The presentation of of the draft of the local Agenda plan to the city council, given by Angéla Ekman-Nätt/Esam AB, took place on January 15th at the Falköping City Hall.
Through the decision on Agenda 2030, all the countries of the world for the first time agreed on one global agenda for sustainable development. The agenda aims to ensure a social, environmental and an economically sustainable and peaceful world where all forms of hunger and extreme poverty have eradicated. The countries of the world are committed to fighting inequalities within and between countries, realize the human rights of all people and in particular promote equality and empowering women and girls, stopping climate change and its consequences, promoting peaceful and just societies and create the conditions for a sustainable and inclusive economic growth with decent working conditions for everyone.
The agenda with the 17 goals and the 169 sub-goals is integrated and indivisible and balances the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental target is to implement a social change by 2030 leading to an economic, social and environmentally sustainable development that protects our planet, eradicates poverty and generates one good welfare for all people. The agenda, or the Global Goals, should guide the decisions taken by the countries, taking into account the national capacity and level of development, and mean an increase in ambition in the work of sustainable development in all countries.
Unlike its predecessor the Millennium Goals, Agenda 2030 does not only target low-income countries. 193 countries have also agreed to pursue socially, economically and environmentally sustainable development.
Sustainability goals will be affecting the UN and all governments' priorities and policies, and are formulated so that they can be customized based on each country's national context. Member States have undertaken to systematically monitor and evaluate the agenda's objectives in their respective countries. Once a year, the UN brings together all Member States for the countries to report and discuss progress and adversities in the process of achieving the agenda.
Civil society and business activities also need to be developed and adapted to contribute to the achievement of the objectives. Among other things, a new way of thinking about current resources, skills and the way you run your business. Companies that adopt the goals in their long-term strategies contribute to the national priorities and will stand stronger.
Governance and Agenda 2030
Falköping has long had a pronounced focus on man and the good life, in both business and communication. "The Good Life" is the municipality's vision of a sustainable society, a society in balance and harmony, even for future generations. The vision is based on everyone's equal value and on socially active residents. In Falköping, the goal is to safeguard the quality of life, well-being and well-being of the Falköping residents. This is currently being operationalized in various ways in the business, but the conditions are to be further upgraded.
In the policy documents that are included in this study are a clear sustainability orientation m a man also faces several challenges:
- Digitization for a smarter welfare
- To see, increase and retain competence
- Strengthen follow-up work based on holistic thinking
- Meet and reduce climate change
- Develop an attractive city center and vibrant countryside
- Work on prevention and see diversity as an asset
- Global collaboration and co-creation
With the vision of "The good life" and one , above all social, sustainability focus , the municipality's joint governance is based on four general target areas one ; 1. A socially sustainable Falköping, 2. A more attractive Falköping, 3. A business sector that is developing and 4. The quality of the business will increase. This provides a clear framework which usefully be complemented by a stronger connection to the global objectives. You can with starting point in the agenda to create a stronger consensus on the difficult issues and thus also facilitate the management of the joint mission, regardless of management. The gaps between operations can be reduced and that the T can provide support to concretize the target image. In the end, however, every board and board needs to demand results in order for it to really become a workshop of vision and strategy.
Global goals and follow-up
This report is limited to Objective 5 - Gender Equality, Objective 11 Sustainable cities and communities, Goal 13 Climate and Objective 16 Peaceful communities and the recommendations should therefore not be interpreted as comprehensive, even though the ambition has been to also review the governance from a holistic perspective in order to enable, over time, a stronger link to an integrated agenda.
Objective 5 Equality
Sweden is at the forefront of the work on gender equality and, together with the other Nordic countries, places itself consistently high in international comparisons. Despite this, a number of challenges remain before gender equality is achieved in Sweden as well as major challenges globally to safeguard the rights of girls and women.
The situation in Falköping indicates that there are conscious and unconscious structural obstacles. Everything from the distribution of housing to discrimination and jargon / culture, but also violence and threats. The perception is that women's experiences are still not taken seriously enough.
National measurements indicate that there is a potential for improvement locally in terms of workplace safety and wages.
We in recommendations include:
- Education about discrimination, diversity and equality and health promotion processes as a driving force for sustainable development.
- Develop gender statistics where possible and analyze which the benefits / disadvantages of the adopted decisions.
- Start up the Gender budgeting process in the municipal investment and operating budget.
- Increase the transparency of the communications are salary surveys and economic living conditions.
- Develop competence in EST and social activities related to violence in close relationships and honor-related violence, if not already done.
If you start to collect and analyze gender-segregated statistics to a greater extent, over time you will build more knowledge about informal structures and the effects of decisions made.[8] Appropriate key figures in the light of the local challenges should be about power / influence, security, health & participation.
