Page 38 - Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections

36 A Project of the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) Some tricky cultural norms, especially around age and gender, were overcome simply by explaining how the chosen process only works if it gets to everyone (a man can’t take his wife or adult child’s place for example). At the outset, the process was limited to gathering information on a set of options presented by the government. Through speaking to stakeholders and residents they found that these options didn’t account for the local context adequately. In the end result, government policy was implemented with greater nuance and understanding of how people manage in times of flood, resulting in farmers being able to access land while government had the understanding of what those people would do (build homes on higher land while still farming in the flood zone; and being happy to travel to stay with extended family outside the affected area) in order to avoid a blanket ban on using valuable land.