16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions
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…
The Necessity of Talking the Talk: The functions of Communication for Anti-Corruption Political Will and Policy Development in Ukrainian Local Government
Abstract Corruption is a notoriously intractable problem. How do local public authorities manage to initiate and sustain meaningful anti-corruption efforts? To address this question, we examine the processes and interactions among key stakeholders in six local settings in Ukraine showing sustained reform effort between 2014 and 2021. The analysis identifies key communicative tasks that, taken…
Call for research proposal: Child-Focused Cities Analytical Framework
Terms of Reference Background In an attempt to enhance the work of local governments by enabling a more child-focused transformation of their respective territories in pursuit of sustainable development goals (SDG), a group of international researchers collaborated with a range of stakeholders to conceptualise a new analytical tool. The research process included seven international scholars…
Political Will for Anti-Corruption Reform: Communicative pathways to collective action in Ukraine
Why do some local public authorities engage in meaningful and sustained anti-corruption efforts while elsewhere such initiatives falter? To address this question, we advance a definition of political will as it relates to anti-corruption reforms and examine six local settings in Ukraine which showed sustained reform effort between 2014 and 2021. While previous conceptualisations see…
Making Participatory Budgeting work: our money, our voice!
Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic innovation that strengthens local democracy by including citizens in budget decisions. By doing so from formulation to execution, it allows for more responsible, equitable and transparent spending. This policy brief highlights key issues that should be observed for effective implementation. This publication is a result of the Local Democracy…
Citizens Budget: Make the budget understandable for every citizen
A Citizen’s budget is a short document that shows the budget of local government in a way that is easy to understand by any citizen. This toolbox provides support to local governments that are interested in creating a Citizens Budget. It contains the basic steps in the process and inspiring examples, which fully equips the…
Research report: Whose voice matters? Inclusion in local decision-making in Kenya and Lebanon
This research report compares how local inclusion and participation is connected to citizen influence in two post-conflict societies. This report highlight the special circumstances in a society with experience of armed conflict and deep societal divides. While inclusion is crucial to local democracy, this research also shows the risk of perpetuating conflictual divides. It warns…
Whose voice matters? Inclusion in local decision-making in Kenya and Lebanon
This policy brief analyses how participation and inclusivity relates to influence in local decision-making in two post-conflict contexts. Peacebuilding increasingly overlaps with development research in the turn to a local level, bottom-up approach which puts emphasis on including all groups in society in decision-making. The authors find that inclusion and participation in local decision-making can…
Child Participation in the City of Vienna
With the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as starting point, discussants are invited to use Vienna’s commitment to implement a child and youth strategy to reflect on how to build such a strategy that achieves meaningful child and youth participation. The Facilitator Guide introduces helpful concepts and tools: Lundy’s Model of Participation…
Inclusion and participation of marginalised groups in local democracy in rural Zimbabwe
This study on the extent of marginalised groups’ participation in local democracy in rural Zimbabwe adopts a mixed research approach: data were gathered through self-administered questionnaires, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and document review. Results show that varied mechanisms exist – including the national Constitution, policies, and institutional frameworks – that allow for the…
