Nordic municipalities hunting for solutions

I see them nearly every day, the first graders walking to school. Last autumn, at the start of the school year, they would often be in company with parents. Now, in spring, more and more walk on their own or with other classmates.

The first graders are safe. On their way to school and in school.

Rødskogen school lies in Drammen municipality in Norway. One day in October last year, the lives of pupils, parents and staff were suddenly turned upside down.

The municipality had to save 150 million kroner. Six schools were on the list of cuts. Rødskogen school was one of them. 

Around the same time, some 100 schools around the country were threatened with or chosen for closure because of poor finances in municipalities and county councils.

The plan to shut down schools created debate and big protests from pupils, locals and politicians.

When something like that happens in our own neighbourhood, we use what we can in a local democracy: We attend demonstrations, write opinion pieces, use social media, hang up protest posters – the displeasure will be visible everywhere in the municipality.

“SAVE THE SCHOOLS” was a slogan you could clearly see on Drammen’s local alpine hill for a long while.

And against the norm, we submit answers in consultation processes, attend executive committee and municipal council meetings. We take part in local democracy. Because we know the residents have an important voice, and if we shout loudly enough our message can get across.  

After months of protests and uncertainty, all schools in Drammen were protected. The fight over the local school has been postponed by two years. Meanwhile, a new school structure will be assessed.

This is part of life in the municipality where we live. Because we all live in a municipality in the Nordic region. There are more than 1,100 of them in the Nordics. Some are tiny, others really big, both in population and geographical size.

The smallest of them all in terms of population is Tjörneshreppur in Iceland, home to 53 people. A while back, there were only two pupils in the local school. 

In Iceland, as in several other Nordic countries, the question was asked: Should municipalities with only a few hundred residents be allowed to survive? Yes, absolutely, is the answer we hear when we visit Norway’s smallest municipality in terms of population – Utsira.

This is also where we meet Julie Faldt Faurholt. She originally comes from the island of Lesø, Denmark’s smallest municipality. When she moved out, she was determined never again to live in such a small place. 

By coincidence, the Danish woman ended up on Utsira. And she found peace. 

“On Utsira, it is safe for children to grow up,” says Faldt Faurholt. She works in the municipal kindergarten. 

One in five Utsira residents works in the municipality. The need for more private enterprise is acute. 

In Frøya, another island municipality in Norway, that is not a problem. Here, up to 1,750 of the municipality’s 5,600 residents work in aquaculture.

Frøya municipality has not got that many legs to stand on if something were to happen to that sector, acknowledges the mayor, Kristin Strømskag.

Despite the challenges, some things are common across the whole of the municipal Nordic region:

There is an ageing population and the number of working-age people is falling more than ever before. We do not have enough hands on deck to face the future, especially in the health and social care sectors.

The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKR) believes it is not possible to solve the staffing crisis through recruitment alone. The municipalities must get people to stay in work for longer, increase the number working full-time and think about new working methods. 

“The municipalities must show that they can offer meaningful jobs,” says Bodil Umegård at SKR.

In Pajala in Northern Sweden, the municipality is happy that the mining industry employs a lot of people. But it means the local authority itself struggles to hold on to and recruit people. They are now looking to Finland to recruit more staff for health and social care. 

New thinking is also a mantra in Danish municipalities. Helsingør municipality has given employees more freedom with responsibility. This has given staff greater job satisfaction and motivation.

“For the leaders in early childhood education and for me as their manager, it has been exciting to learn how to lead with fewer rigid control mechanisms while maintaining quality,” says Helene Horsbrugh in Helsingør municipality.

Skilled employees bring strength to local authorities across the Nordics, according to the Finnish municipal researcher Siv Sandberg.

“The municipalities are pretty good at adapting to new realities and doing the best with what they have. We might be blind to this, but we have a very well-educated and professional leadership in the municipalities,” she says. 

And this is necessary, believes the researcher, because the municipalities are facing significant financial challenges.

Kristian Vendelbo, CEO of the Danish Local Government Association, is worried residents will not accept that services do not improve due to strict financial controls. 

After all, we residents do have expectations of the services provided in the municipality where we live. Yes, we expect that first graders can still safely walk to their local school. Happy reading!