Towards “insiderness” – a value-based approach fostering civic participation

A key understanding of how prevent social exclusion and "outsiderness", is to acknowledge the role and importance of civic participation, responsibility and identity, and design measures accordingly.

"Brynje" is a collaborative initiative involving Bykle Municipality, Setpro Work Inclusion Services AS, the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV), and Agder County. The name comes from the Viking chain mail armour – in Norwegian: “Brynje” armour.

It aims to foster growth and development in Bykle through a holistic approach emphasizing equality, empowerment, and sustainability. The project employs a design method that is practical, human-centred, and prototype-driven, addressing challenges with creative and strategic solutions. The project is rooted in the societal goals of Bykle's municipal plan (2016–2026).

Key challenges include population decline, high unemployment, lack of higher education, and limited local job opportunities. The project seeks to gather knowledge to address these issues, focusing on increasing employment, supporting education, and fostering local business development.

The Brynje Project aims to create job opportunities and prevent social exclusion by collaborating with local businesses and the voluntary sector. The project emphasizes early intervention and tailored solutions to integrate individuals into the workforce, particularly focusing on vulnerable groups such as refugees, NEETS, but also socially excluded persons in general. The project is funded through a combination of municipal equity, county grants, and contributions from various stakeholders.

Vidar Mortensen is leading the project and is de facto employed as a social entrepreneur on a local community level. This is a key approach when combatting social exclusion. The project is also unique in some ways when taken together:

- Very wide project mandate to work with any and all inclusion activities, in effect spanning the whole population from primary school age and upwards
- Heavy emphasis on developing/scaling already existing initiatives which promote social inclusion, especially fostering new public-private partnerships
- At times almost an extreme holistic approach in combining public health, social, economic, cultural, and individual factors, when developing new concepts
- The current action matrix spans more than 20 tailored measures, covering ages 9 - 67+

Long term goals:
- Scaling the initiative and expand the project to neighboring regions
- Establish a permanent model for inclusive economic development which other rural areas can adapt to their local context
- Continue exploring innovative solutions for integrating more people into the workforce​ and community life
- Contribute to developing and sharing new knowledge through research partnerships