We are happy to share our most recent group of Fieldwork Grant participants here at ICLD! This year, 9 brilliant students presented their research on highly topical subjects for both our organization, the general state of the world and local democracy. Each of them had a unique perspective on pressing issues globally, and the execution of their research proved methodological sophistication and efficacy.
The grant recipients visited focus-countries for ICLD, including Ukraine, Kenya, Zambia, Guatemala, Colombia, and South Africa. Here, they studied democratic institutions, policies, as well as Indigenous and other marginalized groups. Their insights reflect ICLD:s core values and brought fruitful knowledge to us and our colleagues.
Women’s knowledge as a key to climate resilience
Despite each thesis being unique, the majority of our participants wrote about climate and environmental matters, highlighting the increasing relevance of this very topic. Interestingly, two of our participants employed a specific focus on the role of women, indigenous knowledge and food security in a rapidly changing climate. Iraide Arcos Fabrega and Natalia Mélo Perez both combined these three topics to underline the importance of perseverance of knowledge and including women’s perspectives whilst combatting and navigating through climate change.
The focus on women in these communities is important, as many of them have been by-looked both politically and traditionally, undermining their knowledge and the resources they contribute with. Having generations’ worth of knowledge and practice, women in these communities become indispensable societal actors amid climate change.
Indigenous knowledge and climate displacement
On the topic of climate resilience and indigenous knowledge, Jan Philipp Berndt wrote his thesis on forced displacement of Maasai pastoralists as a consequence of climate change. A highly relevant subject, as the areas of barren land in the world are only increasing and expanding, forcing the displacement of people. The juxtaposition of this phenomenon occurs, as Jan discovered, when the vulnerability to climate change increases, the ability to migrate from it decreases.
Human rights and youth inclusion
Human rights training and youth inclusion was also in focus amongst this group of students, where Nomandla Singeni and Caroline Bergkvist both wrote about the importance of these factors for local democracy.
Our latest round of fieldwork grant theses had interesting and unique topics, yet common ground was found amongst all of them. We are happy to have seen their work and look forward to seeing what their future endeavors may be!