Learning from Reflective Practitioners
and Engaged Academics

The Democracy Collaborative and the Advocacy Institute have entered into a working partnership to develop programs and processes that bring together experienced practitioners, young scholars, and senior academics concerned with human rights and the practice of democracy. The goal of the effort is to create a forum and network in which scholars and practioners from diverse backgrounds and from different countries can learn from the thinking and build upon the experiences of one another. The focus of the dialogue, listening, and learning (which will occur in a variety of formats) will be an exploration of the prerequisites for a vibrant civil society and a healthy democracy.

If we are to understand, mark out useful steps, and more broadly help develop the capacity for intelligent response to these massive changes — and to bring the practice of democracy into greater alignment with the widely shared aspiration to realize it fully — we need scholars and practitioners who are better equipped intellectually and practically than those presently at work. Crucial to creating better equipped academics and activists is that each learn from the other.

Thus, the primary purposes of the program are: [1] to break down the intellectual and practical divide between activists and scholars; [2] to help develop durable networks that link activists and scholars, and that enhance the work of both; [3] to help the next generations of activists sharpen their capacities to shape democratic theory and practice through writing, organizing, and other forms of public action; [4] to train the next generations of young scholars so that they will take full account of and have respect for democratic practice, of the possibilities of significant political, economic and social change, and how the latter have been brought about; [5] to better enable advocates to help define the public agenda; and [6] to help both academics and practitioners to identify the operational and intellectual challenges they face in carrying out their work.

The first pilot workshop in the program, focusing on the question of "What are the best strategies for building democratic regimes that take the securing of human rights as central?" was held March 17 - 19, 2002 and involved 6 scholars and approximately 20 practitioners.

A detailed report on this pilot workshop is now available:

Download the full 28-page report on this project and the meetings described above (PDF download: 110KB)