Local Civil Society Organizations Research Articles

Evaluation of Hydrological Response of an Agricultural Watershed to Conservation Measures and Land Use Changes: A Case Study

An agricultural watershed falling in the catchment of Godavri basin was selected for the study. Paddy, Maize, Cotton, Red gram, and Vegetables are the major crops grown in the watershed. Severe soil erosion consequent degradation of land and lack of water resources for supplementary irrigation and high dependence on rainfed farming leading to poor crop yields were the major problems in the watershed. With a view to address the issues in rainfed farming compounded by increasing adverse effects of climate change, soil and water conservation measures including area and drainage line treatments from ridge to valley were implemented in the watershed from the year 2009 to 2015 with the active participation of local people with facilitation support by a local civil society organization. With the implementation of the conservation measures, visible impact in terms of increased water availability, change in the land use and increased area under cultivation were reported in the watershed. The present study aimed at assessing the hydrological response of the watershed to the conservation measures and land use changes. As the study watershed is an ungauged one, the hydrological response of watershed was simulated with commonly used SCS-CN model duly validated with additional surface storage capacity created in the watershed. The study revealed highly positive impact of conservation measures and land use changes on hydrological behaviour of watershed. The main observed change in hydrological response of watershed was the decrease in the monsoon seasonal runoff by 33% (from 15 % before taking up catchment management measures to 10 % of seasonal rainfall after the project). The conservation measures were found to facilitate storing excess runoff in the watershed itself contributing to improved soil moisture, groundwater recharge and availability of water. Further, the additional storage capacity of 336 cubic m per hectare as estimated from the present hydrological response study was found to be in very close agreement with actual storage capacity of 322 cubic m per hectare, created with different conservation works taken up in the watershed.

Gender-based violence programming in times of COVID-19: Challenges, strategies and recommendations.

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) remains the most challenging and threatening manifestation of gender inequality in Indian society. The outbreak of COVID-19 in India increased the risk of exposure to GBV, often compared to the "shadow pandemic". Girls suffered disproportionally compared to boys during the pandemic -from being pulled out of schools, facing movement restrictions, and being more susceptible to forced marriage and household violence. Pre-existing gender inequalities and regressive gender norms, along with economic instability, also contributed to creating a milieu for violence to thrive. Additionally, the pandemic also challenged GBV service provision and program implementation at the community level. To meet the increasing needs of women and girls during the crisis, national and local civil society organizations attempted to adapt GBV programming and promote innovative approaches to tackle GBV. The secondary review provides insight on the GBV impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic and provides an overview of various challenges at the level of individual, community, institution, and policy. The literature review also highlights strategies adopted to combat GBV in private, public and cyberspace.

Reaching transgender populations in Zambia for HIV prevention and linkage to treatment using community-based service delivery.

IntroductionTransgender and gender‐diverse communities in Zambia are highly vulnerable and experience healthcare differently than cisgender persons. The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) supports projects in Zambia to improve HIV case‐finding, linkage and antiretroviral treatment (ART) for Zambia's transgender community. We describe programme strategies and outcomes for HIV prevention, testing and ART linkage among transgender communities.MethodsUMB utilizes a differentiated service delivery model whereby community health workers (CHWs) recruited from key populations (KPs) reach community members through a peer‐to‐peer approach, with the support of local transgender civil society organizations (CSOs) and community gatekeepers. Peer CHWs are trained and certified as HIV testers and psychosocial counsellors to offer counselling with HIV testing and prevention services in identified safe spaces. HIV‐negative people at risk of HIV infection are offered pre‐exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), while those who test positive for HIV are linked to ART services. CHWs collect data using the standardized facility and community tools and a dedicated DHIS2 database system. We conducted a descriptive analysis examining HIV testing and prevention outcomes using proportions and comparisons by time period and geographic strata.ResultsFrom October 2020 to June 2021, across Eastern, Lusaka, Western and Southern Provinces, 1860 transgender persons were reached with HIV prevention messages and services. Of these, 424 (23%) were tested for HIV and 78 (18%) tested positive. Of the 346 HIV‐negative persons, 268 (78%) eligible transgender individuals were initiated on PrEP. ART linkage was 97%, with 76 out of the 78 transgender individuals living with HIV initiating treatment. Programme strategies that supported testing and linkage included peer CHWs, social network strategy testing, same‐day ART initiation and local KP CSO support. Challenges included non‐transgender‐friendly environments, stigma and discrimination, the high transiency of the transgender community and the non‐availability of transgender‐specific health services, such as hormonal therapy.ConclusionsPeer KP CHWs were able to reach many members of the transgender community, providing safe HIV testing, PrEP services and linkage to care. Focusing on community gatekeepers and CSOs to disburse health messages and employ welcoming strategies supported high linkage to both PrEP and ART for transgender people in Zambia.

