2023 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"

‘Din Idé´ (‘Your Idea’) is a participatory budgeting process in Fagersta, Sweden, that targets young people aged 13-25 and that funds activities to promote mental health and increase the experience of security in Fagersta among young people. In 2022, Your Idea was implemented for the second year out of five.

In 2022, the concept has focused on reaching more young people and deepening the levels of involvement in all steps of the participatory budgeting model. The process evaluation shows that there have been significant developments in this direction, and that there is even more to develop. During 2021, the pandemic had a major impact on the work with the participatory budget, not least when it came to constraints in how we could reach the target group and create more in-depth collaboration. Now the concept of ‘Din Idé’ is starting to become known among young people in Fagersta but also among staff members who regularly meet with young people. During 2022 a foundation has been laid for the work with Din Idé, which you can now build on.

There is an annual budget of SEK 200 000 for the participatory budgeting in order to implement the most popular of the young people's ideas. An idea can receive a maximum of SEK 50 000. In 2022, four proposals won:

1. Activity day - a day filled with various activities for young people, everything from outdoor cinema and karaoke to sumo wrestling and YouTube celebrities.

2. Fagersta Champions League - a football tournament where everyone between 13 - 17 can participate, regardless of gender.

3. Selflove – a night for all female and non-binary high school students to meet and relax while working together to love themselves for who they really are.

4. #psykiskohälsa (External link), an event aimed at anyone who wants to get support and help with their mental illness, be it anxiety, depression or phobias.

A lot of focus is placed on ensuring that the participating young people are active in all stages of the process. The municipality supports and helps, but it is the young people who are the organizers of the winning ideas and who drive and shape them.

There are several different areas that could be developed further in coming years:

- Better foresight when planning and longer lead in times.

- More marketing material and focus on the groups that have not participated as much so far.

- Improved documentation of the process.

- Further support for the finalists, for example by offering organizer training so that they feel more confident and secure in their role.

- Drawing up even clearer guidelines and rules.

- Collaboration with more businesses in Fagersta and other groups who work closely with young people.

While the 2023 process is still ongoing the initial results look promising. So far in 2023 27 suggestions have been received, 18 have been approved and 270 people have voted.

https://fagersta.se/organisation--styrning/folkhalsa/din-ide (External link)