Falun on the road to becoming a ‘Democracy City’ in Sweden

Democracy centres at public libraries

One key element of ‘Democracy City Falun’ is the establishment of ‘Democracy Centres’ in the 16 public libraries in Falun. As Swedish residents tend to read much and frequent libraries much more often than is the case in other European countries, libraries are good places to inform citizens about current local planning projects and  opportunities for becoming involved. In particular, local libraries will provide citizens, community associations and school classes with information on issues of interest to them through various media channels but also through personalised information provided by library staff, who will be trained in order to take on this new responsibility. It will also be possible for citizens to book meetings and consultations with public officers and councillors in the library. In September 2013 the first of the new Democracy Centres will open at the main library in the city centre. Others will follow.

Democracy Navigators

During 2013 and 2014 the first ‘Democracy Navigators’ will start to work in Falun and inform, support and assist interested citizens about participation opportunities and help them to prepare proposals and manage projects. One of the Navigators (three-quarters of a full-time job) will be working with key local public services while a second one (another 75% post) is likely to be put in place in 2014 to support the participation of young people in Falun. The Navigators will also work as a link between citizens and public services. The aim is eventually to equip every service of the local council with its own “Democracy Navigator” who is able to advise citizens how to make their voices heard and to feed their ideas into the political process. In the start-up phase, the Falun Council will support the training and activities of the new Navigators, who will not just sit in the town hall but be where local people are – in the libraries, schools, and service departments of the local council, including the chief executive’s office.

Bringing in young people

"Young Democracy” aims at involving young people under the age of 18 who are not entitled to vote yet. This implies strengthening of civic education in local schools. It is important to note that in Sweden  schools are the responsibility of local government and Falun employs more than 1000 teachers. Other action points include participation in the new Youth Democracy Centre and co-collaboration in the Falun Democracy Web. Furthermore, the employment of a “Youth Democracy Navigator” is intended to link public services better to young people, including post-school activity centres and cultural organisations. “We want to mainstream the participatory approach to all youth-related work in Falun”, states Linnéa Risinger, member of the “Democracy Council” and one of the most prominent youth politicians in Falun. 

While Falun is reluctant to use Twitter or Facebook as tools of participation, it intends to develop its own ‘Democracy Web’ which may also allow citizens to vote online in the future. The idea behind the Falun Democracy Web is to offer as much transparency as possible to guide citizens through local decision-making processes. This includes user manuals on the right to make proposals to the local council or launch initiatives for popular votes at local level.