Nothing as it Seems

What is the role of external donors in local development and local governance in Ethiopia? ISS-student Ephrem Shiferaw is currently blogging from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His reflections and thoughts give us the feeling that there's so much more lurking under the surface of the muddy development-waters. We're looking forward to finding out more about his discoveries in the coming up weeks. The power of community-based organizations/CBO’s It has been three weeks since I started my researc...

Self-portrait - Victor Juliet Mukasa

My name is Victor Juliet Mukasa, 32, a transgender lesbian from Uganda. I am a human rights defender and a banker by profession. I am currently working with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission as research and policy associate for East, Central andHorn of Africa.

Beyond Economics - East Africa

This dialogue will be an occasion to bring together African networks involved in research and advocacy on African based network looking at the impact of the systemic crises on African development. The launch/dialogue will invite participants to reflect on the performance of Southern and East African economies in relation to the current multiple crises (financial, food, fuel, care). It will ask participants to look at the way the crises are playing out in Africa, specifically at the socio-eco...

Post-conflict Participation

This project delves into the possibilities for civil society participation in post-conflict settings. It focuses on forms of civic engagement and mechanisms that facilitate interactions between local level state institutions and social actors in the specific context of a post-conflict situation. It concentrates on how violent conflict has affected different forms of social organisation. It will single out the crucial social-political factors for engagement, and the characteristics of state i...

KP “Smallholders Agency” lands in Africa

The initiating team of “Smallholders Agency” (from Hivos, IIED and Mainumby) went to Uganda and Kenya from 20 to 28 November. The aim was to find out how the knowledge program can become embedded in East Africa and to find African members for the Learning Network.

Promoting pluralism? Diminish the donor dependency!

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, human rights activist and researcher on Islam and secularism, has been fighting for decades to promote the acceptance of human rights in Muslim countries. Foreign donors can only play a limited role, he thinks.

Ethnic and Political Diversity in Uganda

Uganda is an East-African country, bordered by Sudan in the north, Kenya in the east, Lake Victoria as natural border and Tanzania in the south and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the west. With a population of more than 31 million people, the country is the home of over 40 ethnic groups. It is thus not surprising that the people of Uganda think of ethnic diversity when speaking about ‘pluralism’. There is, however, one other important line of thinking when it comes to pluralism in Ugan...