Urban solidarity typology: A comparison of European cities since the crisis of refuge in 2015

This article scrutinizes how local responses to irregular migrants vary across European cities. Existing literature shows that cities develop inclusive policies and practices for irregular migrants as a response to the restrictive asylum and migration policies of welfare states. This article goes beyond this monolithic understanding of cities by unpacking city actors into local governments and local civil society organizations, as well as exploring various dynamics between them. This benchmarking study builds an overarching urban solidarity typology based on an empirical analysis of policies and practices in 13 European cities between 2015 and 2019, inclusive. Binary coding of collected data leads to an inductively built descriptive typology that consists of analytical categories of urban solidarity (top-down; bottom-up; hybrid; limited). These four different categories reveal that urban solidarity is not one-size-fits-all. It emerges as a spectrum of transformative practices of various actors, as well as a constellation of displays of diverse sets of contentions, solidarity repertoires, compromises, negotiations, and consensus as well as their various combinations over a long period.

The Sakhnin/Misgav Land Dispute: Using 3‐D Negotiation Strategies to Analyze Conflict Resolution in Israel

This article discusses a bitter land dispute in Israel between a Palestinian municipality and a Jewish municipality, analyzing the game‐changing moves made by local civil society organizations to shift their relationship from adversaries to allies for regional cooperation. The article explores the origins of the conflict between Sakhnin Municipality and the neighboring Misgav Regional Council. We explain their failed attempts to negotiate agreements to end a local dispute that can be described as a microcosm of the Israeli–Palestinian geopolitical conflict. Using Lax and Sebenius's 3‐D Negotiation Framework and William Ury's Third Side concept as lenses, we analyze the strategy and activities employed by civil society actors, who embody a Third Side role and succeed in breaking the stalemate, reaching agreements, and transforming relationships. Through conducting interviews and reviewing media articles, emails, protocols, letters, and other documents in Sakhnin's archives and on official governmental websites, we reconstruct the negotiation process and demonstrate how the Third Side was able to restore relationships, trust, and communication and develop creative options—away from the negotiating table. We suggest that this case can serve as a model to resolve other conflicts, particularly local disputes with power disparities that are intertwined with high politics.

Consultation and Displacement in Large-Scale Agriculture Investment: Evidence from Oromia Region’s Shashamane Rural District

The Shashamane rural district was selected as a target area and corridor of large-scale agriculture investment (LSAI) to produce surplus agricultural products and ensure local development by the state and private (domestic and foreign) investors. Shalo–Melega private LSAI projects started operation in 2008 in the Shashamane rural district. This farm project comprises a crop production site, construction of a road, a crop storage facility, and developing irrigation in a total of about 24,710.51 acres of land along the central Rift Valley basin, for long-term leases. Little attention has been paid to how land ownership has changed and transaction transparency; how the community has been consulted; whether free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) has been provided; and how local people have been displaced. This study sought to investigate the consultation process, land transaction transparency, the use of FPIC, and local community dis-placement as a result of LSAI in the Shashamane rural district. The study adopted multi-method qualitative and quantitative data collection tools including primary data, collected from a directly impacted population of 134 households, using systematic random sampling techniques; key and in-depth informant interviews; focus group discussions (FGD); and field visits. Through the use of qualitative and qualitative research paradigms, a systematic analysis was conducted. The result of the study shows that 86.6% of respondents (both interested and affected) expressed that both government and the proponents were not taking in account their concerns during the consultation processes. Lack of free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) reduces local people’s sense of recognition and status. Moreover, LSAI displaced the rural people from their area of settlement and farmland, triggered a shortage of communal grazing and forest resources. Additionally, nonequivalent and unsatisfactory mitigation and compensation methods highly triggers the negative impacts. As a result of manipulation and therapy used during the consultation process, we assert that the local community had less decision-making authority and that the risk to the farm was thereby increased. The government, investors, and local communities are three actors whose respective roles need to be strengthened and transparent. It is crucial to strengthen the implementation of customary land tenure rights to benefit local and indigenous people and civil society organizations (CSOs).

