Purpose: Civil society organizations working in the social field and organised in the network “Platform for local NGOs’ in Botkyrka” and politicians from Botkyrka have established a joint Council for civil society development with the main objective to create a forum for intercultural dialogue between the two sectors. The idea that civil society needs to be involved in questions regarding their own issues and given the opportunity to influence policies that affects their working areas and members life situation is fundamental for the Council.
Stimulus/Rationale: The Council has been launched in June 2018 through “The local agreement on cooperation between civil society and the municipality of Botkyrka.” The agreement is based on seven principles (democracy, diversity, transparency, durability, quality, dialogue and independence). This Council is the result of an awareness of the need for a functioning infrastructure for dialogue, participation and co-creation with local community. It gives the representatives of the local civil society an opportunity to be their own voice providers and create a direct connection between the policy makers and the local community.
The Councils mission is to participate in the development of policies, action plans and other steering documents in the municipality regarding civil society:
- Communicate, implement and anchor the work that the network “Platform for local NGOs” does.
- Raise awareness about the whole in the municipal and influence overall policymaking.
- Follow up and evaluate the effects of the work of the council.
- Follow up and make sure that the action plans in the local agreement on cooperation between the municipality and civil society are implemented.
- Deal with issues of specific value in the process of mainstreaming civil society in their role as service and voice providers.
Process: The Council consists of three politicians (the mayor of Botkyrka being one of them), four representatives from the Platform for local NGOs and two officials. The officials have a specific mission to follow-up the work of the council annually. The Platform for local NGOs has a responsibility towards its member organizations to analyse and follow up the work of the Council and annually report back to the members. It does its own evaluation and analysis.
Impact: The main expected outputs are to:
- Strengthen democracy and participation in policymaking.
- Ensure that the civil society is given a self-evident space in dealing with local challenges and is considered a natural part of the solutions.
- Enforce trust for the local administration in the community.
- Promote dialogue and cooperation within the civil society and with local authorities.
