
2025
Sustainability strategy for long-term unemployment
Client: Knowit & Haninge municipality
Team: Alexandra Garbett, Anna Calzolaio, Marina Van Den Worm, Philip Andersen
Challenge
Despite numerous government programmes, individuals facing long-term unemployment in Sweden often encounter fragmented services and limited access to relevant information. Agencies operate in isolation, and existing digital tools fall short in providing user-friendly, empowering experiences.
Goal
Designing systemic, digital, and human-centred interventions for employment equity in Sweden
Approach
We began by mapping the broader employment ecosystem of Haninge municipality, working closely with stakeholders from municipal services, national agencies, and the private sector. Workshops were held to co-create a shared understanding of the problem space. In-depth interviews with long-term unemployed individuals revealed feelings of disconnection, confusion, and a deep need for trust and clarity. These insights shaped our approach to concept development, which was supported by frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the Social Sustainability Principles. Each idea was evaluated not only for user impact but also for systemic feasibility.


My role
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Responsible for client communication
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Workshop creation & facilitation
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System mapping & stakeholder analysis
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Design research (interviews, workshops)
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Ideation & strategic concept development
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Visual communication & presentation design
Insights
A major insight that shaped this project was the fragmentation across agencies - public institutions, NGOs, and private actors all played essential roles, but lacked coordination, which created confusion for users navigating up to 20 different touchpoints. This complexity led to delayed support, limited accountability, and a demotivating experience for job seekers.
Interviews with stakeholders and users revealed that emotional resilience, confidence, and a sense of progress were as crucial as job matching.
Long-term unemployed individuals expressed feelings of exhaustion and disconnection, worsened by bureaucratic hurdles and unclear communication. Additionally, social workers and psychiatric professionals highlighted the need for quicker reintegration and more holistic, person-centred systems.
These insights shaped the final solutions so that each intervention addressed both the structural inefficiencies and the human experience - ensuring the strategy could improve outcomes systemically and personally.


Deliverables
The final outcome included a set of five strategic interventions. These ranged from a national open data platform to improve transparency, to a digital Employment ID that simplifies verification and reduces friction in the hiring process. We also proposed emotional intelligence and skills training programmes, a gamified job-seeking tool to increase motivation, and a framework for multi-agency collaboration. To support evaluation and alignment with long-term impact goals, we developed a Risk-to-Opportunity Matrix, allowing each intervention to be assessed in terms of how it addressed key systemic challenges and contributed to relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Social Sustainability Principles of FSSD.
In addition, we delivered an action plan for implementation, outlining concrete steps for piloting and scaling the concepts, as well as a Business Model Canvas and supporting considerations to help Knowit explore how the proposed solutions could create both social value and organisational sustainability. Together, these deliverables formed a cohesive and actionable roadmap for digital transformation in the public employment space.
Image sources:
1. © 2022 by Surface, 2. © 2021 by Surface, 3. © 2025 by Emma Thorman, 4. © 2025 by Emma Thorman, 5. © 2025 by Philip Toft Andersen