What's new in the DRC?
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Queen Rania of Jordan launched the 1 GOAL campaign at Wembley Stadium together with a host of international footballers (Photo by Jeff Moore, 1 GOAL).
A Global Campaign with Local Roots?
The Make Poverty History campaign, which was criticised for losing touch with people in developing countries, is being followed by a new mega-campaign, complete with the ballyhoo of international football celebrities. Yet unlike Make Poverty History, which emerged opportunistically, 1 GOAL builds on the strength of the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), which began nearly a decade ago and is distinguished by its democratic approach to involving southern partners. Research by the Citizenship DRC points to the lessons from this extraordinarily successful campaign. Read more…
In the midst of violent clashes between the police and drug traffickers in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, some residents are trying to reassert control over their lives and neighbourhoods though community organising. Research by the Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability looked at these grassroots efforts to counter the violence in Rio, and recently hosted politicians, government officials and civil society leaders in public debates in four favelas to encourage new policies to support the many, though inchoate, initiatives to build peace through consensus-building. Read more…
Nigeria's House of Representatives is considering a possible electoral reform that some say could deliver the country's first free and fair vote since the end of military rule a decade ago. As civil society actors unite to weigh in on the policy debate, the Citizenship DRC’s partners in Nigeria have been informing the movement at every level with lessons from their research into the state of citizenship in Nigeria. Read more…
Who's Fighting for National Participation in the UK?
John Gaventa, Director of the Citizenship DRC, gives a seminar on a paradox of participation in the UK. At the local level, citizen participation is flourishing. But where are the champions for citizen participation in national politics? Examples from Brazil and India suggest that civil society organisation in the UK may need to lead the charge. Listen here.
Globalisation and Citizenship: A Review
This literature review is an attempt to draw together some of the insights emerging from research on how power once held by the state is increasingly fragmented among global, transnational and local actors. The review identified six main bodies of literature and attempted to identify the relevance of these distinct theoretical perspectives to how citizens perceive and engage with global processes and in turn, what impact global processes actually have on the meanings and practices of citizenship.
The participatory approach to development may have finally found its expression in the field of conflict and security. A group of scholars including researchers from the Citizenship DRC met in Brighton in May to discuss a framework for peace-building from below. The workshop coincided with the publication of two IDS Bulletins devoted to related issues: "Transforming Security and Development in an Unequal World" (March 2009) and "Violence, Social Action and Research" (May 2009)
In an article published by Alliance Magazine, John Gaventa and Nick Benequista write about a new model for democracy promotion - one that values the innovations in democratic practices that have occurred across the globe in the last 15 years and that recognizes all nations as equal partners.
In Tribute to Augusto Boal: A Life of Theatre and Politics
Augusto Boal, the founder of the Theatre of the Oppressed who died last week, believed that drama could bring about radical change. His innovative work encouraged audience members to take to the stage to act out real-life problems and, through this, to develop strategies for personal and social change. Members of the Citizenship DRC reflect on his legacy
Violence Framed: Participatory Video in Action Research
A new film by the Citizenship DRC shows how participatory video is used as a tool for action research on violence in Brazil, Mexico and Nigeria.
From Porto Alegre to Tower Hamlets
The experience of the Citizenship DRC suggests this: if you change how people see public policy, people will see to it that public policy changes. Shazia Hussain of the London borough of Tower Hamlets demonstrates the point. Inspired by the people she met at the Citizenship DRC-organised workshop “Champions of Participation,” Shazia has convinced her council to set aside millions of pounds for an experiment in participatory budgeting.
In Nigeria: The Informal Road to Formal Democracy
After three elections all marred by vote rigging, Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua inaugurated an Electoral Reform Committee to figure out how to bring an end to the fraud. But will the country’s political classes have the will to implement the radical reforms recommended by the committee? Civil society organisations and ordinary citizens are not waiting idly to find out. Jibrin Ibrahim, Director of Nigeria’s Centre for Democracy and Development, gave a seminar on civil society’s efforts to protect the vote in Nigeria through a campaign that is boldly making the case to the public: defend your vote because your life depends on it.
New Flows of Accountability in Mexico
A reconfiguration of power relations in southern Veracruz, Mexico has occurred partly as a result of a research project supported by the Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability.
150 Case Studies, 400 Publications... Now What?
"A few days into joining the Citizenship DRC as a research assistant, I was shown a file documenting the breadth of the team’s research – eight years, 150 case studies (and counting), almost 400 publications! Now what?" Greg Barrett, the latest member of the Citizenship DRC’s coordination team, discusses the challenges of discovering the things we know.
'Rude' Accountability in the Unreformed State
‘Rude’ forms of accountability are central to how poor people negotiate their entitlements on the frontline of service delivery in Bangladesh. This paper by Naomi Hossain documents the unorganised, informal pressures that poor citizens exert on officials in a context where effective formal systems for accountability are absent.
Global Citizen Engagement Paper Series
A series of IDS Working Papers will be published over the coming months exploring how the diffusion of power and governance resulting from globalisation gives rise to new meanings and identities of citizenship and new forms of citizen action.
The Citizenship DRC Annual Report 2007-2008
The Citizenship DRC Annual Report 2007-2008 is now available for download by clicking the title above.
Human Rights Day: Fighting for the Right to Have Rights
Across the globe, social movements are fighting for the most basic entitlement of citizenship: the right to have rights. The work of the Citizenship DRC explores the new ways in which citizens are identifying and claiming those rights.
States Do Not Build Themselves
Citizen action plays a critical role in building states that will confront poverty and respond to social injustice. A new set of InFocus Policy Briefings features nine successful cases showing how it is done.
Innovations in Accountability and Transparency
A report by John Gaventa from the Bellagio workshop in June 2008, on the role of donors in supporting and sustaining change.
Teaching and learning citizenship
Researchers from the Citizenship DRC are exploring new ways to use findings for teaching and learning with their students.
Two new publications on citizen engagement
The Institute of Development Studies launched two new publications on democratising citizen engagement at an event held jointly with Demos in London on April 29th 2008.
Reflection on using Participatory Video in research
News on participatory video and more films
Latest Publications