Lempäälä and Kangasala are medium-sized Finnish municipalities situated in the very developed and industrialized Tampere Region in the southern part of Finland, appr. 160 North from the Finnish capital town Helsinki, linked with a modern highway and fast railway connections.  The population in the area is fast growing and the economy is based eg. on high-tech, automation and  modern service industry. Lempäälä (population 18.750) and Kangasala (population 28.807) are neighbouring municipalities around City of Tampere.

Ondangwa is a medium sized Namibian municipality, cituated appr. 600 km North from the Namibian capital City of Windhoek.  Ondangwa has appr. 31.700 inhabitants.  The town is an important center of trading and services in it’s area and it’s challenge is the growth and diversification of manufacturing industry, nowadays only some plastic , paint, small metal industry and processing of food and other agricultural products existing.

Keetmanshoop is situated 500km South from Windhoek and only 400km from the borders of South Africa. It is a town surrounded by mountains and dry areas of sheep grazing; it has got beautiful scenes for tourists.  Keetmanshoop is a host to approximately 25 000 (both rural and urban) according to the 2002 census statistics. This is about 36% of the total population of the Karas region. In terms of business activities, Keetmanshoop is blessed with retail industries (though still limited in terms of the numbers), hotels, warehouses etc. One could find almost everything in Keetmanshoop in terms of shopping but the manufacturing industry is not evident except for the Agricultural industry that produces Karakul and quality meat for both local and international markets.  Keetmanshoop is the capital centre to all the central government ministries that cater for the Karas Region. It is also the centre for the regional government, Karas.

Overall objectives

• To promote local participatory democracy, gender equality and good governance in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop
• To promote dialogue on the “ways and forms of democracy” between actors in Namibia and Finland
• To promote local economic development, job creation and diversification of the economic activities in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop areas
• To build capacity to minimize environmental damage and economic losses caused by water leakages and storm water in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop
• To build capacity for waste management and promoting healthy environment in Keetmanshoop and Ondangwa
• To learn of doing more international cooperation and knowing about the foreign local government systems
• To contribute to the tolerance for cross-cultural interaction in the local government and in the communities in general.
• To promote interaction, eg. business contacts between the local authority areas
• To promote capacity building through south-south and north-north cooperation

• Innovative and appropriate methods for promoting participatory democracy in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop will be planned and piloted
• The quality of governance and relations within the local authority organisations will be improved in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop
• Local capacity for strategic & operational planning and anticipation of future challenges, will be improved in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop
• Cooperation of local actors in participatory planning and coordination of LED, will be improved in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop
• Capacity for promoting business linkages will be improved in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop
• Capacity for supporting / facilitating the start up business promotion will be improved in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop
• Water distribution network management will be improved in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop
• Leakage and waste minimization of water will be improved in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop
• Implementation plan to reduce the damage caused by storm water flooding'
• Information of the impacts of environmental and hygienic conditions of local waste management systems will be improved in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop
• Capacity for implementing proper waste management policies will be improved in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop
• Capacity for solid waste management planning will be improved in Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop
• Understanding of different approaches towards democracy will be improved within partners
• All partners will have gained xeperience on multi-cultural  international cooperation
• Awareness of tolerance and  skills for cross-cultural interaction will be improved in the partner communities