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Senaste nyheterna

  • Institutionalising gender equality: how local structures and women’s networks drive real change

    This text was written by Valeria Guarneros Meza during her participation in ICLD’s Gender Equality Network conference in Barranquilla last November. It marked her final contribution as a member of the ICLD Advisory Board. We thank Valeria for her many years of commitment to local democracy and justice and wish her every success in the future.
    In everyday life, we commonly associate institutions

  • Trollhättan beviljas demokratiprojekt med ukrainska staden Fastiv

    Internationellt Centrum för Lokal Demokrati (ICLD) beviljar Trollhättans stad projektmedel för samarbete med ukrainska Fastiv. Syftet är att stärka ungas inflytande i lokala beslutsprocesser och skapa hållbara, inkluderande former för deltagande – samtidigt som Trollhättan tar del av Fastivs erfarenheter inom krisberedskap.

  • Med demokrati som motståndskraft

    30 kommuner från Sverige och från Ukraina har denna vecka träffats i Tallin. Kommunerna ingår i ICLD:s nätverk som samlar svenska kommuner som vill samarbeta med ukrainska motsvarigheter för att stärka deras demokratiska motståndskraften på lokal nivå.  Inom ramen för samarbetet får de svenska kommunerna viktiga kunskaper inom exempelvis krisberedskap.

  • Strength in Unity: How Partnerships and Political Engagement Are Transforming Child Health in Busoga

    By Dorothy Akongo– Research and Advocacy Manager, Busoga Health Forum and participant in the Child Thrive Project within the ICLD municipal partnership Jinja-Stockholm.
    In the heart of eastern Uganda, the Busoga region is witnessing a quiet revolution, one that puts the health and wellbeing of its children at the center of an ambitious and deeply collaborative effort. Through a strong ICLD part

  • Bergs kommun beviljas demokratisamarbete med ukrainsk kommun

    Iinternationellt Centrum för Lokal Demokrati, ICLD, har beviljat Bergs kommun demokratisamarbete med en ukrainsk kommun. ”Detta är en unik möjlighet för Bergs kommun att bygga relationer internationellt och även stötta Ukraina. Samtidigt stärker vi vår egen kompetens inom demokrati, krisberedskap och inkludering”, säger Therese Kärngard (s), kommunstyrelsens ordförande i Bergs kommun.

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A Shared Commitment to Gender Equality 🇸🇪🇨🇴🇬🇹 ICLD is in Guatemala City for the final meeting of our Gender Equality Network. Much has happened since we launched this network, and we are proud of the collaboration and progress achieved together. ✅ Gender equality means equal rights, opportunities, representation, and access to decision-making and public services for women and men, girls and boys. ✅ Creating inclusive local governance takes long-term commitment and cooperation — and the work is far from easy. We hope this work continues in new formats and leads to even more results in the future. Grateful for these years of partnership and hard work to advance #genderequality Partnerships in the network: • Åre – Panajachel • Region Västerbotten – Amazonas and Vaupés • Lessebo – Guatemala City • Umeå – Bogotá • Upplands-Bro – Maicao Un Compromiso Compartido con la Igualdad de Género 🇨🇴🇬🇹🇸🇪 Aquí estamos en Ciudad de Guatemala para la última reunión de la Red de Igualdad de Género de ICLD. Han pasado muchas cosas desde que lanzamos esta red, y nos sentimos orgullosos de la colaboración y de los avances logrados juntos. ✅ La igualdad de género significa garantizar la igualdad de derechos, oportunidades, representación y acceso a la toma de decisiones y a los servicios públicos para mujeres y hombres, niñas y niños. Construir una gobernanza local inclusiva requiere compromiso a largo plazo y cooperación — y el trabajo no es fácil. ✅ Esperamos que este trabajo continúe en nuevos formatos y que genere aún más resultados en el futuro. Agradecidos por estos años de colaboración y esfuerzo para avanzar en la igualdad de género. Alianzas en la red de colaboración: • Åre – Panajachel • Región Västerbotten – Amazonas y Vaupés • Lessebo – Ciudad de Guatemala • Umeå – Bogotá • Upplands-Bro – Maicao

ICLD har tilldelats pressfrihetspriset av Gotlänningens tryckeri 2026! ICLD:s generalsekreterare @hjlilja mottog priset under måndagen av Eva Nypelius. Motiveringen lyder: ”Internationellt Centrum för Lokal Demokrati på Gotland förtjänar att uppmärksammas på Pressfrihetens Dag 2026 för sitt uthålliga och värdefulla arbete med att stärka demokrati, insyn och lokalt självstyre i världens kommuner. Genom att ge beslutsfattare verktyg för öppenhet och ansvar lägger organisationen grunden för de fria och transparenta samhällen som pressfriheten kräver. ICLD på Gotland fungerar som ett världsomspännande vaccin som i sitt arbete motverkar antikorruption och utvecklar mer demokratiska och öppna samhällen. ICLD visar i praktiken att en stark demokrati – lokalt och globalt – är det bästa skyddet för en fri och oberoende press.” 🌟 Prissumman på 10 000 kr tillfaller en, av ICLD utvald, ung forskare som får delta under vår forskningskonferens ”ICLD Local Democracy Academy 2026” som hålls i Visby 17-19 augusti.

