Civil Society Cooperation

Report on the Study visit (activity 3.4) of specialists from the Kaliningrad region within the project “Enhancing local administration development in the Kaliningrad Region through cooperation between Nordic and Russian regions and municipalities” on 13-17 Septemebr, 2009 to Karlshamn (Sweden)

Introduction and background
The visit of Russian specialists to Sweden is one of the key activities of the project “Enhancing local administration development in the Kaliningrad Region through cooperation between Nordic and Russian regions and municipalities” financed under the Knowledge building and Networking programme of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
The project has three components in its structure:
1)      Municipal support to SMEs and entrepreneurs
2)      Municipal planning for a sustainable development
3)      Management development within municipal libraries (finished)

The content and organisation of the visit were planned and discussed during the organizational visit of coordinators hold on 17-22 May 2009, as well as via e-mail communication with Swedish colleagues. All professional wishes and needs were taken into account by the local Swedish coordinators in a due time. 

Participants
The Activity 3.4 (Study visit to Sweden) involved 18 persons from seven participating municipalities of the Kaliningrad region (Kaliningrad, Svetly, Pionersky, Gurievsk, Gusev, Mamonovo and Neman) representing municipal authorities, municipal companies, educational sector and business community.
It should be specially noted that the Danish participant from Odense expressed her wish to take part in the study visit to Sweden. This was agreed and approved by the NCM. The Nordic side in the visit was represented by civil servants and politicians from 2 partner municipalities of Sweden - Karlshamn and Halmstad.

Objectives of the visit:
1)   To get acquainted with partner municipalities in Sweden (Karlshamn and Halmstad) and local civil servants and politicians;
2)   To get knowledge and experiences on sustainable development and city planning including environmental planning and public involvement in the decision making process;
3)   To share experiences and competences on the municipal support to SMEs and entrepreneurship and to learn the structure of public-private partnership;
4)   To get knowledge on municipal services, namely, water supply, waste water treatment and waste management;
5)   To get experiences on collaboration of municipalities with business community and educational sector  

Presentations:
Sweden_Blekinge_Business_Incubator
Sweden_Halmstad_city
Sweden_Karlshamn_Business Development
Sweden_Karlshamn_International cooperation
Sweden_Karlshamn_Local and regional development
Sweden_Karlshamn_Netport
Sweden_Karlshamn_One Step Further
Sweden_Karlshamn_Rural_Development
Sweden_Karlshamn_Sustainable_Development
Sweden_Karlshamn_Tourism
Sweden_Karlshamn_Welcome_to_Karlshamn




Edited in October 2009