Applying Deliberative Democracy in Africa: Uganda's First Deliberative Polls

Abstract

Practical experiments with deliberative democracy, instituted with random samples of the public, have had success in many countries. But this approach has never before been tried in Sub-Saharan Africa. Reflecting on the first two applications in Uganda, we apply the same criteria for success commonly used for such projects in the most advanced countries. Can this approach work successfully with samples of a public low in literacy and education? Can it work on some of the critical policy choices faced by the public in rural Uganda? This essay reflects on quantitative and qualitative results from Uganda's first Deliberative Polls. We find that the projects were representative in both attitudes and demographics. They produced substantial opinion change supported by identifiable reasons. They avoided distortions from inequality and polarization. They produced actionable results that can be expected to influence policy on difficult choices.

“<i>Our Land Is Shrinking</i>”: Concerns and Misconceptions Impeding Uptake of Climate Risk Mitigation Policies in Bududa and Butalejja Districts in Eastern Uganda

“…The results of the final questionnaire give the considered opinions of the participants after they have had an opportunity to deliberate on the issues. The detailed methodology for this study has already been published elsewhere [8].…”

“…This paper focuses on the qualitative analysis conducted on the data collected from the small group discussions during the deliberation workshops. The quantitative analysis is published elsewhere [8]. The study was conducted in Bududa and Butalejja Districts located in the Mt.…”

“…Uganda's government has implemented three types of strategies to mitigate land-use related climate risk and population pressure in such regions: (a) Resettlement of the most-at-risk populations; (b) Promotion of rational use of land within high risk zones; and, (c) Promotion of Family Planning. Within these broad approaches are a range of suboptions including: (1) Re-zoning high risk areas for no settlement, resulting in (2) Negotiated resettlement in other areas away from the most affected areas, or (3) Forced resettlement; (4) Creation of semi-urban areas in lower risk zones within the affected area, with controlled farming in the moderate risk areas; (5) Temporary relocation to stay with relatives at onset of heavy rains; (6) Implementing locally appropriate early warning for imminent floods and landslides; (7) Regular desilting of drainage channels and small river beds by either government or the communities; (8) Strengthening of local disaster management committees; (9) Mass health education on Family Planning; (10) Provision of free Family Planning services at all primary care facilities; (11) Promotion of post-partum contraception. Government has also put in place measures to increase access to basic education, both at primary and secondary levels, and to promote livelihoods diversification.…”

Can Deliberative Democracy Favor a Flourishing Relationship Between Humans and Carnivores?

“…Deliberative democracy has been implemented with a wide range of cultures, spanning six continents (Center for Deliberative Democracy, 2021a), including cultures with low education and rates of literacy (Fishkin et al, 2017) and cultures not particularly well-characterized as democratic (Fishkin et al, 2010). Deliberative democracy has also been applied to a wide range of cases, from local decisions about urban planning (Beauvais and Warren, 2019) to multi-national issues, such as climate change mitigation and immigration policy for the European Union (Isernia and Fishkin, 2014).…”

Linking Traditional ‘Organic’ and ‘Induced’ Public Participation with Deliberative Democracy: Experiments in Pune, India

“…To date, modern deliberative democracy has been documented more in developed than in developing countries. However, there have been examples of deliberative democracy, in particular, deliberative polls, in China (He, 2014) and Africa (Fishkin, Mayega, Atuyambe, Tumuhamye, Ssentongo, & Bazeyo, 2017) demonstrating that deliberative democracy can be equally effective in developing countries. The reform of governance through deliberative democracy would simultaneously foster ESD and the implementation of the SDGs.…”