Newsletter – n°20 – March 2013

News from partners

Environmental and climate work will be the focus of 46 projects managed by the Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD) in the context of the Municipal Partnership Programme, and financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

The inhabitants of Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, will benefit from improved waste- management services, and will start recycling their waste with the support of Västerås municipality. When the residents of the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta’s gain greater access to health services, Västerbotten County’s e-health project will be used as the model. The authorities in Buffalo City in South Africa and in Gävle will work together to make their respective communities more energy-efficient.

Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Director-General at SIDA, says: “Having significant local autonomy is extremely important, both because it empowers citizens to exercise their influence, and it establishes people’s right to service. It’s encouraging to see that so many municipalities are prioritising the work being done on sustainable development, and that they are focusing on environmental work in order to face the local challenges that must be met to deal with global climate change.”

The Municipal Partnership Programme has been established for Swedish municipalities and county councils that want to share knowledge and experience to support local democracy in any of SIDA’s partner countries. The aim is to support local democracy in partner countries by building on experience and expertise gained both within Swedish local governments and from current research.
 

Read about the different projects on www.icld.se.