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Paper short abstract:

This case study of civil society advocacy for ‘locally-shaped solutions’ in an East-African context zooms in on relations with constituencies. The paper seeks to provide insight into the complex, context-specific dynamics shaping civil society roles in representation and voice in climate action.

Paper long abstract:

The role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in addressing climate change is acknowledged. However, there is limited engagement with questions of representation and voice. This constitutes an urgent knowledge gap. CSOs’ roles often draw legitimacy from their capacity to support and represent local people’s voices. At the same time, this role is far from evident, given CSOs’ embeddedness in relations with donors and the state. This paper explores how the challenge of ‘amplifying voices’ presents itself for CSOs working in an international NGO-led climate change advocacy programme in an East-African country, to provide insight into the complex, context-specific dynamics shaping such roles.

Based on qualitative data, the study found that CSOs in the case seek to facilitate community engagement and inclusion in climate policy through their roles as intermediaries and enablers. Two challenges complicate these roles. First, ‘local’ solutions emerge in interplay between power holders in which local communities whose voices the programme was meant to ‘amplify’ often play limited roles – with CSOs observing, challenging but also contributing to this challenge. Second, CSOs face challenges building legitimacy with communities, given perceptions of e.g., limited relevance of climate-related advocacy. Moreover, the analysis identifies a significant opportunity for building a bottom-up advocacy agenda not accommodated in the programme. Based on the analysis, the paper identifies adjustments to advocacy programming that can enhance CSO roles ‘amplifying voices’ and may help overcome limits of community engagement that form an important basis for the risk of elite capture of climate action.