Challenges

A

• Ale municipality

  • Challenge number 3199

    How does school absenteeism affect girls mental health?

    We have a project with Ghanzi District in Botswana and Budesti comune in Moldova. The objective of the project is to reduce school absenteeism and drop outs. In Botswana more girls than boys drop out schools.

    The purpose of the project is to ensure sufficient organizational capacity (of the local educational and governing institutions) to lower number of dropouts and decrease problematic absenteeism. The partners have collaborated on this matter for quite some time, mapping various causes to absenteeism.

    Girls and boys drop out schools in different extent and girls and boys are differently affected when dropping out. Boys tend to compensate failure in school with masculinity; they are at risk for substance abuse, crime and violent behavior. Girls often end up in dependency. Even the parents of dropouts are affected differently. It is often the mothers who take care of the dropouts, which leaves them with fewer possibilities to live a life on their own conditions. Everyone deserves the same right to participate regardless sex, background etc. Educated and engaged young people will strengthen democracy.

    Municipal partnerships are reciprocal, results-oriented collaborations between municipalities and regions in Sweden and local governments in ICLD’s partner countries. Further, the ICLD Municipal Partnership Programme is part of Sweden’s international development cooperation. The programme is fully financed by the Swedish Development cooperation Agency, Sida, which means that all costs for the partners to meet twice a year in the respective partnership countries is covered. For the Swedish partner, the hours spent working on the project are also compensated.

J

• Jinja City

  • Challenge number 3192

    How can we increase awareness, remove barriers to access services and empower women with disability to make informed decisions

    The Municipality endeavours to improve on the basic living conditions of residents based on participatory democratic community based approach under decentralization. Decentralization in Uganda gave communities the mandate to choose their leaders irrespective of their status. Despite this, persons with disabilities have not participated in the leadership of Jinja municipality.

    In Jinja the following are the categories of disabilities vision Impairment, deaf or hard of hearing, mental health conditions, intellectual disability, acquired brain injury, autism spectrum disorder, and physical disability.

    PWDS are faced with particular disadvantages in the areas of education, work and employment, family and reproductive rights, health and get subjected to violence and abuse. It is for the above reasons that there is need to Empower Women with disabilities to participate in the leadership of Jinja.

    Majority of PWDs in the municipality are illiterate, they see themselves as separate group, treat and kept as a separate group by communities.

    Jinja Municipal Council has a total of 600 PWDs but a big number is left out in programmes due to stigma and parents end up hiding school going children

    Their livelihood depends on small enterprises such as small street vending, charcoal selling, Tailoring as most of them did not go to school and the minority who went to school find challenges in getting employment.

L

• Lusaka City Council

  • Challenge number 3248

    How should integrated development planning be done in order to reflect social inclusion at City level???

    Lusaka City Council is in the process of conducting its first ever Intergrated Development Plan for the district. The plan will have to be a reflection of the needs of different stakeholders from the district of Lusaka. This will mean the process needs to be participatory and multi sectoral in order to be all inclusive. However, some challenges are being faced in the formulagion of the IDP.

M

• Municipality of Växjö

  • Challenge number 3221

    What communication methods work best for sustainable changes in behaviour? How do they differ and what to think about/consider when developing communication methods?

    B"Both partners (An Giang, Vietnam and Växjö, Sweden) have problems with littering and pollution that negatively affects water quality and environment in our cities. There are different reasons for this behaviour, sometimes it is lack of knowledge and sometimes lack of engagement (or both). Lack of possibility to do the right thing is of course another important aspect, but that is often more obvious.

    Are different communication methods recommended depending on the reason for the negative behavior? How do they differ and what to think about/consider when developing communication methods?

    Municipal partnerships are reciprocal, results-oriented collaborations between municipalities and regions in Sweden and local governments in ICLD’s partner countries. The ICLD Municipal Partnership Programme is part of Sweden’s international development cooperation. The programme is fully financed by the Swedish Development cooperation Agency, Sida, all costs for the partners to meet twice a year in the respective partnership countries is covered. For the Swedish partner, the hours spent working on the project are also compensated.

    The Municipal Partnership Programme is based on the UN’s Agenda 2030 and its global goals, and on Sweden’s Global Development Policy (PGU), which dates from 2002. PGU stresses the importance of new, international collaborations in the form of partnerships. Effective global development presupposes local support. By sharing experiences of how similar problems can be addressed in different contexts, the partners in a Municipal partnership create new knowledge together, along with new methods that increase citizens’ influence in local decision-making processes.

  • Challenge number 3224

    How and when is it relevant to include local people/citizen in master planning where focus is on the large scale and not on details (example water plan for a city or a province)?

    Water management covers a large range of fields and inclusion of stakeholders is crucial for sustainable results. Until now we have included representatives and decision-makers from different departments and organisations with responsibilities for water, as well as NGOs with an interest in water (fisheries union, youth union i.e.). Local people have been interviewed to get a better problem understanding on status and need, but we have not planned for any open-meetings or citizen dialogues during the actual making of the plan. Could it be relevant and useful? How?

