FROM COPENHAGEN TO KAMPALA - YOUTH FOR SUSTAINABLE CITIES

Story by Benedicte Bertelsen, Dreamtown’s Engagement Officer.

How do we engage more young people in development collaborations across cities?

On Monday, September 28th 2020, we packed our facilitation gear and made our way to Copenhagen Adult Education Centre (KVUC) to find out - excited to meet the students. This was the first day of a five-day course with the SDG high school track at KVUC, which Dreamtown has facilitated in collaboration with our Ugandan partner, Network for Active Citizens (NAC).

The overall purpose of our collaboration with KVUC is to strengthen Danish, urban young people's enthusiasm for, knowledge of, and commitment towards global development cooperation with a focus on sustainable cities. Through a case challenge competition, the students at KVUC worked in project groups with challenges posed by young people in Kampala's slums. Over six weeks, we talked about project innovation, collaboration across cities, and how we create and communicate social change.

Engagement through contact

All young people in Denmark should have the opportunity to get to know about the world of other young people. Creating contact between young people in the global North and South can unfold the nuances in lived realities across cities and increase international solidarity and global community spirit.

”We realized that our project was not just a common space for young people, but it was actually much deeper […] about the view of humanity and human nature in how children and young people create identity for themselves” (KVUC student)

In the meeting with others, we can truly create and foster respect and understanding for each other’s lives and realities. The Danish youth at KVUC, who themselves live in a city, got a chance to experience a deeper insight into social justice and inequality that exists across cities through the contact with young people in Uganda. 

“It becomes more real, instead of having no real contact – now you just know that you are trying to come up with something together” (KVUC student)

Engagement with, by, and for young people 

In our collaboration with KVUC, our ambition is to create a space for developing opportunities to act across cities, and to shape solutions for a more sustainable city where social justice, climate, and environmental responsibility are drivers for social change.

“It helps to shape us rather than to educate us […] There are slightly freer reins, and a different approach to how you think” (KVUC student)

We want to develop a course that will strengthen Danish urban young people's enthusiasm for, knowledge of, and commitment towards global development cooperation. And to make social changed in close collaboration with young people. In our SDG case challenge with KVUC, the young people that took part in Kampala, although far from our classroom in Copenhagen, felt part of the process - through defining challenges, helping the KVUC students better understand their context, and - of course - picking the winning project idea!

“The young people are excited, and what makes this project more colourful is that they feel like they are part of each and every step of the project - which is something that doesn’t happen usually.  The way the project is designed makes them feel like they own the project” (Hellen Nakasujja, NAC)

Development across cities

The most important thing in this process is to create agency among young people, whether in Kampala or in Copenhagen. It is about letting people own their story, by not coming up with solutions without a background, rather creating an understanding of the context in Kampala, and what is important to other youth in their everyday lives. With respect for the individual story, we can all inspire each other and come up with solutions.

”It is really cool to be part of actually doing something, to get your hands dirty and try to make a difference with them [young people] in Uganda” (KVUC student)

Contact, exchange of ideas, and context are important. Creating sustainable social change is a process where we need to constantly strive to get better and cherish our respect for the lives of others, their stories, and realities.

Group 1! Sasha and Sara - here with Dreamtown’s CEO, Rasmus - won the case challenge with their idea to create a multipurpose space for young mothers in Kampala.

Course content

Dreaming and developing ideas. Our amazing partner NAC had created three case challenges in collaboration with Ugandan youth from three different slum communities in Kampala: One challenge focused on SDG 5 (Gender Equality), one challenge focused on SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), and one focused on SDG 13 (Climate Action). Based on these challenges, the KVUC students started envisioning how they could tackle these challenges through a project. 

Project cycle and problem analysis. We dived into the life cycle of a project, and used the problem tree to map out and nuance the core causes and effects of the challenges. As one student said: “It became a little more real, I think, because suddenly you have several causes - one became one thousand”. Based on the project trees, the students made an interview guide with questions for young people in Kampala, to better help them understand the challenges. Their questions were then discussed in a focus group with NAC in Kampala.

Creating a theory of change for the projects. A theory of change is an approach to think about how to create social change. The groups worked with theory of change to get a better understanding of how their projects could create social change.

Developing project proposals. Each group made their own unique and innovative project idea for social change in collaboration with the Ugandan youth that they presented for their classmates, and for the youth in Kampala.

The project ideas

Group 1: A multipurpose safe space for vulnerable mothers

The main goal is to create new and better wellbeing for vulnerable mothers in the slum of Kampala. The group is grounded in SDG 5 - Gender Equality. However, keen to create a multipurpose space that addresses SDG 2, 11, and 13 as well, with three intertwining ideas for the space: (1) Social mobility for mothers - a safe haven for mothers as a space to unfold and support one another; (2) Access to increased nutrition by introducing the crop quinoa in an urban garden - a crop that does well under extreme climate conditions; (3) A playground that acts as a safe space for children next to the urban quinoa garden.

Group 2: A climate change treasure hunt

The main goal is to spread knowledge about climate change and the consequences of climate change in the slum communities - to make it fun to learn about climate change. This is done with a treasure hunt in the slum communities. First, with a workshop bringing young people together and teaching them about climate change. Next, with a treasure hunt where the youth use what they learned to complete a number of tasks strategically set up at specific points in the slum community where the effects of climate change are visible.

Group 3: A safe space that creates identity

This idea is to develop a safe spaces that allows young people to develop their identities in Kampala, and to socialize more with their friends. The space is a social environment that make young people prosper - a space to ensures development of the young people’s life skills. The space is designed to be lit by lampposts powered by solar panels, and is intended to include a skateboarding area; a street football area; and a playground, to make room for all ages.

In Dreamtown, we are now working towards implementing the winning project idea together with the young people in Kampala.

The team from Network for Active Citizens in Kampala announce the winning project idea after consultation with the youth in their network.

The article is developed as a part of Benedicte Bertelsen’s Master’s Thesis at the Human Security Master programme, Aarhus University, Denmark.