipal partnerships increase the competence of both employees and elected representatives through the exchange of knowledge and experiences.
The Swedish municipalities that have been granted funds for their municipal partnerships are: Växjö, Kalix, Strängnäs, Forshaga, Region Gotland, Region Västernorrland, Borås, Göteborgs, Umeå, Norrköpings, Piteå and Robertsfors.
There are several promising partnerships regarding the climate.
One example is the partnership between Kalix Municipality Sweden and Masaka in Uganda who have been granted a three-year project with the aim to raise awareness among young people and decision makers on the environmental impact of plastics. Through the project, they wish to improve the knowledge and give young people the opportunity to influence decision-making in their own community. Region Västernorrland will renew its partnership with Mombasa in Kenya to achieve a more sustainable consumption pattern and solid waste management. The aim is to strengthen the organisations capacity to address civic societies involvement through dialogue platforms and educational initiatives to enhance citizen participation.
Several municipal partnership have been grated funds to share their results and good examples. An example of such is the partnership between Robertsfors Sweden and Machakos in Kenya. They want to disseminate methods to increase gender equality and counter gender-related violence by bringing together important stakeholders and change makers in a forum named “Machakos Gender Equality Forum” in which the participants can learn, connect and mobilise for social change, gender equality and human rights.
Read more about the granted projects here (in Swedish)
Read more about the municipal partnership programme here.