N

• Norrköping municipality

  • Challenge number 3242

    How can we proceed so that our citizens in Norrköping will think that it is important and positive that officials and politicians from Norrköping get involved in projects 1000 km from here?

    In a context where Swedish municipalities are under a lot of pressure to deliver services to their local population, it is essential to be able to motivate why international cooperation is important for the municipality’s various activities.

    Municipal partnerships are reciprocal, results-oriented collaborations between municipalities and regions in Sweden and local governments in ICLD’s partner countries. The ICLD Municipal Partnership Programme is part of Sweden’s international development cooperation. The programme is fully financed by the Swedish Development cooperation Agency, Sida, all costs for the partners to meet twice a year in the respective partnership countries is covered. For the Swedish partner, the hours spent working on the project are also compensated.

    The Municipal Partnership Programme is based on the UN’s Agenda 2030 and its global goals, and on Sweden’s Global Development Policy (PGU), which dates from 2002. PGU stresses the Swedish tradition of local self-governance and its potential for assisting with the development of local democracy in other countries. It also highlights the importance of new, international collaborations in the form of partnerships. Effective global development presupposes local support. By sharing experiences of how similar problems can be addressed in different contexts, the partners in a Municipal partnership create new knowledge together, along with new methods that increase citizens’ influence in local decision-making processes.

  • Challenge number 3259

    How can one work to concretize the benefits and meaning of working with issues that in the short term only involve extra work, costs and hassle but which in the long run can provide better health, tourist income, business establishments, better environment locally and globally.

    "The project's goal is to contribute to a more sustainable and cleaner environment in Eldoret, Kenya primarily the pilot area Kipkaren, by in consultation with residents develop the municipal / regional organization and infrastructure required for efficient waste management. During the first and second years of the project, a county-owned company (ELDOWAS) was created in Eldoret based on the model of the municipal waste management company Norab in Norrköping. A plan for the new organization's structure has been developed and is being implemented. An internship program has been created to give young professionals in environmental and waste management areas the opportunity for work experience while at the same time ELDOWAS gets access to knowledge from recent graduates. At the landfill in Kipkaren, ditches for collecting wastewater are also being excavated to reduce emissions of hazardous substances in groundwater and nearby areas.

    An public campaign to get citizens involved in the cleaning of Eldoret has been created and launched

    Municipal partnerships are reciprocal, results-oriented collaborations between municipalities and regions in Sweden and local governments in ICLD’s partner countries. The ICLD Municipal Partnership Programme is part of Sweden’s international development cooperation. The programme is fully financed by the Swedish Development cooperation Agency, Sida, all costs for the partners to meet twice a year in the respective partnership countries is covered. For the Swedish partner, the hours spent working on the project are also compensated.

    The Municipal Partnership Programme is based on the UN’s Agenda 2030 and its global goals, and on Sweden’s Global Development Policy (PGU), which dates from 2002. PGU stresses the Swedish tradition of local self-governance and its potential for assisting with the development of local democracy in other countries. It also highlights the importance of new, international collaborations in the form of partnerships. Effective global development presupposes local support. By sharing experiences of how similar problems can be addressed in different contexts, the partners in a Municipal partnership create new knowledge together, along with new methods that increase citizens’ influence in local decision-making processes. "

  • Challenge number 3265

    How to create trust in municipal services and systems such as waste management when the general trust in society and the common is low or non-existent?

    "The project's goal is to contribute to a more sustainable and cleaner environment in Eldoret, primarily the pilot area Kipkaren, by in consultation with residents develop the municipal / regional organization and infrastructure required for efficient waste management. During the first and second years of the project, a county-owned company (ELDOWAS) was created in Eldoret based on the model of the municipal waste management company Norab in Norrköping. A plan for the new organization's structure has been developed and is being implemented. An internship program has been created to give young professionals in environmental and waste management areas the opportunity for work experience while at the same time ELDOWAS gets access to knowledge from recent graduates. At the landfill in Kipkaren, ditches for collecting wastewater are also being excavated to reduce emissions of hazardous substances in groundwater and nearby areas.

    An public campaign to get citizens involved in the cleaning of Eldoret has been created and launched

    Municipal partnerships are reciprocal, results-oriented collaborations between municipalities and regions in Sweden and local governments in ICLD’s partner countries. The ICLD Municipal Partnership Programme is part of Sweden’s international development cooperation. The programme is fully financed by the Swedish Development cooperation Agency, Sida, all costs for the partners to meet twice a year in the respective partnership countries is covered. For the Swedish partner, the hours spent working on the project are also compensated.

    The Municipal Partnership Programme is based on the UN’s Agenda 2030 and its global goals, and on Sweden’s Global Development Policy (PGU), which dates from 2002. PGU stresses the Swedish tradition of local self-governance and its potential for assisting with the development of local democracy in other countries. It also highlights the importance of new, international collaborations in the form of partnerships. Effective global development presupposes local support. By sharing experiences of how similar problems can be addressed in different contexts, the partners in a Municipal partnership create new knowledge together, along with new methods that increase citizens’ influence in local decision-making processes. "

P

• Piteå Municipality

  • Challenge number 3229

    What steps can be taken in a partnership to strengthen local democracy while working in explicitly non-democratic and/or weak decentralized countries?

