The right to meaningful leisure

Publicerad 11:52

All children have a right to meaningful and active leisure time. The Municipality of Uppsala used this as a starting point when, with support from the European Social Fund, it launched the Uppsala Model for Community Activity Centres (Uppsalamodellen för Community Activity Centre) project in the socio-economically disadvantaged district of Gottsunda in Uppsala.

The Gottsunda Community Activity Centre is based on a model which involves using school premises after school hours to offer free activities for local residents. By offering free and readily accessible activities, the community activity centre can help strengthen democracy, create opportunities for people to meet and contribute to greater integration.

“The aim of the project is to lower the thresholds for participation so that together, we can create meaningful leisure time for more children and young people in Gottsunda,” says Linnea Petersson, project manager at the Municipality of Uppsala.

The activities are aimed at all residents and also invite collaboration with local stakeholders such as sports clubs. Children and young people are a priority target group.

“The support from the European Social Fund means a lot to us. It means we can work to make a difference for everyone living in Gottsunda,” says Linnea Petersson.

Watch the video about the project (choose english subtitles)

A hive of activity

As the school day drew to a close at the school in Gottsunda, most of the students would quickly leave the area and head home. But that’s no longer the case. A number of different activities aimed at local children and adults now take place on the school premises in the evening.

“One of the successes of this project, I think, is that we’ve been able to offer different kinds of activities. We have more structured activities such as basketball and boxing that lead to development and learning; but we also see the value in offering more spontaneous activities that involve creating a space for social connection and relaxation – and for sparking curiosity,” says Linnea Petersson.

The idea behind the community activity centre is to provide a seamless transition between school and leisure, which helps make it easy for children and young people to take part.

Another important underlying principle is empowerment – the children themselves helping to shape the range of activities.

Empowerment a key element

One activity that’s been very much in demand, and that’s proven to be one of the more popular things to do, is Food & Baking. A group of young people meet up once a week to learn how to bake and cook in the school’s home economics room. The children are asked what they want to cook at the start of each term, and then a schedule is drawn up for the term.

“We alternate between baking and cooking, and we’ve made everything from biscuits to tacos,” says Iman Bayyari, activity leader for Food & Baking.

Pancakes are on the agenda today. At one of the stoves, Ahmad Saflo is practising flipping pancakes.

“I’ve tried loads of activities, but the best one is Food & Baking because you get to learn to cook different kinds of food,” says Ahmad Saflo.

When the pancakes are ready, they all sits down together to eat and evaluate the day’s activity. They work out what went well, what they learned and what they need to practice more.

“It feels very meaningful to be able to follow the children’s journey and see how they develop,” says Iman Bayyari.

A place for everyone

Leyla Afif is the manager on site in Gottsunda. She’s responsible for making sure everything that happens at the activity centre runs smoothly.

“My most important role here at the community activity centre is to make sure there’s a clear structure. We have about forty different activities going on, so there’s quite a bit to keep track of,” she says.

Leyla believes that the involvement of the children and young people themselves in influencing the project is one key reason as to why it’s been so successful.

“We create activities based on what they want to do, and this project wouldn’t have been possible without the children’s participation and influence,” says Leyla Afif.

Leyla acts as the public face of the initiative, and she’s the person that many of the local children, young people and adults get to meet. For her, it’s important to ensure that everyone – regardless of gender, age or origin – feels they have a place at the community activity centre.

“We pick up where school leaves off, and children should be able to come here and find a safe place. This is also true of adults living locally – we want this to be an intergenerational centre where everyone feels welcome,” says Leyla Afif.

Preventing exclusion

There are many benefits to providing meaningful leisure time for children and young people through the community activity centre. It can help prevent mental health problems and social exclusion, for instance.

“We know that active leisure gives children and young people opportunities for social well-being, higher school attendance, better results at school and greater security and trust in society,” says Linnea Petersson.

Reaching out to girls born abroad is a challenge when it comes to open leisure activities. Studies have shown that they’re often less likely to participate in organised leisure activities.

“Our varied range of activities means we’re able to reach out to a broader target group and so meet the diverse needs of children and young people living in Gottsunda. And we’re really pleased that we have an even gender distribution within the project – with boys, girls and non-binary,” says Linnea Pettersson.

Safe adults

Manager Leyla Afif also emphasises the importance of adults being on hand for children and young people. Every day she meets many of the children who go to school and then stay behind and take part in various activities. She’s one of a number of safe adults that children can turn to.

“I think it really means a lot to the children. This is a place where they can feel safe, heard and seen.”