The Work Continues 💙💛 As we wrap up the final conference of our network with 30 Ukrainian and Swedish municipalities, we feel both proud and a little emotional. Over the past years, these partnerships have created meaningful results, strong connections, and inspiring examples of collaboration for stronger local democracy and resilience. While the network is coming to an end, the partnerships will now continue their journeys on their own — and we are confident that this important work and cooperation will keep growing far into the future. ✨

Last week, ICLD together with LGAZ organised a seminar aimed at strengthening governance and internal control systems within local authorities The seminar brought together local gov officials, specifically Directors of Finance and Directors of Planning from 10 local authorities across Zambia. (picture 1) Some reflections from the speakers during the seminar: 💬 ”Financial aspects of corporate governance are about being accountable to the public and institutional stakeholders in the management of public resources.” Nancy Mwamba – Director of Finance, MLGRD (picture 2) 💬 ”Internal control is not about policing people. Internal control starts with leadership, culture and attitude. It is about creating a culture of integrity, accountability and shared responsibility.” Lubasi Lubasi, Assistant Director, Internal Audit, MLGRD (picture 3) Picture 4: Evelyn G Mutandwa – Director, Office of auditor General

Building leadership, together in Sweden 👩🏽‍🤝‍👩🏼🇸🇪 Over 12 days, the 16 participants from 8 countries in ICLD’s Women’s Political Leadership Programme cohort 12, are visiting Sweden. They’ll learn more about Swedish governance, participatory democracy, inclusive governance, and gender equality in political decision-making, among many other things. In the final days, the participants will visit their mentors in local municipalities and take part in job shadowing. 📸: Visiting Salar together with their Swedish mentors. 1:Mentors and participants 2: The participants 3 The Swedish mentors

ICLD was pleased to welcome a team from the Colombian municipality of Maicao to our office in Stockholm this week. . Maicao has an ICLD partnership with the Swedish municipality Upplands-Bro focused on gender equality, and more specifically on supporting and facilitating the inclusion of LGBTQI+ individuals in the labour market. The NGO @caribeafirmativo - a Colombian organisation working for LGBTQI+ rights, particularly in the country’s Caribbean region, also took part in the visit. During their visit, we reviewed their results so far and revisited their Theory of Change, the use of the Citizen Report Card Survey, and the importance of core values for local democracy. .

Vid ICLD:s Årsmöte 23 april fattades beslut om planerad likvidation av ICLD per den 31 dec 2026. ICLD:s styrelse beklagar att inte @sidasweden och regeringen vill bevara det viktiga arbete som för demokrati och mänskliga rättigheter som ICLD:s verksamhet bidrar till. 💬 - Det finns ett stort engagemang bland våra medlemmar för att bevara såväl partnerskapsprogrammet som ledarskapsprogrammet för kvinnor, sade ICLD:s ordförande Marcus Holmberg. Huruvida SKR beslutar att lyfta in ngt av ICLD:s verksamhet i sin egen, får framtiden utvisa. Säkert är att arbetet för att stärka demokrati och mänskliga rättigheter på lokal nivå måste fortsätta, även utan ICLD! 📸: bild 1: Styrelsen: Ulrika Stöök och Marcus Holmberg, SKR, Kristina Jönsson, Lunds universitet Från ICLD: Johan Lilja, Maria José Zapata Campos och Felicia Wede. 📸 bild 2: Ordförande Marcus Holmberg, SKR

Building capacity for democratic governance 🔨 20 participants from Zambia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe recently joined ICLD’s Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop on democratic governance tools in Cape town. 🇿🇦🇿🇲🇧🇼🇿🇼 Bringing together representatives from Local Government Associations and training institutions, the workshop focuses on strengthening their ability to integrate and share democratic governance tools within their own systems and networks. 🌟🌟🌟 By investing in these key actors, we help ensure that knowledge spreads, adapts, and creates lasting impact at the local level! #localgov #CapacityBuilding #globallocal

From Participation to Power 🚀 How do we create real youth influence? One of the key questions this week at the final meeting of ICLD’s Youth Participation Network in Johannesburg. Throughout the week, we’ve explored the role of young people in decision-making, and what it truly takes to move from listening to sharing power. Young people don’t just want to be invited. They want a seat at the table, with real opportunities to shape decisions! There’s still a long way to go, but when the right space and tools are in place, the shift from participant to change-maker happens fast💥 📸: Participants in the partnership Mogale - Falun with the ICLD toolbox 📸: Junior Mayor, City of Johannesburg 📸: The participants in ICLD Youth network 🇿🇦🇸🇪🇿🇲🇿🇼🇧🇼 📸: In-depth discussions among the groups💡

How can municipal partnerships keep making a long-term impact? This week, ICLD met with the @svenska_institutet to explore new funding opportunities for international collaborations with one goal in mind: to help these partnerships continue their important work, even beyond ICLD support. The Swedish Institute offers a range of programmes, including opportunities for Swedish alumni. We will continue our dialogue to explore new opportunities for these partnerships — hoping their work can carry on in the long term🤗 #partnershipsforthegoals

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