This years theme:
Local Democracy Academy: Global Disruptions and Local Democracy for a Post-Covid World
The 2020 Local Democracy Academy will explore how is local democracy affected because of different disruptions and what are possible transformative pathways? The academy is organised around interactive and participatory sessions. Participants are expected to contribute, read, write and actively engage during the entire week. The academy is divided into the following sessions: Thematic streams, Training Sessions, Writing workshop on Local Governments responses to Covid-19, Inspiring Lectures and Local Policy Makers Dialogue.
14 December
13:00 – 14:00
Introduction
Welcome to the Academy and Participants Introduction
14:00 – 14:30
Keynote Opening
Keynote Opening by Anders Knape, Chairperson of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, SALAR.
Speaker
14:30 – 15:00
15 December
13:00 – 15:00
Thematic and Training session
Thematic session
- The effects of Covid-19 on local democracy and the role of local government
- Human Rights Cities as a response to exclusion
- Inclusive Local Governments: creating a new social contract
- Governing with integrity and transparency: replacing norms that subvert local democracy
- Local government accountability in times of disruption
- Local democracy in the fight against climate change
- Achieving gender-equal municipalities
- Decentralization and local autonomy in times of crises
Training session
a) Netnography: understanding social interaction in digital communication
b) Digital methods to research local democracy
c) Communicating research to society: a workshop with The Conversation
16 december
13:00 – 15:00
Thematic Session and Training Session
17 December
12:30 – 15:00
Aimday: Connecting Research and Practice
18 December
13:00 – 15:00
Virtual Meal. Concluding Speach
Beyond the Hype: Leveraging Data and Technology for
Local Democracy.
Speakers:
Tiago Carneiro Peixoto, Governance Specialist, The World Bank
Background to this year’s theme
2020 has been characterized by disruptions, all of which are simultaneously global and local. The global spread of Covid-19 has very different local level ramifications and responses everywhere, depending on geography and socioeconomic context. Local governments are simultaneously challenged by the climate crises, the rise of protest and civil unrest, increase racial, gender and class inequality, and the decline in human rights protections, among others. Parallel to this, citizens in many countries, and many cities, have been taking to the streets to protest unjust treatment by the authorities. These protests have been local in their focus but global in their scope and have opened up the space for the re-imagining of citizen engagement.