Validation Center Norrbotten
Since 2018, the Norrbotten Region and the Norrbotten Municipalities have jointly run projects with the aim of strengthening the county's skills supply. By highlighting the opportunities for validation and utilizing individuals' actual skills, the projects have attempted to contribute to developing a more inclusive, flexible and efficient labor market, primarily with a focus on skills-enhancing initiatives in municipal adult education.
In 2022, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth was commissioned by the government to support and develop effective and sustainable validation structures at regional level, with the aim of strengthening the regions' capacity and ability to integrate validation efforts into the broader work on regional skills provision. At the same time, new legal requirements for validation in municipal adult education came into force. The Norrbotten Validation Centre project (2023–2025) was initiated partly to support Komvux in its work to adapt to the new legal requirements but also to meet the government's mandate.
Throughout the project, a particular focus has been placed on strengthening municipal adult education (Komvux) as a key player in the validation chain. The ambition has been to ensure equal access to validation regardless of where in the county the individual resides.
Project objectives
The project has focused on strengthening and developing validation work in Norrbotten through a series of initiatives. A central part has been to create a coherent and well-functioning structure for validation in the county.
The project has also contributed to skills development for vocational teachers, decision-makers and civil servants, and has worked to quality assure the validation carried out, both within the organization itself and with external suppliers.
Finally, the project has actively worked to facilitate coordination and collaboration between municipalities and external actors to ensure long-term and sustainable validation work throughout Norrbotten.
The Norrbotten Validation Center will contribute to quality-assured validation in Norrbotten through three goals:
- To incorporate validation as part of Norrbotten's skills supply in 2025.
- To contribute to skills development for staff in municipal operations who work with validation as part of skills provision in Norrbotten in 2025.
- To create the conditions for a digital portal/website in 2025 that will contribute to quality-assured validation in Norrbotten.
Long-term effects
- The municipalities in Norrbotten gain a common view on the work with validation through skills development.
- Skills supply actors in Norrbotten gain in-depth knowledge about validation and how validation can be used to facilitate skills supply in the county.
- The municipalities in Norrbotten will have a more equal and streamlined validation process by using the common digital platform.
Who are our collaboration partners?
Norrbotten Municipalities
How is the project conducted?
The project is run by a project team with a project manager, validation coordinator and project coordinator, as well as consultants as needed. The project period is April 1, 2023 to December 31, 2024, with an extension to July 31, 2025.
Who is financing the project?
The project's budget is 5,9 million SEK and is co-financed by the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, the municipalities of Norrbotten and Region Norrbotten, which are the project owners.