    The project is focusing on development of a strategy program for waste to energy, focusing on rice waste to energy which would be carried out during a time span of three years.

    Rice straw and rice husk are a potential natural biomass source for energy production. As of now, only a small part of rice husk production has been used as fuel in brick kilns, but most of it has been dumped illegally into the rivers or burnt openly, emitting huge amount of greenhouse gas (GHG).

    In 2010, Piteå revised their waste plan and approved an Energy and Climate plan which will be revised in 2014/2015. In An Giang a strategy program focusing on waste to energy from rice production will be submitted 2014. It will be developed through a process where local stake holders as the business community, farmers, the regional university and the municipality will be involved. Vietnam is known as the second largest exporting country of rice. Rice production has the most important role in the economy of the Mekong delta where An Giang is located, which at the same time also is the part of Vietnam which is anticipated to suffer the most serious climate changes.

    The work in Piteå by developing the Climate and Energy Plan has been conducted with some methodological support from The Swedish Energy Agency’s project Sustainable Municipality, where Piteå is one out of 31 municipalities further on into a third phase. In the process of developing the plan people from many areas in the civil society have participated. In An Giang there is an eagerness to learn and apply the experiences from Piteå in the Vietnamese context.

    A strategy program developed by participation from different actors should be able to contribute to facilitate an implementation phase where one target is to develop a strategy program which would contribute to an improvement of the living condition for the poorest of the people.

S

• Strängnäs municipality

  • Challenge number 3208

    How can we command accountability for politicians when it comes to meeting the children when voicing their needs?

    "In our partnership together with Dar es Salaam, is the aim to start youth councils which has a dialogue with local politicians and other leaders.

    Three schools in Ilala municipality, Dar es Salaam, have started student councils that are given the opportunity to meet regularly during school hours, which strengthens the schools' organizational capacity to involve young people. Teachers have been appointed to support these and the principals of the schools have been involved through meetings where the students' priority issues are agenda-setting. These student councils will form the basis for the youth council that will be formed during the last year of the project. The establishment of student councils already shows progress for the municipal organization's capacity to equal inclusion of young people in local issues, something that is expected to be further strengthened when the youth council is started.

    In Strängnäs, the youth council has established a system for meeting decision-makers earlier in the municipal decision-making processes through, among other things, drop-in meetings with politicians to discuss current issues. This enables increased accountability and strengthens the transparency of the municipality's decision-making processes towards young people.

    Municipal partnerships are reciprocal, results-oriented collaborations between municipalities and regions in Sweden and local governments in ICLD’s partner countries. The ICLD Municipal Partnership Programme is part of Sweden’s international development cooperation. The programme is fully financed by the Swedish Development cooperation Agency, Sida, all costs for the partners to meet twice a year in the respective partnership countries is covered. For the Swedish partner, the hours spent working on the project are also compensated.

    The Municipal Partnership Programme is based on the UN’s Agenda 2030 and its global goals, and on Sweden’s Global Development Policy (PGU), which dates from 2002. PGU stresses the importance of new, international collaborations in the form of partnerships. Effective global development presupposes local support. By sharing experiences of how similar problems can be addressed in different contexts, the partners in a Municipal partnership create new knowledge together, along with new methods that increase citizens’ influence in local decision-making processes."

  • Challenge number 3254

    What channels for communicating children’s opinions/voices to politicians are most efficient?

    When this project is over how ´can we ensure that childrens voices still are of importance

    Three schools in Ilala municipality, Dar es Salaam, have started student councils that are given the opportunity to meet regularly during school hours, which strengthens the schools' organizational capacity to involve young people. Teachers have been appointed to support these and the principals of the schools have been involved through meetings where the students' priority issues are agenda-setting. These student councils will form the basis for the youth council that will be formed during the last year of the project. The establishment of student councils already shows progress for the municipal organization's capacity to equal inclusion of young people in local issues, something that is expected to be further strengthened when the youth council is started.

    In Strängnäs, the youth council has established a system for meeting decision-makers earlier in the municipal decision-making processes through, among other things, drop-in meetings with politicians to discuss current issues. This enables increased accountability and strengthens the transparency of the municipality's decision-making processes towards young people.

    Municipal partnerships are reciprocal, results-oriented collaborations between municipalities and regions in Sweden and local governments in ICLD’s partner countries. The ICLD Municipal Partnership Programme is part of Sweden’s international development cooperation. The programme is fully financed by the Swedish Development cooperation Agency, Sida, all costs for the partners to meet twice a year in the respective partnership countries is covered. For the Swedish partner, the hours spent working on the project are also compensated.

    The Municipal Partnership Programme is based on the UN’s Agenda 2030 and its global goals, and on Sweden’s Global Development Policy (PGU), which dates from 2002. PGU stresses the importance of new, international collaborations in the form of partnerships. Effective global development presupposes local support. By sharing experiences of how similar problems can be addressed in different contexts, the partners in a Municipal partnership create new knowledge together, along with new methods that increase citizens’ influence in local decision-making processes."