Fieldwork Grant Programme

ICLD’s Fieldwork Grant is a programme for master’s students in Sweden. The aim of the programme is to provide an opportunity for students to conduct fieldwork in one of ICLD’s countries of cooperation. The thesis topic must have a strong connection to local democracy. Students may apply for up to 24,000 SEK to conduct fieldwork for at least 5 weeks in a low- or middle-income country.

Priority is given to students conducting fieldwork in ICLD’s partner countries. However, projects in other countries are welcomed if they show an important contribution to the field of local democracy and relevance to local governments in ICLD’s partner countries. ICLD’s priority countries are: Botswana, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Guatemala, Kenya, Kosovo, Serbia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Ukraine, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Applications for fieldwork 2025-2026 is paused. Next round will open in September, 2026.

For any questions, email robin.alnas@icld.se

Fieldwork Grant Guidelines

Download Project Description template

Create an account an start the application here

Note: All selected applicants are expected to participate in a mandatory workshop November 18 at University of Gothenburg.

Get inspired by previous awardees below. Access all previous theses here.

Previous awardees

Nomandla Singeni

Degree: MA in Education with International and Comparative Specialisation

Fieldwork location: South Africa

Title: Living Knowledge in a Changing Land

Natalia Melo Pérez

Degree: MA in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science

Fieldwork location: Colombia

Title: Living Knowledge in a Changing Land

Iraide Acros Fabrega

Degree: MA in Political Science: Environmental Governance and Behavior

Fieldwork location: Guatemala

Title: From Seeds to Assemblies. Agroecology as a Tool for Political Participation

Lucrecia Charchalac Ochoa

Degree: MA in Political Science: Environmental Governance and
Behavior

Fieldwork location: Guatemala

Title: Understanding Environmental Stewardship Through Governance and Psychology

Jan Berndt

Degree: MA in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science

Fieldwork location: Kenya

Title: Climate Resilience and Migration among Maasai Pastoralists in Laikipia County, Kenya

Anna Strenkert

Degree: MA in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science

Fieldwork location: South Africa

Title: Just energy transitions as a path towards fair and place-based fossil fuel phase-outs?

Eliza Kravchenko

Degree: MA in International Humanitarian Action

Fieldwork location: Ukraine

Title: Multilevel Trust in Humanitarian Organisations in Ukraine

Esther Bohman

Degree: MA in Ethnic and Migration Studies, Linköping University

Fieldwork location: Kenya

Title: A cry for justice by “invisible squatters” – Colonial legacy, local democracy, and the quest for human rights in land dispossession by Kakuzi PLC in Makuyu, Murang’a County, Kenya

Franco Andres Causarano Cubilla

Degree: MSc International Administration & Global Governance, University of Gothenburg

Fieldwork location: Guatemala

Title: QCSOs, Mobilization and Democratization: A Case Study of the 2023 Post-Election Protests in Guatemala

Borbála Blanka Bretus

Degree: MSc Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Ghana

Title: Locally-led Adaptation as a Silver Bullet? Complexities, Needs, and Responses in Climate Adaptation at the Volta Coastline, Ghana

Annika Burkhardt

Degree: MSc Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Philippines

Title: The role of trust in achieving sustainable community-based disaster risk management – case studies from the Philippines

Angélica María Vera Vargas

Degree: MSc Development Studies, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Colombia

Title: Drawing rural paths onthe urban margins:An Ethnographic Study of Peacebuilding, Displacementand Place-making in Medellín Largest Informal Settlement

Angela Fröjd

Degree: MSc Development Studies, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Kenya

Title: Understanding the Complexities of Urban Flood Governance: A Case Study of Ruiru, Kenya

Sauda Luzze

Degree: MSc Economics, Södertörn University

Fieldwork location: Kenya

Title: The Plastic Bag Ban in Kenya: A study on consumer perceptions and attitudes following the plastic bag ban in Nairobi, Kenya

Michael Fubu Ngubu

Degree: MSc Development Studies, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Zambia

Title: It Takes Two to Tango: Perceptions and motivations towards campaign clientelism in Zambia

Nora Mårtensson

Degree: MSc International Administration and Global Governance, University of Gothenburg

Fieldwork location: South Africa

Title: Towards Inclusive WASH Policy-Making: A case study of exploring barriers to adopting gender responsive budgeting (GRB) in the water and sanitation sector in Cape Town

Michal Piatkowski

Degree: MSc Development Studies, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Tanzania

Title: Postdevelopment Assistance Made Possible? A Qualitative Analysis of the ICLD’s International Training Programmes in Tanzania from the Local Stakeholders’ Perspective

Carina Martens and Sophie Berstermann

Degree: MSc International Development and Management, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Namibia

Title: The Plight of the Pangolin: Key patterns enabling the illegal wildlife trade of pangolins in Namibia – a multi-perspective case study

Jamila Gysin

Degree: MSc Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Kosovo

Title: Hydropower and Justice in Kosovo: A qualitative case study on procedural and restorative justice in the decision-making process for small-scale hydropower projects

Sahana Subramanian

Degree: MSc Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science, Lund University

Fieldwork location: India

Title: Expanding Freedoms and Improving Commons through Labour: A Study of Kerala’s Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme

Elin Johansson

Degree: MSc International Development and Management, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Tanzania

Title: Widows, land rights and women’s empowerment: “Who will own the kitchen?” – Findings from the Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania

Kinga Psiuk

Degree: MSc Social-Ecological Resilience for Sustainable Development, Stockholm University

Fieldwork location: South Africa

Title: People and Baboons in Cape Town: Rethinking Interactions with Wildlife in Urban Areas

Maricruz Bravo Gallegos

Degree: MSc Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Costa Rica

Title: Securing Costa Rica’s Sustainable Future: A multi-level perspective analysis of the sustainability transition to operationalise the 3Rs in the plastic waste management system in Costa Rica.

