EU Business News- Scandinavian Business Awards 2024 Most Dedicated Community Project Manager 2024 (Sweden): Martine Westerlund Norsjö Kommun Martine’s exciting journey in community development started in Sweden, to which she immigrated 14 years ago. The Norsjö Municipality Future Program was initiated to chart the municipality’s future. Through collaboration meetings and citizen participation, a new vision emerged: 'The Best Everyday Life in the World.' The program focused on preventive measures to reverse the depopulation trend of the last twenty years. During Martine’s tenure as process manager for Norsjö Municipality’s vision work in 2018/19, she actively participated in impactful projects promoting community development and engaging the citizens of Norsjö. Her work positively influenced the local population, shaping a better future for the Norsjöbygden region. The term ‘Norsjöbygden’ was coined to be inclusive of both the rural areas of the Municipality and Norsjö town itself. As a process manager, Martine was instrumental in creating Norsjö Municipality's ambitious business strategy, 'The Best Everyday Life in the World'. This strategy, adopted by the municipal council in 2019, focuses on making the Norsjö region an attractive and supportive environment for starting, developing, and running businesses. It emphasizes cooperation and dialogue among businesses, the municipality, authorities, and education providers fostering sustainable growth and a favourable business climate. The vision 'The Best Everyday Life in the World' emerged from extensive dialogue with citizens, with approximately 20% of the population contributing focussing on long-term planning, collaboration, co-creation, population growth and dialogue promoting positive development in the area. Norsjö Municipality was selected as the National Municipality of the Year 2020 by the organization 'Hela Sverige Ska Leva' due to the work with the Future Program. Norsjö Municipality chose to adopt the principles and strategy of 'Service in Collaboration' in its democratic process. The commitment has been significant from the municipality, businesses, associations, and the public. The open citizen dialogue was inclusive, involving rural areas, new arrivals, pensioners, people with disabilities, entrepreneurs, associations, and school children. Based on citizen dialogue, Martine initiated a scrap car campaign and a campaign to find abandoned houses, among other things. The newspaper 'Norran' wrote, 'Norsjö's transparency is exemplary.' The Municipal Service Plan was drawn up based on citizens' dialogue after an extensive consultation round. In the second round, citizens participated in creating an overview plan. Norsjö Municipality was also one of five municipalities nominated to become Sweden's Quality Municipality in 2019. The award goes to the municipality that has best succeeded in promoting democracy, supporting businesses, improving the working environment, and building community. Norsjö is the smallest municipality ever to be nominated. This initiative emerged from Martine’s tenure as a process manager, with 'Hela Sverige Ska Leva' (The Whole of Sweden Should Live) a rural development agency. The 'Service in Collaboration' project in Skellefteå was part of a nationwide project to enhance services in rural areas. Its primary goal was to establish sustainable collaboration models between local development groups and the municipality, ensuring that essential services are accessible to residents, fundamental for both quality of life and local entrepreneurship. In Skellefteå, Martine focused on identifying local needs and opportunities, creating platforms for cooperation among local development groups, businesses, and the municipality. Through co-creation with municipal representatives, she tested new models for multi-level collaboration, aiming to develop a sustainable structure for service planning in rural areas. Her work was integrated into the county's service planning. During the initial stage of the project, she engaged with village development groups, using the World Café model for citizen dialogue. Her ultimate goal was to create a platform that would continue beyond the project's duration. Remarkably, among the nine process managers across eleven municipalities who participated in similar projects, Martine’s collaboration platform stood out as the sole model created. A knowledge database was compiled from materials generated by other process managers. In 2023, both Skellefteå and Norsjö municipalities began implementing Martine’s internal collaboration platform model to foster development and collaboration across various departments within the municipalities for future planning. Notably, for Skellefteå, this initiative played a pivotal role in their growth and development, particularly with the establishment of Northvolt mega battery factory. As part of Martine’s own initiative, she launched 'Multinations Norsjö,' focusing on labour market immigration and integration. Subsequently, this project received funding from LEADER, and the Swedish Agency for Agriculture. Its primary objective to streamline and expedite the process for individuals who wish to relocate to Norsjö. Through coordinated efforts and an active forum, 'Multinations Norsjö' provides new residents with essential information, support, and services .As a direct result 68 people moved to Norsjö. Martine had the opportunity to share the principles of 'Multinations' with Övertorneå business department in Norrbotten. Successful implementation of Övertorneå version underscores the approach’s positive impact. Martine also received International Hospitality & Travel Awards “Lodge of the year in Sweden” in 2020 & 2022 for exceptional public relation skills. Contact: Martine Westerlund Company: Norsjö Kommun LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ martinewesterlund/?locale=sv_SE May24681
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