10 – Minskad ojämlikhet

  • Barcelona against the state: Defending the rights of people to seek refuge

    Case description In 2015, Europe confronted a major immigration-related crisis. War in Syria and political and economic instability in the vicinity of the European Union (EU) prompted the arrival of the highest number of immigrants and refugees since the Second World War (Trauner, 2016). EU member states discussed what should be done. In the end,…

  • Language rights in local governance, South Africa

    This teaching case illustrates the importance of communities to engage the municipality in their own language and the tension and potential exclusion that arises when community members are forced to engage in a mainstream language. On the one hand, the municipal administration, working with limited resources, wants to limit the number of languages used, and…

  • Falkenberg, Sundays river valley och Sarah Baartman district – South Africa

    Falkenberg, Sundays river valley och Sarah Baartman district – South Africa

    Building bridges The partners state that children and youth exclusion often is perpetuated by poverty and inequality, which limit access to resources and opportunities for young people to improve their social mobility and economic prospects. For the South African partners the objectives are to gain capability to: No interventions or activities for youth shall be…

  • Ekerö och Cape Agulhas, Sydafrika

    Ekerö och Cape Agulhas, Sydafrika

    Inclusion through developing dialogue and cooperation between civil society and the municipality The aim of the project is to investigate how to develop dialogue and cooperation between civil society (non-governmental organisations or networks and citizens) and the respective municipalities. A focus area for the cooperation will be identified, such as developing methods for citizen dialogue,…

  • Haparanda and Solwezi – Zambia

    Haparanda and Solwezi – Zambia

    Empowering of women and youth in local democracy and development work Haparanda and Solwezi are carrying out this Inception to have the opportunity to jointly develop a project plan closely linked to issues of inequality and empowering of women. The partners intend to find strengthening approaches to improve developmental inequalities through equitable service delivery without…

  • Valdemarsvik, Palapye and Central district – Botswana

    Valdemarsvik, Palapye and Central district – Botswana

    Ensuring youth participation The two municipalities cooperating with the district level in Botswana, though the involvement of Central district in the partnership, are committed to achieving Agenda 2030 through a rightsbased approach and aim to work more systematically with human rights at a local level. At this stage both partners have established a mutual challenge…

  • Incorporating immigrant voices? Formal access to participatory mechanisms in the city of Barcelona

    Incorporating immigrant voices? Formal access to participatory mechanisms in the city of Barcelona

    Democratic innovations to enhance the participation of city-zens in urban settings have advanced in the world in the last decades. Avenues such as citizens’ assemblies, deliberative polls, participatory budgeting, e-petitions and online consultations have become part of the repertoire of participation available to urban residents. However, a pending question is whether local authorities envision specific…

  • Human rights in Gaborone and Johannesburg: finding meaning in local context

    Cities are critical human rights actors. Human rights are interpreted through local culture, history, politics and context. Cities are increasingly at the heart of this process of interpreting and “localizing” (Camilo Sanchez 2020) for a growing share of the world’s population. How can we support the development of civic human rights initiatives in Southern Africa…

  • Localising the SDGs: a toolkit for local governments

    Local governments are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to creating a more inclusive world. This policy brief summarises four tools for civil servants and politicians to include the SDGs in their daily work.

  • Improving local budget processes: from inclusion and transparency to equity and quality

    This policy brief analyses local budget processes and provides recommendations for their improvement. The analysis is based on the example of North Macedonia. We find evidence that: 1) greater transparency leads to greater citizen satisfaction with the quality of local services, especially for marginalised groups; 2) greater inclusion leads to greater citizen satisfaction with how…