An Honorable Legacy And Blueprint
In the southern district of Bergen, Norway long before public reports began speaking about the need for prevention, belonging, and social capital, one man quietly built what many now regard as one of Norway’s most effective community models for youth inclusion. Through decades of persistent, principled, and deeply human decency work, Arild Åge Hovland created the LIM Project (short for Lekser, Idrett og Mat (Homework, Sports, and Food), camps, collaborations, and community infrastructures that would later be recognized and awarded with the King's Medal of Merit, 20.11.2024
Although Arild Hovland worked most of his professional life at DNB—ultimately serving as Director for DNB in Denmark——his true legacy lives in the everyday lives of the children, youth, and families he has strengthened throughout Slettebakken and beyond.
Hovland’s roots in community work stretch back to the early 1970s, when he was simultaneously a player, coach, and board member for SK Trane. Even then, at only 23 years old, he demonstrated an extraordinary combination of leadership and loyalty.
For over five decades, he guided the club through challenges ranging from lack of facilities to recruitment struggles, always driven by the same instinct: find a solution, involve others, and build forward together.
When SK Trane lost its recruitment base in Nattlandsfjellet and Sædalen—areas that largely ranked at the top of Bergen’s living-conditions index—the club was left with the Slettebakken area, where residents were mostly on the opposite end of the scale, with a high proportion of immigrant families. Arild saw the families needed something more—and began the work that would define his legacy and decades of service.
They needed structure, belonging, consistent adults, and opportunity.
He responded with a solution that would redefine community-based youth work in Norway.
LIM — Lekser, Idrett og Mat (Homework, Sports, Meals)
Launched in 2017, LIM was designed to meet the real, everyday needs of children along with an opportunity for children to try out lots of different types of sports and activities. Free of charge after school in their own neighborhood, with safe, accountable, and reliable adults. Its philosophy was simple, but its impact profound:
Homework help to give children stability, mastery, and confidence.
Sporting activities to promote health, friendship, integration, and joy.
A nutritious meal to ensure no child participated on an empty stomach.
Consistent adults who greeted them, guided them, and stayed present.
What began as a collaboration with Slettebakken School quickly expanded. Arild ensured that students could try sports beyond football. Soon LIM included over 15 different sports, made possible through partnerships with multiple clubs in the area. Children tried basketball, ice hockey, gymnastics, floorball, and more—often discovering talents and interests they never knew they had. For youth not interested in actively participating in sports, other opportunities were available including helping the elderly and being of service for seniors suffering with dementia.
The results were undeniable. LIM became a public health engine:
Children who started LIM without any sport participation ended up joining at least one club.
Children already active in one sport often began two.
Clubs reported stronger membership, better integration, and deeper community ties.
The LIM model was exported to Fridalen, Møhlenpris, Ny-Krohnborg, and continues to expand into Arna and Flaktveit. He also saw the necessity of a sustainable solution in giving Idrettsrådet in Bergen by Sandrino Birkeland an overall responsibility – an organization he has been a board-member of. It has been studied by universities, highlighted nationwide, and visited repeatedly by national leaders—from sports presidents to ministers—who recognize Slettebakken as a living blueprint for inclusion.
Through all of it, Arild Hovland is present with high awareness for the children. He opens buildings. Locks doors. Welcomes children. Encourages them. He knows their names, their stories, and many of their families. He shows up, consistently.
Beyond LIM: Camps, Collaboration, and Community Infrastructure
Arild Hovland’s initiatives go beyond LIM. Understanding the need for continuity and stability throughout the year, he created:
Holiday Clubs & Summer Camps
Arild Hovland worked to develop holiday clubs and summer camps that train local young adults to take responsibility for groups of children during school breaks. This creates meaningful leadership opportunities and a sustainable pathway for developing future role models in the district.
Slettebakken Volunteer Center
Seeing the need for long-term coordination, Arild Hovland initiated together with 8 other organizations in the area and former sports council, Pål Hafstad Thorsen, the establishment of the Slettebakken Volunteer Center. With a dedicated daily manager and Hovland as the first Chair of the Board, the center anchors public health, inclusion, and volunteer efforts across the area.
The Slettebakken Sports Alliance & Sports Facility Development
Together with Gimle Basket Club by Omar Mekki and Frode Noss, Arild Hovland has also led and established the Slettebakken Sports Alliance, fostering collaboration among several local clubs. In parallel, he also has been a key partner together with Gimle Basket Club for the municipality in planning the new sports facility at the former landfill site—lobbying consistently to ensure that the infrastructure serves grassroots sports and local children first.
We Do Not Need to Reinvent the Wheel
Across LIM, the school–sports collaborations, holiday programs, the volunteer center, and community alliances, Arild Hovland has—in a single district—demonstrated a fully functioning model for youth inclusion, public health, and community cohesion.
We already have a working model.
We already have proof of concept.
We already have the wheel.
This system is functioning, measurable, documented, and successful. Now, we need to scale it.
NextGen Neighbor Network Builds on This Legacy
The work of the NextGen Neighbor Network (NNN), its I Care Campaign, and its Miljøplakaten pilot projects stands in direct alignment with the values and structure pioneered by Arild Hovland. Both emphasize social responsibility, role models, youth belonging, and sports as a vehicle for change, inclusion, integration, and development.
In this context, the LIM model—and Arild Hovland’s decades of community-building—form the foundation for national expansion. To bring this initiative and framework to districts across Norway, we must secure:
committed long-term sponsorships
long-term operational funding
stronger networks of super-role models and sponsorship to support them
sustainable structures grounded in collaboration
The formula for inclusion, integration, and belonging is already well known.
The examples are already living.
And the wheel has already been built—by the steady, tireless hands of Arild Åge Hovland.
