Agro-biodiversity @knowledged

Biodiversity is important for the resilience of our planet. Smallholders depend on biodiversity for their livelihoods and survival, and they are its main guardians. Farming practices which use and enhance this diversity are common, yet agriculture can also be the greatest destroyer of biodiversity. Can we add insights and evidence to the debates?This is the basis of a knowledge programme that has recently been started by Hivos and Oxfam Novib.It aims to develop concepts and ideas about agricu...

Kony2012: the dilemma of mobilising for aid

Focused on the challenges of declining funds and public skepticism at home, development organisations tend to pay more attention to ´what works´ to convince donors and journalists, rather than finding out first what resonates with the people they mean to help. What kind of success is a film which its intended ´beneficiaries´ would rather do without?

Nairobi graffiti mobilizes Kenyans for change – or not…

Kenyans these days wake up to biting graffiti about the country’s corrupt politicians. Largely anonymous artists are calling on the people to use their vote in the next elections to bring about change. Kenyans talk about it, on the street, on the internet, radio and on TV. But Kenyans always talk, talk, talk.  Will the citizen led “WanjikũRevolution” (through the ballot) finally challenge ‘The Way Things Have Always Been Done Around Here’?

KONY2012 The real story

Well it's become the fastest viral video of all time: 100 Million views  in just 6 days and counting. The film "Kony 2012" hopes to kick-start a  worldwide campaign to capture Joseph Kony -- one of Africa's most  notorious warlords.For its fans the campaign is an unparalleled  example of the internet's   power as a force for good. For its critics  the film glosses over   complex realities in the region and pushes for an  imperialist agenda in...

The Governance Gap

16/03/2012 You must have heard about the internet hype around ‘Kony2012’ ; a campaign by the American organisation Invisible Children to capture the rebel leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, Joseph Kony. ‘Kony2012’ shows the acute suffering of LRA victims, especially children. But what really remains invisible are wounds of a society years after the LRA left. This is told in the recent film The Governance Gap ; to stop Kony does not put an end to the suffering of people.

The Governance Gap

16/03/2012 You must have heard about the internet hype around ‘Kony2012’ ; a campaign by the American organisation Invisible Children to capture the rebel leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, Joseph Kony. ‘Kony2012’ shows the acute suffering of LRA victims, especially children. But what really remains invisible are wounds of a society years after the LRA left. This is told in the recent film The Governance Gap ; to stop Kony does not put an end to the suffering of people.

What can Western donors learn from China's approach in Africa

African Studies Centre Seminar in cooperation with Knowing Emerging Powers in AfricaSouth-South cooperation is gaining prominence and was high on the agenda at the Busan conference on aid effectiveness. All eyes were on China: would China be in or out? Ultimately China signed the Busan Declaration because it states that the nature, modalities and responsibilities of South-South cooperation are different from North-South cooperation and that the principles an...

When Civics go Governance

In ‘When Civics go governance’ Ria Brouwers analyses the stormy ascent of African NGOs in the field of good governance. Tracing the tracks of the NGO-boom in Africa, Brouwers brings together key academic writings with ISS led field on NGO interventions in Zambia, Uganda, Kenia and Tanzania conducted under the banner of the Hivos/ISS Civil Society Building Knowledge Programme.

Mobilizing Social Justice in South Africa: Perspectives from Practitioners and Researchers

South Africa grapples with serious social and economic  inequalities, including inequality in access to basic services. At a  time of rising social tensions, the country’s institutions are in danger  of losing the legitimacy they gained in the wake of democratic  dispensations of the 1990s. This book presents  the findings of five research projects that address  these key areas in  partnership with practitioners, which were  presented at an internationa...

7 Citizenship in Social Movements: Constructing Alternatives in the Anti-Privatization Forum, South Africa Meghan Cooper

This paper explores how social movements construct citizenship and redefine the very notion of the political realm. Social movements have quickly become powerful actors within South Africa’s civil society.

1 Seizing and Stretching Participatory Space: Civil Society Participation in Tanzania’s Policy Processes

This paper takes as its starting point the perspective that civil society participation in governance—particularly policy processes such as the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and related policy developments—largely takes on a mere consultative rather than a transformative role when initiated and driven by government or donors.

"MUSEVENOMICS" analyzed

Popular understanding as postulated by Ugandan President Museveni suggests that if the prices of commodity prices go up, farmers should benefit by way of higher income. Morrison Rwakakamba from Uganda, a practicing economist and an active member of the  Knowledge Programme on “Small Producers’ Agency in Globalised Markets” argues that while this might theoretically be true, the practice is a bit detached from the theory. He explains that certain structural factors inhibit the farmers fro...

The End or the And?

Can civil society organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa succesfully advocate, lobby and mobilize to fight poverty and corruption, and to bring development and democracy? Have citizens’ organizations in the new roles of policy making and participation in service delivery been able to realize the high hopes and aspirations surrounding their explosive growth. And how has international assistance promoted or hindered their struggle to catalyze social change and pro-poor development?...

Civil Society and Political Transformation in Egypt

“Why did diplomats, policymakers, analysts and academics fail to see and understand the growing popular unrest in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries? With this question in mind, Alan Fowler travelled to Cairo, Egypt. In this post, he shares a personal account of emerging insights and tough questions for supporters and researchers of civic action. 

Book Release: Mobilising Social Justice: Perspectives from Researchers and Practitioners

South Africa grapples with serious social and economic inequalities, including inequality in access to basic services. At a time of rising social tensions, the country’s institutions are in danger of losing the legitimacy they gained in the wake of democratic dispensations of the 1990s.

Stretching a Human Rights Approach in Search of Social Justice

Rights based strategies for obtaining social justice tend to focus on claiming legal rights at the level of the nation state. Drawing on findings from the Hivos knowledge programme in India, South Africa and Uganda, we argue that such a ‘purist’ rights based approach may overlook the potential of ´culture´ as a complementary source of inspiration for civic action.

The End or the And?

Can civil society organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa succesfully advocate, lobby and mobilize to fight poverty and corruption, and to bring development and democracy? Have citizens’ organizations in the new roles of policy making and participation in service delivery been able to realize the high hopes and aspirations surrounding their explosive growth. And how has international assistance promoted or hindered their struggle to catalyze social change and pro-poor development?...

Revisiting the end of civil society building?

The synthesis paper of Ria Brouwers of the Institute of Social Studies: “When ‘civics’ go ‘governance’, on the role and relevance of civic organisations in the policy arena in Sub-Sahara Africa”, looks at the political role played by civic organisation and tries to understand what happens when ‘civics’ go ‘governance’. It is a sound retrospective paper that deals with issues of the rise of civil society, the external force behind it, and the role that NGOs play in society and power imbalance...

The governance gap in Acholi

How do citizens exercise agency and claim their rights in post-conflict settings? This is the central question in a research project by Marjoke Oosterom, which is supported by IDS, Hivos and ICCO. Marjoke is working with remote communities in Northern Uganda  and is now adding a documentary to share some of the emerging insights and impressions more widely. The documentary is made in partnership with the Refuge Law Project and documentary makers Tim van der Maden and Esther Kool to make...

Uganda: playing the ethnicity card

Ethnic diversity in itself is not a recipe for conflict. In the run up to next week's elections politicians should be celebrating Uganda's diversity, not playing the ethnicity card for political gain, says Jimmy Spire Ssentongo

Pluralism: what relevance for Uganda?

As Uganda moves into an intense election period under a multi-party system, Western notions of pluralism appear irrelevant in a context where cultural diversity often results in exclusion, to the detriment of the public good