Sarah Byrne, Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, and Lukas Krienbühl, swisspeace, presented first findings from the joint learning project that emerged from the ddlgn, on “Actors of local Democracy – opening up the perspective”. The learning project is still in progress. It first mapped SDC’s existing experience with a series of actors. Several types of actors with invisible or informal power can be distinguished, and DDLGN members showed a clear interest to better understand both the spaces and processes through which informal authority is claimed, negotiated and used, what role these authorities play in local democracy, and wether and how SDC could engage with them.
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Anuratha Joshi from IDS, together with Zolzaya Lhakvasuren from SCO Mongolia, Ibrahim Mehmeti from SCO Macedonia, and Eric Kalunga from SDC Tanzania, presented the main findings from the three case studies made in the framework of this learning project. In Mongolia, homeland associations and their relations to local governance processes were analysed. In Macedonia the role of religious authorities was reviewed, and in Tanzania the study looked at customary and informal authorities in the Iringa rural district.
For more insights and in-depth findings you can download the 3 research studies here:
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Mongolia![]() |
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According to Matthias Boss, swisspeace, the learning project will analyse the findings further and plans to come forward with an analytical framework to assess informal authorities and the way how SDC should engage with them.