2022 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"
16th Edition
Örnsköldsvik : ”Tillsammans för en stark och hållbar demokrati” (’Together for a strong and sustainable democracy’)
Many global challenges affect the local and individual levels. A strong democracy is a precondition for reaching the global goals set out in Agenda 2030.
We face significant democratic challenges at the global and local levels. A precondition to meet these challenges needs to be a focus on strengthening local democracy.
The vision for Örnsköldsvik is that “We build best together” and we believe that it is through meetings and democratic conversations that we create the conditions for building a sustainable society and an Örnsköldsvik for all.
Municipalities have two main missions – a service mission and a democracy mission. As a service actor focus is placed on providing good services efficiently, fairly, and legally.
As a democracy actor the focus is on legitimacy and trust, manging tensions, and conflict and through this strengthening the ability to deliver and decision-making ability based on an understanding of priorities. The work requires transparency
The municipality is both an actor and an arena for democratic processes, where local politicians manage and develop local society in line with their political beliefs by bringing their party’s perspective into the democratic processes. Citizens in turn are part of democratic process through elections, citizens dialogues and own initiatives.
In working “Together for a strong and sustainable democracy” Örnsköldsvik seeks to ensure that all citizens feel that they can take part, be able to affect change and be part of the democratic process.
The route into the municipality’s democracy work is that the work comes alive when people meet and together can formulate challenges, needs and solutions.
During the processes we have identify a need for forums where citizens, politicians and public officers can meet and have dialogues on all kinds of questions.
We have also identified the importance of education in methods of dialogues and to discuss the core values in democracy and the democracy processes in to have a common understanding of democracy work and that this knowledge also brings confidence to the participants.
The starting process in each dialogue where all perspectives are shared have created better understanding for the parliamentarian decision process and that it is no longer that important to “win” with your arguments but to have had the possibility to share them with others and have been part of the process.
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Conversation with Elinna Barrqvist
Hello!
Can you please tell me about your youth work in this initiative?
Hello!
We have worked with young people's influence and participation for more than 10 years and many of those experiences have been included in the development of the work with the local democracy "Together for a strong and sustainable democracy".
We have started from the idea that in order to reach a diversity of individuals, a diversity of methods is required and that it is in the meeting and in the conversation between people that we broaden our perspectives and broaden our knowledge of society, people and how we can be involved and influence what is happening around us. We work with several different forums where we meet young people and work with them in order to make better decisions and get a better overall picture of young people's living conditions and challenges. These forums coincide well with the work with the development of local democracy and it is the approach to the work with young people that has been used as a guide in this development work.
Best regards
Camilla
If you want to know more specifically about the various forums we have for young people's participation, feel free to contact me at camilla.larsson@ornskoldsvik.se.
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