Dr Daniel Hammett, Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography and Planning, returned to Zambia last week to deliver the second in a series of workshops to support Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working to reduce poverty in the country.
Informed by Dr Hammett’s experience of running similar training activities to build capacity within civil society working in the transitional justice sector in Rwanda, the workshops will help to develop a clear roadmap and shared vision for strengthening the civil society sector; increase capacity within the sector; and build relationships with government and donors which will enable CSOs to influence policy and raise funds.
Dr Hammett’s activities are supported as a key activity within the NCA-DCA (Norwegian Church Aid - DanChurchAid) Joint Country Programme in Zambia - the main focus of which is on poverty reduction. Dr Hammett will be delivering workshops using a training tool which he co-wrote with colleagues from Norwegian Church Aid.
Participants include senior leaders from organisations including the Centre for Trade Policy and Development, National Organisation for Agricultural Development in Communities, Women For Change, Centre for Environmental Justice, Zambia Land Alliance and Zambia Alliance of Women.
Speaking before he left, Dr Hammett said: “I’m really grateful to get the opportunity to travel to Zambia and work with some inspiring people from a wide variety of organisations dedicated to tackling poverty. In the longer term, I hope that our work with CSOs will lead to a national dialogue with government and key global donors and embassies later this year, bringing these organisations into the conversation and ultimately changing policy and practice around civil society.”
The training builds on some of Dr Hammett’s research, including articles on Understanding the Role of Communication in Promoting Active and Activist Citizenship, Engaging citizens, depoliticizing society? Training citizens as agents for good governance and Developing a ‘civil’ society in partial democracies: In/civility and a critical public sphere in Uganda and Singapore (with co-author Lucy Jackson). This work also feeds into Dr Hammett’s teaching on the third-year BA Geography module "Democracy and Citizenship: Dilemmas and Tensions".