ISO urban quality to measure the level of efficiency of urban transport

Providing and improving city services is critical to local governments, decision-makers, planners, and international and civil society organizations. Therefore, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) sought to develop the standard specification 37120 under the name (Sustainable Cities and Communities - Indicators of city services and quality of life) to measure the efficiency of services for cities and to grant it the ISO certificate in urban quality through a set of indicators for various areas of life in the city. Including the field of urban transport is the basis of development and is directly related to the lives and jobs of the city's residents, where the efficiency of urban transport in the study area (the city of Fallujah) will be known in light of the ISO 37120:2018 standard and compared with the cities (Amman and Toronto) using statistical analysis programs, where the results showed fairly equal between the two cities (Fallujah and Amman) and a large gap between the two cities (Fallujah and Toronto). The research suggested making improvements to the transportation network in the study area.

Distinctive character and added value of civil society organizations - a collaborative project within the Swedish integration system

ABSTRACT Expectations on collaboration between public authorities and civil society organizations (CSOs) have increased in Sweden the past decades, partly due to changes in the organization of welfare services. This article investigates a collaborative project within the migrant integration policy area. It is a collaboration between the employment offices in a region of Sweden and local CSOs with the common goal of easing the integration of migrants. Theories about civil society as service providers emphasize a possible added value of these non-statutory services related to CSOs distinct character. This link has seldom been empirically investigated. This article explores the distinctive character and added value of CSOs as they unfold in a collaborative project. Two previous studies were conducted by the researchers and this study is an extrapolation of the results. The analysis shows that discrepancies between CSOs and public authorities related to both ideology and organizational logics can be linked to an added value for the participants of the project. Paradoxically, the tensions and discrepancies enabled activities revolving around a more personal and informal understanding of integration that departed from the government agencies’ agenda whilst at the same time being enabled through the collaboration with them.

ECONOMIC MECHANISM OF STATE REGULATION OF THE INVESTMENT ACTIVITY IN AGRICULTURE

The main task of the state investment strategy in the development of agriculture is to form an effective policy of state promotion of investment in the agricultural sector, which will increase the level of investment attractiveness of the farm sector. Given the study's relevance, the article aims to justify the feasibility of introducing an economic mechanism of state regulation of investment activities in agriculture by combining the levers of state regulation with financial instruments of banking institutions. The study's goals were solved using the following general scientific methods: synthesis and analysis, economic statistics, systematization, theoretical generalization, and abstraction. The information base was the work of domestic and foreign scientists, analysts, practitioners, and statistics of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. In the article, the authors propose a model of financing investment activities based on the principles of attracting private (bank) capital. The structural and logical interpretation of the state budget savings from the introduction of the recommended financial support model for agricultural producers' investment activities is given. Based on a sample of indicators for 2010-2020, a multi-factor regression model of the dependence of Ukraine's GDP in agriculture on the factors of development of investment activity in agriculture ("the volume of investment in agriculture" and "expenditures to support state regulators of the agricultural sector"). To check the quality of the constructed model, the multiple correlation coefficient (R-squared), the test for heteroskedasticity of model residues (t-statistics), and the probability of error P(t) were determined. The student's t-test was calculated to assess the statistical significance of the correlation coefficient, and Fisher's F-test was used to test the effectiveness of the regression model. The change of GDP of Ukraine in agriculture for 2021-2024 under the conditions of state regulation of parameters of investment development in agriculture is forecasted. The proposed economic mechanism and tools for implementing the main strategic guidelines for further development of investment activities in agriculture of Ukraine is a prerequisite for determining the aid to promote this process at the local level by local governments and civil society organizations.

Women and Peace in Iraq Opportunities, Challenges and Prospects for A Better Future

