To change your city, you may first have to change attitudes in your own family. During a workshop hosted by ICLD:s Municipal Partnership Programme in Belgrade the participants reflected on how easy it is to be gender blind and gender unconscious. “We need to start at an individual level to create a long-lasting change in…
Ordinary people matter and can make important contributions to policy and local development. That, and many more conclusions, is shown in a study about empowering local governments in Zimbabwe. The study confirmed the relevance of the ITPs regarding closing leadership gaps, building networks and enhancing participatory leadership – all critical to local development.
Street art, citizens participating in decisions and reconstruction of public spaces where some of the most interesting insights Ana Zelenovic brought home to Vračar from Borås. “The participation of any and every kind of social group of people in making decision regarding every-day life issues is essential”, she says. She believes public areas must become…
They love their democracy and want to elect their leaders through fair elections. But corruption, power struggles, and electoral fraud are putting a spanner in the works. For Swedish diplomat, Inga Björk-Klevby, education is an important cornerstone in building a democratic Kenya. “Educating children is vital. They need to learn to make their own minds…
For the first time ICLD went to Belgrade to arrange an International Municipal Partnership workshop. One of the objectives was to exchange experiences in Eastern Europe within the field of Equity and Inclusion. “What I found the most interesting was the dedication of municipalities and their motivation. Project and project objectives are also very interesting”,…
For Agnes Sandstedt, her job is her life. Whenever she visits a new town, she sees it through the eyes of an urban planning architect. And a visit to Borås by a group of urban planners from Macedonia and Serbia inspired her and made her see her home town with new eyes. “Talking to fellow…
ICLD’s new publication “Choosing Democracy: Natural Resource Management for Environmental Policy Makers, Donors and Practitioners” by Jesse Ribot is aiming to assist policy makers in making decisions related to forestry.
With the goal to learn about project planning, ICLDs core areas and the thematic priorities of Sida, eight municipal partnerships from six different countries gathered in Härnösand 18-20 september. The training course was well received by the participants. Several of the attendees expressed that the course ‘connects the dots’ regarding how to plan and conduct…
Swedish municipalities are clearly eager to identify solutions to the ongoing refugee situation. “Commitment levels are high, but there is also a lack of knowledge about how ICLD can help,” says Karin Norlin Bogren, head of ICLD’s Municipal Partnerships programme. This knowledge gap was what lay behind the panel discussion and subsequent workshop hosted by…
Global and local water shortages have resulted in discussions of whether a higher price tag should be placed on water. Cooperation is, however, another way of ensuring we are economical with our finite resources. The Kalmar County Regional Federation, Västervik municipality, the Russian municipality of Guryevsk, and the Kaliningrad region, have initiated a cooperation project…
