Inclusive development? Civic space and the way forward. The case of Liberia
(2021) MIDM19 20211Department of Human Geography
LUMID International Master programme in applied International Development and Management
- Abstract
- Civil society is an integral part of reaching sustainable development, and a
cornerstone in democratic societies. The aim of this study is to investigate how Swedish donors and local partners work with civic space in Liberia, specifically challenges related to civic space. It also examines strategies Swedish donors and their local partners apply to overcome these challenges. The study has a qualitative approach and derives findings from documents and semi-structured interviews with Swedish donors and local partners. The paper finds that challenges for civil society in Liberia include low capacity and interference of state and other actors. Challenges affect the work of civil society by delaying work and making them not reach their... (More) - Civil society is an integral part of reaching sustainable development, and a
cornerstone in democratic societies. The aim of this study is to investigate how Swedish donors and local partners work with civic space in Liberia, specifically challenges related to civic space. It also examines strategies Swedish donors and their local partners apply to overcome these challenges. The study has a qualitative approach and derives findings from documents and semi-structured interviews with Swedish donors and local partners. The paper finds that challenges for civil society in Liberia include low capacity and interference of state and other actors. Challenges affect the work of civil society by delaying work and making them not reach their potential, which in turn has effects on sustainable development, democracy and implementation of the SDGs. Some civil society groups, like female activists and those working with accountability and sensitive issues, are more affected than others due to their perceived lack of legitimacy. To overcome challenges, Swedish donors and local partners engage in a range of strategies, including Policy and strategic efforts, Operational responses, Alliance-building and civil society resilience efforts, and Evidence-generation. Sweden is committed to supporting Liberian civil society in its’ own right. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9044085
- author
- Arnmarker, Lovisa LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MIDM19 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Liberia, Civil society, Civic space, International development cooperation, Sweden
- language
- English
- id
- 9044085
- date added to LUP
- 2021-06-21 11:21:52
- date last changed
- 2021-06-21 11:21:52
@misc{9044085,
abstract = {{Civil society is an integral part of reaching sustainable development, and a
cornerstone in democratic societies. The aim of this study is to investigate how Swedish donors and local partners work with civic space in Liberia, specifically challenges related to civic space. It also examines strategies Swedish donors and their local partners apply to overcome these challenges. The study has a qualitative approach and derives findings from documents and semi-structured interviews with Swedish donors and local partners. The paper finds that challenges for civil society in Liberia include low capacity and interference of state and other actors. Challenges affect the work of civil society by delaying work and making them not reach their potential, which in turn has effects on sustainable development, democracy and implementation of the SDGs. Some civil society groups, like female activists and those working with accountability and sensitive issues, are more affected than others due to their perceived lack of legitimacy. To overcome challenges, Swedish donors and local partners engage in a range of strategies, including Policy and strategic efforts, Operational responses, Alliance-building and civil society resilience efforts, and Evidence-generation. Sweden is committed to supporting Liberian civil society in its’ own right.}},
author = {{Arnmarker, Lovisa}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Inclusive development? Civic space and the way forward. The case of Liberia}},
year = {{2021}},
}