Objective 11 Sustainable cities and communities
A large majority of Sweden's population live in and around cities and towns. While urbanization poses social and environmental challenges, urban development is also an important tool in the work on sustainable development.
Falköping is growing and today has a housing shortage. Older areas are transformed or densified. The rural demand of worthy and / or relevant actions and everything makes great demands on a proactive approach to high participation. Some localities are very strong, while other communities are more resource-poor.
The overview plan is relatively new. Work is underway to increase the sustainability perspectives at the planning, construction and management stages, not least from a social perspective. Energy work is ongoing in the municipal stock.
National measurements is suggesting that there is potential for improvement regarding especially overcrowding.
We recommend, among other things
- Increase knowledge of Sustainable Cities. The development of the City Center has a strong social dimension. Priority should be given to working with behavior, not least in terms of sustainable transport.
- Strengthen collaboration in the construction and management chain, not least with the Sustainable Development Department.
- Consider how more status-enhancing work can be done in exposed housing areas
Proactive efforts for sustainable community development with a focus on the "good life" in the planning process can address many of the challenges Falköping face today. Appropriate key figures in the light of the local challenges should be primarily about social factors such as Health and green environments, a functioning everyday life, cohesive city, interaction / meetings, security / openness and behavior / identity in addition to monitoring environmental performance.
Goal 13 Climate
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. As a result of the increased emissions, we risk moving towards an average global warming exceeding two degrees Celsius, which would have serious consequences for ecosystems, sea acidification, human security, food production, water supply, health and with an increased risk of weather-related natural disasters.
Sweden is relatively far ahead in climate change, but the Paris agreement requires faster emission reductions from the industrialized countries. And we have a long way to go if we are to achieve a necessary reduction in our emissions, which is mainly generated by our housing, what we put on the plate, our transport / travel and our other consumption.
National measurements indicate that Falköping has a great need to take control and control emissions from several different sources.
We recommend:
- The municipality of Falköping needs to be a credible example. We therefore recommend that you take farmhouse climate accounts and courageous action plans for all the municipality's climate-impacting activities.
- Define working methods together with the business community to arm and strengthen the joint work for reduced emissions and new business models.
- Mobility. Work on behavioral influences and the dissemination of skills is central to influencing the direction of more sustainable passenger transport.
- Ensure follow-up and communication.
Goal 16 Peaceful and inclusive communities
Violence in all its forms is one of the greatest threats to development both at the individual level and at the societal level. Violence also destroys the interpersonal trust and social cohesion that is the basis for a society's economic, environmental and social development. Sweden is a peaceful country with well-functioning institutions, strong confidence in the justice system, low corruption and high interpersonal trust.
The situation in Falköping indicates that there are problems with insecurity, segregation and discrimination. This is taken seriously and a lot of work is put into overcoming the problems that exist. For the work, in 2018 the award was awarded to the Human Municipality of the Year.
Our recommendations include:
- Define working methods for the Social Sustainability Committee and ensure collaboration with other cross-sectoral working groups, such as Security – SMS.
- Strengthen collaboration with civil society, associations and education.
- Focus on what works. Celebrate for example the high voter turnout.
Appropriate key figures in the light of the local challenges should be about trust, trust, participation and security.
Work continued
When asked the respondents what goals Falköping Municipality should primarily focus on, the answer was 3, 4, 7, 10, 11, 12, 16 & 17. The motivation for the goals chosen was about the work for a sustainable and equal society, living conditions affecting the health and needs of internal operations. This is not a representative result but can give a cautious indication of where the biggest challenges are.
Priority efforts:
Management and control:
- The strength chain needs to stay together better with focus based on the assignments different departments / operations have.
- Strategic work must really translate into action and action, not least through follow-up. Several respondents highlight the need for the work to be incorporated into the major decision-making processes, not least the budgeting process.
- The goals need to be included in everyday life in all administrations so that all employees and managers know what, as an activity, they do in concrete to achieve the goals, how they affect each other, and also can see how far we have come in our work.
Knowledge dissemination and implementation of Agenda 2030's intentions in daily work:
- Furthermore, managers and managers need to become better at disseminating / sharing information to their employees in a more structured way.
At the same time, challenges such as the economic and political long-term perspective, as well as a lack of coordination and ignorance, were raised. The importance of getting all employees to want and get involved in a common goal image requires increased learning and not least for residents, users, tenants with more customers for the municipality's operations.
In summary, we find that the governance of Falköping municipality in accordance with the global goals needs to be strengthened in order to truthfully say that the global goals run as a "red thread" in the business. In the new multi-year plan, several agenda objectives are stated, but the basis does not provide any support in how to put the agenda into practical control. This requires continued work.