We talked to 91 women (and some men) activists, civil society representatives, journalists, legal experts and academics in Baghdad, Basra, Erbil, Kirkuk, Najaf and Nineveh. We listened to what they had to say about peace and justice, existing challenges to achieving these, and how the challenges can and should be overcome. We adopted a lens that focuses on women and gender and through this lens we looked at the processes of formal and informal peacebuilding and transitional justice. As expected, the research showed that Iraqi activists have valuable insights to offer when it comes to issues of peace and justice in Iraq. It also showed that Iraqi peace activists work hard, indeed harder than the government, and make real change and impact on the ground. However, despite the impressiveness and value of this work, it remains small-scale and unnoticed as it is surrounded by a large web of ‘continuum of violence’,[i] legal and institutional obstacles, long-term gendered structural context, social gender norms and a political establishment that adheres to a conservative and patriarchal interpretation of religious and tribal norms. The obstacles and limitations to women’s participation in peacebuilding are immense and manifold, but these have not stopped Iraqi women in the past and will not stop them today or in the future either. Several important insights and lessons emerged from our conversations. It is impossible to do justice to all that rich and incredible knowledge, experience, and wisdom. However, here is an attempt to summarise the most important messages to emerge out of these: First, this research showed that there is a rich plethora of definitions of peace in Iraq. Peace activities are defined in a comprehensive way by women and men in Iraq, which goes well beyond the narrow, formal conceptions of peace and justice.. Second, Iraqi activists define and understand peace and its relationship to justice in different ways and these depend on the line of work they pursue, the circumstances of the province, and the specific community, group or people and issue under discussion. Women peace activists and feminists call for a proper implementation of CEDAW and other international human rights principles that affect women and girls. However, this does not mean that they endorse the political agendas pursued by foreign states. Women peace and rights activities are stuck in a complicated place defined by the intersection of foreign funding and international/regional politics and this creates significant potential risks for them. Third, so much existing peace work is going unnoticed in Iraq in which women and men of all ages, but especially the young, are working relentlessly. Despite difficult circumstances, these individuals and groups carry out impressive voluntary work often in collaboration with local civil society organisations. Fourth, formal peacebuilding mechanisms, on the other hand, such as the Committee for Coexistence and Community Peace, had less positive attributes compared to their informal counterparts. Some of the local peace committees have carried out important work and have been more inclusive than the other formal mechanisms such as the Martyrs Foundation. Still, formal mechanisms are less inclusive and informal mechanisms, and only a small number of women take part in them. Fifth, opinion is divided about the Iraqi National Plan regarding resolution 1325, which was seen by respondents as another form of formal peacebuilding. The Plan is considered to be a huge achievement in bringing the issue of women’s participation in peace processes to the political agenda. However, the Plan has not made a real impact and has not changed the status of women’s participation in formal peacebuilding and negotiations in Iraq. Some of the respondents, including women civil society representatives, had not even heard of the Plan while others had heard of it in name only but not witnessed any of its work. Most of the work and discussion in relation to INAP takes place in Baghdad and Erbil. However, the Plan mostly remains unimplemented due to a lack of political will and a limited budget to fund its activities. Sixth, there is huge discrepancy between existing transitional justice mechanisms used by the Iraqi government and what respondents called ‘real justice’, as well as legal discrimination against women, a lack of legal protection for women, and the lack of punishment for perpetrators of violence against women. Respondents provided a much wider scope of issues and activities in relation to peace and transitional justice, issues that go beyond the formal justice procedures offered by the government. Seventh, customary rules have a significant impact on women’s participation in peacebuilding by limiting women’s participation in public life [i]Cockburn, Cynthia, 2004. ‘The Continuum of Violence: A Gender Perspective on War and Peace’. In Sites of Violence: Gender and Conflict Zones, eds. W. Giles and J. Hyndman. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 24-44.

Transnational partnerships, domestic institutions, and sustainable development. The case of Brazil and the Amazon Region Protected Areas program

The article examines the role of institutions in mediating the interface between global challenges, transnational partnerships and the domestic politics of sustainable development. Empirically it focuses on the Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA) partnership, as a new type of governance that engages transnational and domestic actors in pursuing more sustainable management of land use, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the Brazilian Amazon. Drawing on extensive documentary analysis and field work, the study analyzes ARPA's institutional and political effects in Brazil. The case study reveals the materialization of a range of capacity-strengthening and environmental impacts, alongside with institutional and distributional effects. ARPA has also built upon the infusion of significant domestic resources and relied on a conductive political environment and pre-existing initiatives. Domestic institutions have thus been arbiters of transnational influence, engaging with the partnership first and foremost to support state and sub-state institutions and ambitious conservation priorities. On the other hand, while local communities and civil society organizations managed, through advocacy pressure and consultations, to incorporate a greater attention to local livelihoods and participation, the socio-economic components of the program remained weaker, with more limited success in terms of poverty alleviation. The conclusion draws broader implications for? the role of transnational partnerships in linking the global governance of environmental systems, domestic institutions and development objectives.

