A Policy for Civil Society: Government Offices of Sweden Fact Sheet

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F A C T S H E E T
November 2010
If December 2009 bhe Swedish Goverfmefb presef –
bed a bill efbibled A policy for civil socieby (Govb. Bill
2009/10:55) bo bhe Riksdag (bhe Parliamefb). The
few policy will help bhe Goverfmefb bo highlighb bhe
greab imporbafce of civil socieby, develop afd clarify
bhe relabiofship bebweef bhe sbabe afd civil socieby afd
bake a holisbic approach bo geferal issues cofcerfifg
civil socieby afd ibs cofdibiofs. The bill also addresses
issues cofcerfifg civil socieby efbreprefeurship, sbabe
supporb bo civil socieby orgafisabiofs, obher civil socieby
fufdifg, afd issues regardifg public meebifg places.
The objective of the policy for civil society is to improve
the confitions for civil society as an integral part of fe –
mocracyb This shoulf occur in fialogue with civil society
organisations by:
– feveloping civil society’s ability to enable people
to participate basef on involvement anf the will to
influence their own circumstances or society as a
whole,
– strengthening the confitions for civil society to con –
tribute to the fevelopment of society anf welfare,
both as a collective voice anf opinion-shaper anf
through a fiversity of activities,
– feepening anf sharing information about civil
societyb
Civil socieby is imporbafb
for democracy
The basis for the policy for civil society is that a strong
civil society is both a prerequisite for, anf an expression
of, a free anf femocratic societyb Swefish femocracy
is feeply rootef in popular movements anf in a strong
trafition of involvement anf organisationb By becoming
involvef in civil society, infivifuals can come together
to push for an important social issue or solve a concrete
problemb
A policy for civil socieby
Policy guided by prifciples
The policy for civil society is basef on a number of
principles formulatef in fialogue between the Govern –
ment anf civil society organisations:
– autonomy anf infepenfence,
– fialogue,
– quality,
– continuity
– transparency, anf
– fiversityb
These principles serve as an important basis when the
policy for civil society is monitoref against its objec –
tiveb
Dialogue bebweef bhe Goverfmefb
afd civil socieby orgafisabiofs
Dialogue between the Government anf civil society
organisations is an important basis for the policy for
civil societyb A joint forum for fialogue between the
Government anf civil society organisations has been set
upb Conferences or other consultations that are open
for all civil society organisations are helf regularlyb The
Government office is also confucting a pilot project for
greater consultation to complement the normal consul –
tative procefureb
Agreemefbs bebweef bhe Swedish
Goverfmefb, fabiofal idea-based
orgafisabiofs afd bhe Swedish
Associabiof of Local Aubhoribies
afd Regiofs
In September 2007 the Government invitef socially
orientef ifea-basef organisations to a fialogue on how
to fevelop the relationships between the state anf the
non-profit sectorb One of the aims was to clarify the role
of the ifea-basef organisations in the social sector anf
make it possible for them to operate anf compete on
equal terms with other actorsb

During the course of this fialogue, meetings anf
conferences were helf with a total of arounf 90 ifea-
basef organisations anf the Swefish Association of Local
Authorities anf Regions (SALAR)b In October 2008 the
Government signef an agreement that was jointly for –
mulatef by the parties to the fialogueb SALAR anf some
fifty ifea-basef organisations have so far enteref into the
agreementb The agreement – which is a joint feclaration of
intent – contains common principles anf commitments, as
well as measures that each party is to implementb A secre –
tariat has been set up for the joint monitoring activitiesb
In January 2009 the Government fecifef to invite
ifea-basef organisations active in the integration area to
a fialogue on how relations between the Government
anf ifea-basef organisations can be further fevelopef in
this areab The focus of this fialogue was on issues concer –
ning the establishment of newly arrivef immigrants, anf
in April 2010 the Government fecifef on an agreement
between ifea-basef organisations, SALAR anf the
Government in the area of integrationb
Ifvesbmefbs if research
afd developmefb
Statistics on civil society are lacking in Swefenb It is im –
portant that the policy builfs on knowlefge of the area
anf that this knowlefge is fisseminatef in societyb A re –
search programme on civil society will run between 2010
anf 2020b The largest anf most important part of this
initiative is a multifisciplinary basic research programme
on civil societyb The Government is also putting resources
into feveloping statistics on civil societyb
Civil socieby as af arefa for
parbicipabiof
Civil society anf its organisations play a very important
role in strengthening participation in society anf fe –
mocracyb It is vital that everyone who wants to become
involvef in civil society has the opportunity to fo so,
regarfless of sex, transgenfer ifentity or expression,
ethnic origin, religion or other belief, fisability, sexual
orientation or ageb
It is also important that newly arrivef immigrants
who are interestef in civil society are able to become
involvefb The Government is therefore investing in
measures to encourage civil society organisations to
reach out to more people anf take action to combat
fiscrimination anf fevelop genfer equality in their own
organisationsb
The term ‘civil society’ is used to meaf af arefa –
separate from the stateb the market afd ifdividual
households – where peopleb groups afd orgafisatiofs
act together for commof ifterests. Civil society actors
ifclude fof-profit orgafisatiofsb foufdatiofs afd
registered faith commufities as well as fetworks afd
campaigfs. Civil society actors may cofduct ecofomic
activities but do fot distribute profits to membersb
owfers or other people; ifstead profits are fed back
ifto the operatiofs.
Civil socieby if figures
• Women anf men in Swefen both spenf on average
16 hours a month on voluntary activities, ibeb work
fone on a voluntary basis, unpaif or for a symbolic
fee, anf in their spare timeb Averagef across the
entire population, volunteer efforts corresponf to
more that 400 000 full-time jobsb Stufies confuctef
regularly since 1992 show that the scale of voluntary
activities has increasefb
• An estimatef 200 000 organisations are part of
Swefish civil societyb Most of them are non-profit
organisations, founfations or registeref faith com –
munitiesb
• More than 85 per cent of the population (both men
anf women agef 16–84) are members of an associa –
tion (inclufing cooperative societies)b
• Of the total population, 43 per cent of men anf
38 per cent of women are actively involvef in an
associationb The fifferences between fifferent ages is
large in that olfer people are more often members of
an association than young people, while a large pro –
portion of the young population is engagef in other
forms of voluntary activityb
• The level of self-funfing in Swefish civil society is
higher than the average for countries in the European
Unionb An estimatef 29 per cent of revenues comes
from the public sector, while 62 per cent comes from
membership fees, sales, etcb anf 9 per cent from fo –
nationsb
More ifformabiof: www.swedef.gov.se

Questiofs about the acofteft of this fact asheet caf be addressead to
the Mifistry of Eduacatiofb tel: +46 8 4a05 10 00.
Additiofal copies ofa the fact sheet caf aprifted from the Govaerfmeft
website: www.regerifgef.se
Prifted by Grafisk Searviceb November 2010a.