Mid Sweden University

The overall aim of this study is to explore the interface between local authorities and voluntary initiatives, to identify key enablers for enhancing public resilience. In other words, the present study is about mapping the state of collaboration between local authorities and the organized voluntary and not organized public, and attends to good examples of coproducing safety. The analyses are based on a literature study together with 33 interviews with representatives of four social actors at the community level: 1) professionals working at municipalities, 2) volunteers engaged in NGOs, 3) semi-organized individuals, and 4) non-organized individuals, in three geographical areas in Sweden representing different kinds of physical and social environments. The main results show that there are some particular areas that are important for enhancing public resilience. These areas are; Collaboration, Formal and informal practices, General ability and specific competence, Dynamics between collective efforts and individual self-help, Aspects of education and empowerment, Traditional communication versus digital media, Individual involvement, and Age and generations. The paper identifies a number of challenges and opportunities in each area. A general observation is also that the scope and depth of collaboration between public and municipal emergency actors and voluntary organizations differ a lot depending on population density, size of local community and geographical characteristics. These factors seem to have most impact on how formal the collaboration is between the professional and voluntary organizations and issues related to resources of different kinds.