RUS dialogue in Gällivare: "We have practitioners but need more theorists"

The RUS tour has now been to Gällivare. There, 41 people met to grapple with issues such as the image of Norrbotten, quality of life, challenges, needs and strengths. Many pointed out education as a problem area.

Ann-Helen Köhler, youth manager at Gällivare Municipality, pointed to three central problems that not only affect Gällivare, but most of Norrbotten.

“We are too few people, we have a skills shortage and a housing shortage. We all struggle with that,” she said.

Magdalena Forsman, who works with the municipality's move-in service, emphasized the importance of working with the place's brand, pride and ambassadorship.

– It's about the general hospitality of the place, that all residents and citizens understand that you ARE the place and need to be able to welcome new residents. We have to work with inclusion and ambassadorship. We have to work with pride and the brand, she said.

Magdalena Forsman, migration pilot (third from left) highlighted the ambassadorship.

Magdalena Ahnqvist Olsson, Lapland's Association of Local Authorities, sees many strengths in society, but also shortcomings in the supply.

– We have fantastic nature, it's quiet and safe, nice helpful people. We have a fairly flat society, it's not so hierarchical and prestigious, it's easy to get involved and influence. But the lack of transportation means that we are very car-dependent and there is a limited selection of restaurant food. We have pizza and hamburgers, said Magdalena.

The lack of other public transport also affects the possibility of moving in.

– We want to bring young adults from big cities, Stockholmers, but many of them don't have a driver's license. How is that going to work then? said consultant Börje Johansson.

“Civil society must compensate”

Several participants highlighted that welfare is the basis for the attractiveness of society. Petra Åhl from Medskapandebyrån sees major shortcomings in this area.

– We don't understand how important it is to have healthcare, schools, and social care. There are families who plan to move from Gällivare because there are shortages. The aesthetic lines are not there, parents of girls are moving so that they can go to high school somewhere else. 

She sees that there are also major shortcomings in the support for people with neuropsychiatric disabilities (NPF) or mental illness and believes that civil society must contribute.

– Civil society must step in and create social associations. We don't have Attention (an interest group for people with NPF, editor's note), no one who works with Mind (an organization for mental health, editor's note), it's such a blank spot that we don't even understand that we have to have this. There is a lack of advocates, there is a lack of safety nets. Social entrepreneurship is an opportunity, but if there are no social associations, business doesn't grow either. Civil society must compensate for this lack of welfare, she said.

Birgitta Olsson repeatedly returned to housing as a major obstacle to solving the municipality's problems with skills, welfare and population supply.

Municipal councillor Birgitta Olsson spoke about the situation in the municipality and confirmed that population growth is a matter of fate for the municipality. The municipality needs more people to solve the skills shortage and strengthen welfare, but the housing shortage is a huge problem. Gällivare is building, but it is housing that compensates for housing that is being demolished in Malmberget, it will not be an addition to housing.

– We see that we have a major housing shortage and therefore we have a plan for 1200 homes over a five-year period. We need permanent homes, rental properties, contractor homes and villas. We have land ready for construction, the concern is that no new homes are being built in Sweden. But we have detailed plans with 800 homes that are ready. If you have an entrepreneur in your back pocket, send them here!

The housing is needed both for today's housing shortage and for the future.

– We are going to build the city together with the mountains. There will be housing all the way up to Dundret. We need to do all this to meet Hybrit's transition to fossil-free steel, said Birgitta Olsson.

“The future is bright”

She says that there is a great and increasing belief in the future in the municipality, largely due to new industrialization and societal transformation.

– It secures the future in Gällivare over the long term, the future is bright. We need to work with the place so that it becomes attractive and that it is not just fly in-fly out, but that they bring their families and move here.

The group from Region Norrbotten who participated in the dialogue: from left John Kostet, Monica Lejon, Kristin Hammarberg (RISE), Sara Stybäck Vesa, Lisa Lundgren, Janus Brandin, Tove Cullhed, Carolina Lundmark Weinz, Erika Falk. Photo: Petra Åhl

Monica Lejon, Head of Unit for Business and Society at Region Norrbotten, complemented the picture of the current situation with statistics.

– Skills supply is perhaps Norrbotten's biggest challenge right now. We are also working to develop and strengthen that area. We can see that the proportion of openly unemployed people in Gällivare is 1,1 percent, she said.

“Providing skills is the biggest problem”

Several of the participants raised the need for distance learning and wished that LTU would decentralize more education.

– We who belong to the business community see that the supply of skills is the biggest problem. The fact that we do not have higher education is a huge problem. It is an obstacle that the education is only available in Luleå, we need to recruit but it is not possible. We see no obstacles to distance education, we can just as easily bring in universities from the rest of Europe because English is not a problem, said Börje Johansson.

Petra Åhl, Medskapandebyrån, emphasized the importance of uplifting the municipality's youth. Photo: Sara Stylbäck Vesa

In the last workshop session, different groups were to look at different areas of focus in the upcoming RUS. One of them looked at the area Good opportunities for culture, housing, work and welfare.

– We aim to become Sweden's best youth municipality. Young people who have ideas must be met with respect, we must protect, meet, include, but this requires that we organize ourselves to meet young people, says Petra Åhl.

Magdalena Ahnqvist Olsson spoke about the proposals in a group that took a closer look at the issue of skills supply during the workshop.

– In 2040 we will have long-term partnerships with universities. You can go from a vocational school to an academy. We want to build Boden Gamecamp in a Gällivare style, bringing together education and ensuring that students and the companies we have in Gällivare are close. Clear career paths in the workplace, offering internships and housing for students who are going to do internships, Boliden is starting to do this now, but we are doing it in strategically important areas. Some type of international school to accept English as another language early on.

The RUS dialogues are also an opportunity for exchange of experiences and networking. Here Vera Westerlund, skills supply strategist at Region Norrbotten, and Magdalena Ahnqvist Olsson, training manager at the Lapland Association of Local Authorities.

Börje Johansson highlighted the need for higher education to be able to work with the focus area Innovation and renewal.

– Innovation and renewal require research and education. We have practitioners but need more theorists.

Lotta Silfver is an environmental strategist at the municipality and worked in the group that looked more closely at accessibility within, among other things, transportation systems.

– We are talking about the need for social and mental change to manage without a car. We are thinking about different types of on-demand public transport solutions, hubs for working wherever you want, increasing acceptance of carpooling, densifying cities, she said.

Thank you Gällivare for interesting conversations and good ideas. Next stop: Haparanda on March 21st.

Summary of the recordings from Gällivare

Text: Sara Stylbäck Vesa