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…
Local Democracy Academy 2022 – Conference Proceedings
The Local Democracy Academy 2022, organized by ICLD on June 6-10, was a forum where researchers from all over the world met to share knowledge and exchange ideas on policy-relevant research for local democracy. The theme – Transformative Local Governance – generated a lot of interest, and led to sustaining researcher networks and increased understanding…
How does the youth perceive democracy given the history of general elections in the post-colonial city of Nairobi, Kenya?
Kenya has had a tumultuous history with general elections. In a country with 42 ethnic tribes, post-election ethnic based violence has been witnessed in both the 2007 and 2017 general elections. After the first round of general elections in 2017, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling for the nullification of the results and fresh…
Handbook – How to conduct democratic workshops
A summary of ICLD suggestions ICLD strives to organise all its workshops, trainings, conferences and other activities in the most democratic way possible.For the ICLD, this means organising these events so that they are as inclusive and transparent as possible, as well as ensuring active participation and that the organiser remains accountable to participants. This…
Refugee Women’s Political Leadership: Experiences, Challenges, and Obstacles in Nyumanzi and Maaji II Refugee Settlement, Uganda
Uganda hosts the biggest number of refugees from the neighboring countries including SouthSudan, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A large share of these refugees ishosted in Uganda’s Adjumani district. Refugees as a whole face several vulnerabilities that theUganda government and UNHCR are concerned with. However, the challenges faced bywomen are particularly of concern.…
New Stories of Resistance: The Right to Say NO, Extractivism and Development Alternatives in South Africa
Despite growing interest in movements, mobilisations and communities rising up against extractivism, little research has focused on the radical political potential these mobilisations bear for envisioning just and sustainable futures. Taking the Right to Say NO in South Africa as a case study and point of departure, this thesis examines development alternatives envisioned within anti-extractivist…
Experiences and challenges of menstruation among rural schoolgirls in Ghana: A case of Nadowli-Kaleo District in the Upper West Region of Ghana
Menstruation is a critical topic. However normal menstruation is, it has become a determinant in the education of young women today. The research focuses on Breaking the silence and accessing menstrual hygiene management’s challenges and experiences among rural schoolgirls in Ghana. The study’s goal was to examine the menstrual hygiene practices of female students. Participants…
Combating feminicidal violence in Mexico: A qualitative study of women’s active subjectivity vis a vis institutional violence
This study focuses on both the institutional violence against women and women’s (facing direct forms of extreme violence) resistance by highlighting their voices and experiences, from a decolonial feminist approach. It examines the tension between oppression and active subjectivity, concluding that women experiencing extreme forms of feminicidal violence, through the resignifications of themselves are active…
