How the Web of Institutionalisation can assist you to assess the opportunities for community-led development in a conflict context.

In many instances of internal policy conflict, where there are many actors/stakeholders integral to a resolution, there has been the realization that there must be a tool serving to give all actors an equal voice as well as to see what their corresponding actors interests and motives are. A diagnostic tool that attempts to give actors an equal voice and to give transparency to their fellow actors interests and motives is the Web of Institutionalisation, developed by Caren Levy1. This tool has been used by international institutions such as the I.L.O2, SDC3, and the UNEP4, and was also simulated at the DPU5 Windsor Workshop in November 20076.This essay shall critically analyse the Web of Institutionalisation in its implementation, and how successful it can be in aiding community-led development, with the aid of instances of its use.

During conflicts, the aim of all actors in it will be to institutionalise change, paving the way for progressive development as the long term norm. Hence institutionalism can be defined as social practices that are continuously repeated, are sanctioned and maintained by social norms and have a major significance in the social structure7. The two components of Institutionalisation would be the room for manoeuvre for actors trying to effect change, and secondly, endeavours to achieve sustained change in the system. Both these concepts recognize the tensions that appear in conflicts which aim to achieve institutionalism, thus these tensions must be overcome if the process is to be successful.8
1

The Process of Institutionalizing Gender in Policy and Planning: The web of institutionalization, DPU, Working Paper no74, UCL, 1996. 2 International Labour Organization. 3 Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. http://www.siyanda.org/newadditions/2006-03-09-2156-Gender_and_the_Qualitative_Int.htm 4 United Nations Environmental Programme. http://www.unep.org/civil_society/PDF_docs/Unep-Gender-Action-Plan-5Feb07.pdf 5 Development Planning Unit, University College London. 6 A workshop simulating the forced evictions in Boca Chica Municipality in the Dominican Republic with all the actors using the web of institutionalization to try come to a common ground for future progress convened by Yves La Cabanas from November 5th 7th. 7 The Myth of Community, Gender Issues in participatory development, I. Gujit & M. K. Shah pg 254. 8 The Myth of Community, Gender Issues in participatory development, I. Gujit & M. K. Shah pg 255.

With this background, we can now introduce the diagnostic tool that will aid in achieving Institutionalisation, the web of Institutionalisation, with the web format shown in Diagram 1.

Diagram 19

In the web, there are thirteen elements, and each element represents an area of power and resistance in the conflict resolution process. These elements can be grouped into areas of common ground, and by grouping similar links of the web, we can derive four broad spheres of influence, power and purpose, namely the Citizen Sphere, the Policy Sphere, the Organisational Sphere and the Delivery Sphere.

UNEP Gender Plan of Action 2006 pg5 http://www.unep.org/civil_society/PDF_docs/Unep-Gender-Action-Plan-5Feb07.pdf

Before I explore the components of the spheres of influence, it must be noted that these elements are contextually sensitive, in that over time, society and the economy isnt constant, and hence the web will have to be used differently to fit in with the instance when its used.

Also the elements can be applied to actors at different levels i.e. at the local, national and international levels congruently, and therefore will aid us to identify similar and different interests.

Furthermore, each element may be influenced greater in accordance with the actors attachment to it, wielding higher power for them, but this means their power in other elements is compromised.

Therefore for the web to be used successfully, no one actor must wield disproportionate power, especially the greater the number of actors in the institutionalising process. Collective co-operation in the form of alliances and measured concessions must be made to catalyse a resolution and sustained change to meet the objectives.

The Citizens Sphere is made up of three elements, firstly Women and Mens experience and their reflexive interpretation of reality. This is a crucial element in the web, as the citizens themselves, regardless of gender, must be the initiators of any grassroots policy change. Planners mustnt foist change on communities without consultation as they wont be receptive to it.

Secondly, Pressure of Political Constituencies. Actors can mobilize to join or create new political bodies to raise their bargaining power to effect change. There is more power to be gained by working together and to have a unified voice to the government. 3

Thirdly, Representative Political Structures. The political system must be representative of society, i.e. not just old rich men, but cutting across the spectrum such as a fair dispersion of age, gender, race and religion. The values and interests of society must be represented in government.

In the Boca Chica simulation, the Citizens Sphere was made up of Civil Society10, and this group was influential in the round table to evaluate the forced evictions crisis11. The residents themselves told the other actors12 of what the problems from their perspective where so that the others could then adjust their thinking to adjust to their policy demands. Thus a big strength of this sphere would be giving a voice to the grassroots to effect change that will be supported, hence be sustainable, as it takes into account the reality on the ground. However there must be concern, in that if this sphere has overwhelming influence, it may affect the long term economic interests of that community, such that if unpopular but necessary economic policies arent effected, it could manifest problems in the future for that community.13

10

Urban People Network that co-ordinates the efforts of over 60 grassroots organisations, which encompasses NGOs, Social Movements and church based organizations. 11 http://www.habitants.org/filemanager/download/75 pg 5-8 12 Actors present were the Central and Provincial State representatives, Local Governments and their affiliates, Civil Society, the Private Sector and Multilateral Aid Agencies. 13 A classic example would be the car production industry in the Midlands, where the community advocated for jobs to be protected for decades, but due to globalisation and competitiveness of other countries, the industry never adapted to the reality and now the industry is defunct, with more jobs lost.

The second sphere of influence is the Policy Sphere, which is also made up of three elements. Firstly Political Commitment. This is an important element in the web, in that for any change to occur, there must be political commitment by politicians, their mindset must be geared towards what the citizens want. This must preferably reach across all political parties, so as there is a long term vision of effecting change.

Secondly there must be clear Policy and adequate Planning. This feeds off the preceding element, in that with the commitment, politicians must then plan and back the policies to create the environment for change.

Thirdly there must be the Resources. This also feeds off the other aforementioned two elements, in that politicians need to provide the resources to show that their commitment and policy planning arent idle rhetoric, but are backed up with the human resources, adequate finances, both public and private, to put the policies into place.

In the Boca Chica Simulation, the Policy Sphere was of vast importance, in that the national governments involvement in the process of change in aiding forced evictions to cease, this actor was pressured by local government in alliance with civil society, to be the initiator of policy change, through availing of resources and tackling the causes of evictions i.e. issuing of proper property documents and curtailing the influence of the private sectors power to evict.