Learning to Resist(ance) in Gujarat

The Banni grassland, of Gujarat state of western India, has emerged as a site of multipronged contestations over land and livelihoods. Structural transformations seek to refashion Kachchh’s economy, society, and nature along capitalist and neoliberal lines threatening the livelihood of the 25000 mobile pastoralists inhabiting the grassland. Embedded within this context, the Salim Mama Youth Course, initiated through the a collaboration between local civil society, research and academic organizations, trains the youth in the region to recognize connections between pastoralism and their ecosystems. It achieves two main goals: firstly, the course attempts to secure the long-term sustainability of the grassland by developing the technical know-how of the youth as well as generating enthusiasm for pastoralism. Secondly, it contributes to the ongoing resistance against state induced corporate capture both practically, by providing information and tools to sustain contestations, and ideologically by reimagining the role and value of pastoralism in the region. This article unpacks the pedagogical approach of the course as a form of active and positive grassroots resistance against neoliberal environmentalism.

Engendering access to justice for development in Sub-Saharan Africa: a study of policy, programming and implementation

Building on the book "Gender, poverty and access to justice: policy implementation in Sub-Saharan Africa" (Lawson, Dubin and Mwambene (eds) (2020), this special volume of essays is the result of the Conference in Cape Town (October 2019), whose main objective was to investigate the intersection of gendered access to justice, poverty and disempowerment across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and provide field-based research and discussions on what does and does not work to improve justice for women and girls in the region. Authors' contributions are designed to be practice and action oriented, drawing on lessons and experiences from programmes and policies that work, and show real potential for their sustainable scalability. In this regard, the essays in this volume reflect a broad spectrum of multi-disciplinary contributions, including from policy makers and development practitioners, as well as representatives from local and international civil society organizations, the private sector, academe and the general public. These contributions are structured around the following five key areas: Integrating Justice Programming into the Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs); Informal Institutions, Rights and Laws in Sub- Saharan Africa; Women, Children and Access to Justice for Sustainable Development; Policies and Practices for Engendering Justice and Empowerment for Poverty Reduction; and Gender, and Poverty and Justice Policies in SSA: Lessons from the Field? The central objective of all the contributions, however, is to profile recent developments and experiences in furthering gendered access to justice in the SSA context, and to distil from them future trends for SSA's access to justice, and the specific role stakeholders can play therein.

USE OF THE MECHANISM OF CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT OF INNOVATIVE TRANSFORMATIONS OF PUBLIC GOVERNANCE

The formation and implementation of innovative activities in public administration is a fundamental problem in both theoretical and practical aspects. Public administration in the current conditions of Ukraine's development requires significant changes due to the active processes of digital transformation of the state's interaction with society, and the use of innovative tools and technologies used in world practice. The article establishes the morphological paradigm of modern public administration within the framework of reforming and innovative transformations of the public administration system. The task of the mechanism of cultural and educational support of innovative transformations of public administration is defined. The essence of the concept of "public administration" is investigated, the decomposition analysis of definition of the concept "mechanism of public management" is carried out. The quality of public administration in the field of formation of innovative mechanisms of interaction between political, local self-government bodies, governmental structures, business and civil society organizations is worked out. The concept of "mechanism of cultural and educational support of innovative transformations of public administration" is revealed. It is proposed to outline a comprehensive system of managerial influence on civil society, which gives the implementation of innovations in public administration based on the application of the achievements of cultural and educational space in order to achieve progressive evolutionary social development. The main directions of development of innovative activity in public administration of Ukraine are defined — fixing of strategic priorities of the state innovation policy, maintenance of conditions of application of model of innovative activity in system of public management and improvement of the current legislation in the field of innovative activity in public management. The primary experience for outlining innovations common in Western European public administration, the strategy of joint innovations based on cooperation and communication of public, private and public actors with different levels of experience and resources can be traced. Much attention is paid to the formation of barriers to cooperation within the strategy and the factors that directly affect their emergence. It is argued that the organization of cooperation processes stimulates the creation of innovative solutions.

