strengthen the community!

The project ”Strengthen the community!” (completed 2025) aimed to mobilize rural communities to develop their own action plans to increase their preparedness and resilience for future challenges. On this page, we share the project's methods and tips for those who also want to work with preparedness.

About Strengthen the community!

The project ”Strengthen the community!” (completed 2025) aimed to mobilize rural communities to develop their own action plans to increase their preparedness and resilience for future challenges. By inspiring, gathering, and strengthening engagement in various communities, the project supported local groups in identifying what their communities need. This was done in collaboration with actors such as Hela Sverige ska leva, Bygdegårdsdistriktet, Studieförbundet Vuxenskolan, and Coompanion Kronoberg.

Our methods

Strengthen the community! was a project in 3 parts where the partners were responsible for different project activities. Leader Linné employed two project managers to work overall with planning and recruitment, as well as to conduct activities and the conclusion. Leader also had a part-time communicator who worked on spreading the project. Coompanion Kronoberg, which works with cooperative entrepreneurship, and Studieförbundet Vuxenskolan Kronoberg, which focuses on folk education, contributed their special perspectives and expertise by offering different formats for participating communities to choose from.

Below you can read about our methods, as well as listen to our podcast that contains lessons and interviews with participants in the project.

In the picture: The project group consisting of Leader Linné, Vuxenskolan, and Coompanion.

In the picture: Outdoor cooking during the concluding preparedness day.

Leader Linnaeus

Here's how we did it!

Step 1. Announcement and inspiration day

The project started with an announcement and inspiration day to spark interest and engagement in the communities.

Step 2. Application from the communities

To participate, the communities needed to submit an application – a way to secure local initiative. In the application, the communities chose between: Study circle model with Studieförbundet Vuxenskolan or workshop with Coompanion. Only accepted communities received continued support.

Step 3. Local work with the plan

Each community worked further on their home ground and developed a concrete preparedness plan for the conclusion.

Step 4. Conclusion day with experience exchange

The project concluded with a joint preparedness day filled with experience exchange and networking for all participants. There, everyone showcased their drafts of preparedness plans and could discuss these with other communities.

At the conclusion, several other organizations that could inspire the communities also participated: Skatelövs Räddningsvärn, Fältugnen AB Kalix, Civilförsvarsförbundet, Outdoor chef and educator Juha Rankinen, Home Guard Kronoberg.

Coompanion Kronoberg

6 communities chose to conduct workshops with Coompanion.

Interviews as a startup

To support each village in the right way, Coompanion started by interviewing the villages in an initial phase. Based on their application to the project, they wanted to get a grip on where they were in the process, i.e., conduct a current situation analysis. Some of the villages had already come very far, so the same approach could not be used for all.

Study material

To ensure that no area was missed, the study material ”Beredskapsbygden 2.0” from Hela Sverige ska leva was used extensively. This was then supplemented with conversation methods from ”Art of Hosting,” including three-party conversations, World Café, Open Space, and harvesting.

Physical meetings

Coompanion visited the villages either for a full day (Saturday/Sunday) or two weekday evenings. This setup was a success factor. During the meetings, they focused on inventorying their resources, both knowledge and physical assets, and worked further with new ideas. One goal was also to start or strengthen local crisis preparedness groups.

The Adult Education Association

8 villages chose to continue working through the study circle model.

The Adult Education Association invited the villages to three different workshops. The purpose and content of these were for the participants, who came from different villages, to exchange experiences and thoughts with each other. They also had time to develop their own village's action plan.

In the picture: Participants at a workshop with Coompanion in Agunnaryd.

In the picture: One of the villages sharing its preparedness plan during the conclusion.

Listen to Rusta bygden! – the podcast

In this podcast series, we share experiences from the project ”Rusta Bygden!”. Below you can listen to all the episodes on Spotify.

Episode 1 - An extra green radiance

Episode 2 - From tromb to neighborly love

Episode 3 - Can you get another hen?

Episode 4 - Crisis and crabby

Results and sustainability

14 villages participated in the project and created their own preparedness plans, with a total of 161 people participating in circles and workshops.

55 people from the various villages participated in the concluding preparedness day.

We recorded a podcast with lessons learned and in-depth interviews.

Several of the villages are now continuing with their preparedness efforts:
Smålandsträdgård continues with various activities related to preparedness. Grimslöv has started its work with an inspiration meeting. Hjälshammar has developed a mapping and an action plan, and is now working on developing the village hall into a functioning ”warming hut.” Tolg has applied for and been granted a larger Leader project on preparedness together with neighboring villages.

Leader Linné continues to work on preparedness by offering the micro-support Rusta bygden!-money, as well as through the new international project Nordic Preparedness, which explores experiences of preparedness work between Nordic countries.

It has become clear that the project has created ripples. At the time of writing, 9 villages have applied for Rusta bygden!-money, several of which are new to the concept. Other Leader areas have also been inspired by the project and started working with similar ideas, e.g., Leader Västra Småland.

In the picture: Study visit where Gunnar Persson showcases his ”preparedness farm.”.

Success factors

Den största faktorn var nog tajmingen – vi låg helt rätt i tiden med ett aktuellt och angeläget ämne.

Projektledarna hittade snabbt en gemensam målbild. Deras samspel och likatänk gjorde arbetet effektivt. Det fanns ingen spilltid på att backa tillbaka för att förstå syfte och mål, eller diskutera vem som skulle göra vad.

En annan styrka var bredden i kontakterna. Vi lyckades nå ut brett och bjuda in föreningar, företag, enskilda och kontaktpersoner i alla kommuner, på regional nivå och inom media. Vi gjorde oss helt enkelt kända.

Avslutningen blev en viktig del – en aktiv dag med erfarenhetsutbyte som verkligen tog tillvara det som byggts upp under projektet.

Utmaningar

Att få eldsjälarna att förstå att de skulle tänka större än den egna täppan, från egen prepplåda till en plan för bygden.
Att skapa ett program för uppstartkvällarna som var tillräckligt brett för att locka många men ändå spetsigt (blev dock en framgångsfaktor när det lyckades).