Local Democracy Rising LAB Series: Empowering Communities and Embedding Good Governance

Author: Ellen Van Uytvanck, TED WG2 Facilitator  

As geopolitical fault lines deepen and both civic space and aid budgets shrink, democracy’s strongest defence is no longer found in the corridors of power; it rises from the ground up. In times of crisis, democracy doesn’t disappear. It migrates. It re-emerges in town halls, community centres, neighbourhood committees, where people gather, organise and reimagine how governance works.

This premise shaped two recent LABs hosted by TED’s WG2, dynamic exchanges led by ALDA, UNDP and PLATFORMA. These sessions challenged the idea that democratic resilience is preserved solely through national institutions or external support. Instead, the country case studies shared and discussed pointed to the ingenuity, legitimacy and staying power of local ecosystems - where democracy lives and evolves, even when systems fail.

LAB 1: Strengthening Local Community Engagement and Democratic Governance Resilience in Situations of Fragility

When formal institutions collapse or retreat, communities don’t wait; they adapt. LAB 1 (47 participants), held on the 9 April 2025 and led by ALDA, focused on how democratic practices persist, and often thrive, in situations of fragility marked by conflict, repression or institutional breakdown.

In Sudan, neighbourhood committees have taken over coordinating aid and delivering basic services, stepping into the void left by a paralysed state. In Libya, where governance remains fractured, small grants to universities and civil society groups are keeping the thread of community cohesion alive, sidestepping contested political structures.

Sometimes, the centre still matters. In Madagascar, continued - even if low key - engagement with central authorities has opened space for discussion and understanding of decentralisation, allowing local governance to take root despite an otherwise constrained environment.

Meanwhile in Mariupol, Ukraine, decentralised structures enabled the city to function under siege, proof of local institutions’ ability to hold the line (be frontline workers). In Uganda, civic participation has gone digital, with youth-led movements using social media to challenge parliamentarians and open political space. It’s a form of real-time, low-cost digital resistance.

Democratic resilience also crosses borders. In, Belarus exiled civic actors are building “proto-institutions” - shadow parliaments, councils, networks - that sustain political agency and regional cooperation from abroad. The same spirit is visible across Central and Latin America (Nicaragua, Venezuela, Argentina and Guatemala), where participants stressed the value of diaspora engagement, regional dialogue, safe spaces and mapping efforts to strengthen exiled democratic ecosystems, while warning of growing participation fatigue from consultations that deliver too little, too late.

LAB 1 didn’t yield a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, it identified guiding principles for supporting democracy in situations of fragility:

• Local ownership first, with communities leading through sub-granting, mentoring and design.
• Inclusivity, especially for informal or marginalised actors closest to the ground.
• Co-design with local authorities builds legitimacy an trust.
• Resilience over regime change, protecting democratic habits and not just structures.
• Creating safe spaces, physical and digital, for dialogue and dissent.
• Trusted intermediaries matter, like Local Democracy Agencies that connect actors and build community.
• Support must fit context, avoiding generic templates in favour of tailored approaches.

A Palestinian best practice exemplified this. Municipalities co-led territorial development with citizens directly shaping, monitoring and implementing the local plans. Participation here isn’t symbolic; it’s built into the structure.

The message from LAB 1 was clear: where democracy is most at risk, it survives not because it is imposed from above, but because it is cultivated from below.

LAB 2: Breaking Silos and Embedding Good Governance in Local Governance and Public Services

Held on the 16 April 2025 and co-led by UNDP and PLATFORMA, LAB 2 (60 participants) looked beyond fragility toward transformation - asking how local governments can go beyond service delivery to become civic catalysts and engines of trust in enabling peacebuilding, advancing rights and social inclusion in everyday governance.

Long shaped by conflict and division, Senegal’s Casamance region is now a testing ground for participatory recovery. No longer focused solely on clearing landmines, the real innovation lies in what followed the return of 5,600 households: youth, women leaders, universities and CSOs came together to form local dialogue platforms: spaces to co-create recovery strategies, monitor service delivery and spark civic ownership. This is local governance as peace infrastructure. With support from the University of Ziguinchor, digital tools let young people flag service gaps, propose projects and monitor government performance. 

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, UNDP’s MEG project leverages local data to push national water sector reform. Performance-based financing/top-ups creates incentives for progress, turning bottom-up evidence into top-down action, with support from Switzerland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the EU. 

While Split, Croatia, is piloting a bold innovation in participatory budgeting, powered by quadratic funding and blockchain. Instead of central planners deciding where the money goes, citizens are empowered to co-finance and vote on local projects themselves. The model rewards not the majority, but rather the intensity of community preferences “what matters most,” ensuring small ideas with strong backing get funded. 

Like Mariupol, Ukraine in LAB 1, Lviv shows how services can be reimagined amid crisis. Libraries now double as mental health support, adult education and job placement hubs for both residents and displaced populations. Youth engagement has shifted from sports to civic co-creation, earning Lviv the title of European Youth Capital 2025.

Another standout is the AKUAL programme, promoting a triangular cooperation effort linking El Salvador, Costa Rica and Spain’s Basque Country. Focusing on water and sanitation, it combines North-South and South-South partnerships to embed gender equality, generate local jobs and improve services through peer learning and community leadership.

Designing Local Digital Democracy with Care

Both LABs surfaced a key caveat: digital tools can widen participation but not necessarily inclusion. There are promising examples: Rwanda’s solar-powered internet kiosks and India’s motorbike-mounted tablets are reaching remote communities. But not all local governments are ready. In Uganda, the hesitation is less about resistance and more about a lack of training, time and resources. In Belarus, the issue isn’t access - it’s safety. Encryption and digital safeguards are essential where repression is high.

And technology has its limits. In many places, community meetings double as social lifelines, where trust is built over conversation, not clicks. Digital platforms often miss this informal, human fabric that holds local democracy together.

The takeaway? Digital engagement must be layered, not replace, with traditional, face-to-face participation, especially in communities where access, literacy or trust in online spaces can’t be assumed.

LABs in Action: Continuing the Conversation on Democratic Resilience

Both LABs sparked follow-up action. ALDA built on LAB 1 during its Regional Networking and Reflection Workshop in Dakar, Senegal, organised under the WYDE Civic Engagement Project., where mayors, local development agencies and CSOs explored practical cooperation and public institution strengthening. Through an “ideas marketplace” sub-grantees, youth and civil society were also able to further share experiences and solutions. Meanwhile, UNDP and PLATFORMA are co-developing a blogpost to carry forward the findings of LAB 2 and amplify local voices, to be hosted on UNDP’s platform.

Together, the LABs didn’t just highlight promising practices—they mapped a way forward. A path grounded in local agency, shared ownership and resilient participation. Or, as one participant put it: “Ownership and sustainability come when people see themselves in the interventions - not just as beneficiaries, but as the drivers.”

That is the challenge, and the opportunity, set before Team Europe.