Who are the Patani Peace Influencers? Exploring from Perspectives of Civil Society in Southern Thailand

This research explores local civil society organizations’ (CSOs) view on peace influencers in southern Thailand. Its key puzzle is, according to the CSOs, who are considered to be Patani Peace Influencers? Because there is a lack of reliable resources to support peacebuilding on key peacemakers, this project uses exploratory research to collect data from Buddhists and Muslims in southern Thailand. The exploratory survey was launched from January-May 2021; it received 59 nominees from 48 nominators. The dense ranking was used to generate the updated list of 10 peace influencers in Patani. The result unveils that the top three peace influencers include Ismail Lutfi Japakiya, Rukchart Suwan, and Srisompob Jitpiromsri, respectively. The list suggests that although non-religious actors have primarily been nominated, the most influential actor in the area remains the religious scholar.

Access to Whose Justice? Survivor-Centered Justice for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Northern Shan State

Abstract In 2019, the United Nations (UN) Security Council adopted Resolution 2467. The resolution was to encourage the international system to promote a survivor-centered response to conflict-related sexual violence. The role of local women-led civil society organizations has been identified as the crucial “first-response” mechanism to institute survivor-centered justice. In a situation of ongoing conflict, what agency do civil society organizations have to safely operate “first-response” survivor-centered justice? In this article, we examine the local practices of responding to conflict-related sexual violence in northern Shan State in Myanmar. This article finds that women-led local civil society organizations are indeed crucial first responders and a vital resource for promoting survivor-centered justice-seeking practices. The article also identifies the compromises and risks these civil society organizations experience that limit their agency to deliver survivor-centered justice. Local civil society organizations are constantly navigating local gendered norms, a patriarchal, unrepresentative formal legal system, and a hostile conflict environment. The positionality of local civil society organizations to local armed ethnic organizations and the state itself requires strategic consideration by the international community when recommending local civil society to deliver survivor-centered justice.

Practice Theory and the Opening Up of International Organizations

Abstract Scholars researching international organizations’ (IO) inclusion of transnational and local civil society organization (CSO) have provided compelling insights; however, according to their self-evaluation, many of these insights remain at a general level. Against this backdrop, I propose two complementary claims. First, I identify a bias in the literature that has focused on large, Western IOs. What non-Western or small IOs do and how their practices interact with CSO inclusion in different localities is often missed. Second, based on bourgeoning practice theoretical literature on IOs and CSOs, I claim that practice theory can add to research on IO-CSO. In spite of internal pluralism, practice theory refines constructivist methodologies for zooming in on IOs’ internal dynamics, daily practices, and performances of the practice of CSO inclusion, including in IO country offices. On the basis of my own field research, I also suggest that the practice of CSO inclusion interacts with power, gender, and race dynamics. In sum, practice theory can inform research on marginalized and often power-ridden specificities among and within IOs in relation to IO-CSO interaction.

Equality in Community Engagement: A Scoping Review of Evidence from Research and Practice in Scotland

In Scotland, innovative designs for community engagement have been developed by national and local governments, public authorities, and civil society organisations, leading to a wealth of literature and research. This evidence review of 79 articles and reports, explores the intersection between community engagement and inequality in Scotland. We find that the ways in which equality must be supported within community processes are often overlooked. Community engagement must be placed in the context of broader democratic innovation and citizenship at regional, national and global scale in order to become future proof. Appropriate resources are required to avoid replicating systemic inequalities as well as to support the development of a variety of institutions, processes and methods that cater for groups often mislabelled as ‘hard to reach’ but that are perhaps best seen as ‘easy to ignore’ ( Matthews et al. 2012 ). The paper highlights key learning and strategic considerations to inform practice in Scotland and beyond. The findings and recommendations are of relevance to reformers, innovators, researchers, practitioners and policymakers working across diverse policy areas and levels of governance.

The strategic role of civil society organisations in handling climate change: A case of Riau in Indonesia

Although many local civil society organisations (CSOs) involve in reducing the impact of climate change, the issue has been reported by a limited study. This paper addresses the gap by investigating the role of local CSOs in helping to anticipate the effect of climate change. This study looked into the case of Riau because it has many CSOs concerned with environmental problems. The objectives of this research are to classify the environmental CSOs in Riau and analyze their contribution to climate change resilience. Using a qualitative approach, the data were collected by using interviews on a series of participants, including CSO’s activists, government officials, academicians, and community leaders. We reveal that local CSOs can be classified as conservation, advocation, empowerment, and conflict resolution. Along with their own and government programs, the CSOs have been contributed to tackling climate change by ensuring forest and peatland preservation. The theoretical and practical contributions of the study are elaborated.

Restricting NGOs: From Pushback to Accommodation

Restricting NGOs: From Pushback to Accommodation