16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions
Växjö kommun and Kalush, Ukraine
Youth Participation in Local Governance The Växjö–Kalush partnership focuses on strengthening youth participation in local governance. In Kalush, a common issue is that youth lack awareness of their rights and responsibilities in a democratic society. In contrast, Växjö struggles with limited platforms and feedback mechanisms, relying mostly on already politically interested young people. To address…
Network for Democratic Resilience
ICLD is launching a new network for municipal partnerships in Europe: the Network for Democratic Resilience. Selected partnerships of Swedish and European municipalities, primarily in Ukraine, Bosnia & Hercegovina and Kosovo, will be collaborating on common challenges, promoting knowledge exchange, and fostering sustainable change. The network has garnered significant interest of Swedish municipalities and regions,…
Voluntary Local Review – Kibaha Town Council, Tanzania
This Voluntary Local Review (VLR) aims at understanding how well the SDGs have been localized and implemented in Kibaha Town Council (KTC), Tanzania. The process employed Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) to represent local voices in a participatory and inclusive manner. The results show that localization of SDGs has helped the government and citizens to…
Voluntary Local Review – Emboreet village, Manyara, Tanzania
The United Nations Agenda 2030 contains 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets to address global social, environmental, and economic challenges by 2030, of which many must be implemented at the local level. Voluntary Local Reviews (VLR) have gained prominence as a means for local and regional governments to assess SDG progress and remaining…
Local Democracy and Resilience in Ukraine: Learning from Communities’ Crisis Response in War
Regional focus: Ukraine/Eastern Europe Time: October 2023 – November 2024 Abstract Amidst the devastating impact of the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine has retained its sovereignty. Enabled by decentralization reforms from 2015-2020, local self-governance bodies have played a crucial role in Ukraine’s resilience, offering essential services and backing defense efforts. This phenomenon is puzzling in light of conflicting…
It Takes Two to Tango: Perceptions and motivations towards campaign clientelism in Zambia
Various studies on clientelism usually start from a common puzzle: Why is campaign clientelism widely practised by politicians even when they have no means of ensuring reciprocity from the voters? Similarly, why is campaign clientelism widespread amongst voters despite its numerous negative consequences on societies, democracy, and development? These puzzles have motivated my research, where…
Morality policies and the prospect for inclusive citizenship in decentralized Indonesia: A study of West Java
This study examines the making of exclusionary morality policies and how those policies have affected the lives of faith-based and gender-based minority groups in West Java, Indonesia. Combining policy review, in-depth case studies, and survey, we identify distinct patterns of exclusion, which are top-down for faith-based minorities and bottom-up for sexual/gender minorities. Around 121 exclusionary…
Bridging the Accountability Gap: Applying assed-based and citizen-led development in Emfuleni, South Africa
This research project aims to gain an understanding of how to institutionalise the Asset-Based and Citizen-Led Development (ABCD) approach as an innovative means of promoting active citizen engagement along with local-level social accountability in Emfuleni Local Municipality, Gauteng Province in South Africa. Building on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA)’s work in three wards of…
Växjö and Vushtrri, Kosovo
Växjö and Vushtrri partnership is embarking on a new project that seeks to improve accessibility to municipal services and information by effectively managing municipal archives. The project identifies three key beneficiary groups: citizens in rural areas, ethnic minorities, and students/researchers at universities. These groups face challenges in accessing information and documents due to factors such…
Call for research proposals: Local democracy during war – the case of Ukraine
Terms of Reference Background ICLD calls for research proposals on the role of local democracy during armed conflicts, looking into the case of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. While there is a long academic debate about the critical role played by the local level in peace building processes (Leonardsson & Rudd, 2015; Mac…