Douglas Mbokoma

Degree: MSc Development Studies, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Zambia

Title: Vulnerability of livelihood and adaptive capacity to climate change: A case of Chikupi Rural Women, Zambia

Louise Gripenberg

Degree: MSc International Development and Management, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Kenya

Title: A Maasai Model to Wildlife Conservation: Exploring environmental subjectivities among the Maasai living in and around Naretunoi Community Conservancy and next to Nairobi National Park in Kenya

Lisa Pier

Degree: MSc Human Ecology: Culture, Power and Sustainability, Lund University

Fieldwork location: South Africa

Title: New Stories of Resistance: The Right to Say NO, Extractivism and Development Alternatives in South Africa

Rosemond Mbii

Degree: MSc Development Studies, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Ghana

Title: Experiences and challenges of menstruation among rural schoolgirls in Ghana: A case of Nadowli-Kaleo District in the Upper West Region of Ghana

Karina Squiassi

Degree: MSc Human Rights Studies, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Mozambique

Title: The Meaning of Gender Issues as Narrated and Negotiated by Activists in Mozambique

Rosa Isela González Mondragón

Degree: MSc Social Studies of Gender, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Mexico

Title: Combating feminicidal violence in Mexico: A qualitative study of women’s active subjectivity vis a vis institutional violence

_{Adelina Chandra}

Degree: MSc Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Indonesia

Title: To grip or to slip: smallholder inclusion in sustainable palm oil certifications in Riau, Indonesia

_{Stipo Mihaljević}

Degree: MSc Political Science, Umeå University

Fieldwork location: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Title: Breaking the walls: the first Pride March in Bosnia and Herzegovina

_{Laura Fløytrup}

Degree: MSc Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Tanzania

Title: Burning the woods and flooding the slums: examining the socio-economic and environmental burden of wood charcoal in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

_{Oscar Lwiindi}

Degree: MSc Welfare Policies and Management, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Zambia

Title: Participation of women with disabilities in local government decision making structures: Unpacking the silent voice. A qualitative study conducted in Lusaka, Zambia

_{Andrew Tembo}

Degree: MSc Development Studies, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Zambia

Title: Sociopolitical drivers and barriers to development and adoption of biogas in Mokambo peri-urban in Mufulira, Zambia: How does local government fail to provide renewable energy?

_{Idriss Koromah}

Degree: MSc Rural Development and Natural Resources Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Fieldwork location: Sierra Leone

Title: Local participation in natural resource management initiatives: A case study of the Gola REDD+ project in Sierra Leone

_{Ishmael Kwarteng}

Degree: MSc Human Geography, Stockholm University

Fieldwork location: Ghana

Title: Our existence matters: Experiences and belonging of urban space from street hawkers perspective: A case study of La-Nkwantanang-Madina municipal area

_{Keith Nyende}

Degree: MA Peace and Development Work, Linnaeus University

Fieldwork location: Uganda

Title: Refugee local integration: Local governments as stakeholders in the implementation of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework in Uganda

_{Alina Breceda Martos}

Degree: Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Mexico

Title: Analyzing the Santa Maria Bay through the Social-Ecological System Framework: Identifying leverage points for sustainability in La Reforma, Sinaloa

_{Monicah Tshabatau}

Degree: Sustainable Development, Uppsala University

Fieldwork location: Botswana

Title: Women and water scarcity in Botswana: Challenges and strategies in Kweneng District – The case study of Gakuto Village

_{Gilbert Mwale}

Degree: Rural Development and Natural Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Fieldwork location: Zambia

Title: Elite control over decision-making processes and conditions that make them responsive to the public

_{Maria Gomez Fonseca}

Degree: Development Studies, Lund University

Fieldwork location: South Africa

Title: Having the freedom to having freedom” Youth Participatory Assessment of Accessibility in Port Elizabeth, South Africa

_{Mukuka Mulenga}

Degree: Sustainable Development, Uppsala University

Fieldwork location: Zambia

Title: Assessing the awareness, adoptability and sustainability of improved pellet cook stoves of low income households in Lusaka, Zambia

_{Tendai Madzaramba}

Degree: Water Resources Engineering, Lund University

Fieldwork location: South Africa

Title: Onsite greywater treatment for reuse at Zandspruit informal settlement in Johannesburg

_{Siri Ahlzén}

Degree: Political Science, Uppsala University

Fieldwork location: Zambia

Title: Understanding corruption through social norms – a case study of local government in Lusaka

_{Laura Betancur Alarcón}

Degree: Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science, Lund University

Fieldwork location: Colombia

Title: Peace in the peaks? Changes in water and land distribution in Colombia’s southern highlands during the Post-Peace Agreement phase

_{Jonathan Wirths}

Degree: International Development and Management, Lund University

Fieldwork location: India

Title: Opportunities for Sustainable Water Governance in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

About ICLD

ICLD’s mission is to support democratic participation and change at the local level. With its focus on local democracy, local self-governance and decentralisation, ICLD strengthens local governments’ capacity to analyse, prioritize and implement Agenda 2030 in accordance with their own needs, priorities and resources. The unique combination of practice and theory is a major asset of ICLD. More about ICLD