Inclusive leadership and governance
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…
TRANS-Lighthouses
Regional Focus: Europe Time: 2023-2026 ICLD is part of the consortium of TRANS-Lighthouses – a Horizon Europe research and innovation project supporting inclusive, democratic, and transformative nature-based solutions (NBS). Through a network of pilot sites and assessment cases, TRANS-Lighthouses explores how participatory practices can enhance the design, governance, and impact of NBS. The project adopts…
Voluntary Local Reviews with community-based participatory research
Regional focus: Tanzania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Global Time: February – December 2023 Summary: ICLD is financing three small-scale studies to conduct Voluntary Local Reviews with participatory methods, and one comparative study to draw conclusions on the use of CBPR in reporting on the SDGs. The global movement of Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) is growing fast.…
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…
Drainage Politics: Reducing Climate Change Vulnerability in Surabaya, Indonesia
This learning case sets out in a city prone to natural disasters, and explores how policy and political commitments can reduce the consequences. After the introduction, readers are invited to reflect on a dilemma of enforcing a mitigation plan that landed public support, but that compromises the political position from which the plan is enforceable.…
Strängnäs-Emboreet,Tanzania
Project: Social Sustainability Strängnäs and Emboreet previously had a partnership between the years 2012-2016. In their new project, they intend to increase both Emboreet’s and Strängnäs’s ability to take young people’s ideas into account and thereby increase the level of democratic dialogues with adults in the village and higher decision-making organs to formulate strategies and…
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…
Växjö and JB Marks, South Africa
Project: Local Coalition Work for Improved Governance The proposed three-year project is a part of the formal partnership between Växjö Municipality and JB Marks Municipality. The overall goal is to improve and strengthen political structures, coalition work and political leadership in order to thereby strengthen democracy and structures for good governance on the municipal level.…
Älmhult, Växjö and JB Marks, South Africa
Project: Partnership to fight gender-based violence Forthcoming project application pertains to the current partnership between Municipality of Älmhult and City of Växjö and JB Marks Local Municipality. The proposal stretches over three years (2023-2025) and consists of 15 activities in total. This involves a wide group of stakeholders, such as multiple municipal departments, regional organisations…
