Växjö and JB Marks, South Africa

Project: Local Coalition Work for Improved Governance

The proposed three-year project is a part of the formal partnership between Växjö Municipality and JB Marks Municipality. The overall goal is to improve and strengthen political structures, coalition work and political leadership in order to thereby strengthen democracy and structures for good governance on the municipal level. This goal will be achieved by creating new guidelines, training for politicians and studying techniques for conflict management. The project activities include workshops, case studies, study visits, exchanging good examples and involving external expertise. Both municipalities see great potential in this new initiative that involves multiple political parties from both municipalities, which will thus benefit greatly from participation in the joint activities over the next three years. The project also has a strong connection to goal 17 in the sustainable development goals, which contains global solidarity, capacity development and exchange of knowledge.