Sweden
Our programme in Sweden
Sweden is where Life & Peace Institute was founded in the 1980s, and while LPI always had a solid base here, the focus of our work has been elsewhere.
However, in recent years Sweden – and Europe more broadly – has seen continuing shifts in political and public discourse towards a decrease in tolerance and openness. Sweden has also seen an increase in already existing challenges relating to issues such as segregation and rising income inequality. This has highlighted existing disparities between groups and has served to shed light on the need for inclusive transformative approaches to foster greater community cohesion.
In response to these observations and building on LPI’s long-standing history of working with transformative approaches of peacebuilding, LPI launched its Sweden Engagement Programme in 2018. LPI’s Sweden Engagement programme focuses on the three strategic priorities of civil society support and inclusive engagement for peace, policy engagement and awareness-raising and knowledge and Learning to enhance practice.
One strand of work focuses on applying the skills and knowledge gained by working towards peaceful societies in the Horn of Africa to the Swedish context and its challenges, in order to contribute to a Sweden that is peaceful, just and inclusive. Another strand of work focuses on linking with and lifting knowledge and policy from its other programmes within Sweden.
Partners are key to our success
Partnership is key to LPI’s success and is also integral to LPI’s engagement in Sweden. We are building networks with people who are already on the ground working on these issues.
In its Peacefinders project, LPI has worked closely with student associations at various universities in Sweden, in four different locations: Uppsala, Stockholm, Jönköping and Malmö. The student associations are key collaborators in engaging youth at university campuses.
LPI is collaborating with a broad range of civil society organisations and other actors for the purpose of policy engagement, knowledge enhancement and grassroots community engagement. Networks such as Concord Sweden, Sweden Mission Council, European Peace Liaison Office (EPLO) and various issue- or context based networks in Sweden are important means of engagement for outreach and collaboration.
Our work
Peacefinders: Youth Leading for the Global Goals As a response to the observations of growing challenges within Sweden, LPI launched a pilot project in 2018 aimed at engaging young people in Sweden to contribute to a more peaceful, just and inclusive Sweden through the Global Goals. This project sought to increase the knowledge of this global framework among youth in Sweden to ensure their effective participation in its implementation. The project was reimagined with youth participation and re-launched for the period of 2019-2020 as Peacefinders, with the aim of providing a platform for young people to drive transformative action towards peace and inclusion in Sweden and elsewhere, thereby bridging theory and action.
Beyond its focus on offering a platform for youth action towards the Global Goals, the Peacefinders project is also seeking to expand the current understanding of what defines a peaceful society through conducting research on the aspects of positive peace in Sweden. Parallel to this LPI is also working with policy engagement in the Swedish context.
Approach and methods
In its Sweden Engagement Programme LPI is adapting approaches we have for a long time worked with in our other contexts such as Sustained Dialogue but are also testing new approaches such as working with social labs, and new forms of policy engagement.
Read more about our approach & methods
Our donors
Current funders include the Swedish Mission Council (SMC)
Resources
Vem får höras? - LPI’s contribution on page 18-23
The Life & Peace Institute at the High-Level Political Forum: A Project Officer’s reflections
External links
Concord Sverige -Tillsammans för en rättvis och hållbar värld
Sweden - Uppsala
LPI’s Sweden Office is located in Uppsala
Postal Address
Life & Peace Institute, Kungsängsgatan 17, 1st floor, SE-753 22, Uppsala, Sweden
Visiting Address
Life & Peace Institute, Kungsängsgatan 17, 1st floor, SE-753 22, Uppsala, Sweden
Phone +46 (0)18-66 01 30 or +46 (0)18-66 01 31, +46 (0)18-66 01 32
Email info@life-peace.org