Call for Submissions: Research on People-led Climate Actions and Solutions

1. OVERVIEW

Against the backdrop of an intensifying climate crisis that affects the most marginalised and the proliferation of market-based climate solutions, peoples and communities in the Global South are increasingly taking matters into their own hands. Collective actions from grassroots sectors—such as workers, farmers, women, youth, indigenous peoples, urban and rural poor, and others—are at the front and centre of forging real solutions to the climate crisis. They use innovative rights-based approaches and indigenous practices that offer a viable alternative to distractions peddled by corporate and state actors. These imply building collective resilience but at the same time exacting accountability from governments as well as rich industrialized countries in ensuring that reparations and sufficient support is provided to develop community-based responses to climate change.

In contrast to passive coping, building collective resilience as an active response involves communities, individuals, and social movements defending their rights and way of life, as well as creating and taking ownership of development policies and initiatives. By centering on their voices and experiences, community-based initiatives offer a path to breaking free from prevailing power structures that perpetuate environmental harm and exacerbate inequalities. Most critically, these alternative people-led and people-centred solutions contribute in laying the groundwork for a fossil fuel-free and post-capitalist  future. 

To this end, IBON International invites Southern civil society organisations to participate in a research project on people-led actions and solutions to the climate crisis. The research aims to amplify climate actions that are guided by principled practice and indigenous traditional knowledge, challenge market-based climate myopia, recognise the inseparable discourses of ecological and social justice, and replace economies of greed with economies that prioritise the people and the environment. Ultimately, it envisions advancing participatory democracy rooted in local self determination and shifting the fight against climate change to the leadership of the presently and historically most harmed.

2. OBJECTIVE

To contribute to developing effective counternarratives to false and market-based climate ‘solutions’ through documentation of best practices of community-based initiatives that integrate traditional knowledge and innovative approaches to building climate resilience

3. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Manuscript must be an original submission not previously presented or published elsewhere. 

Manuscript must comprise between 6,000 to 12,000 words, inclusive of references/bibliography.

Text should be single-spaced, set in a 11-point font, and use italics rather than underlining (except for URL addresses). All illustrations, figures, charts, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points rather than at the end.

The research must use the author-date system of the Chicago Manual of Style (16th or 17th Edition) for in-text citation. A complete list of references cited should be provided at the end of the text. Notes, if any, must be kept to a minimum and placed at the end of the article, before the list of references.

The author should likewise provide a brief biographical note on a separate sheet. This sheet must include the author’s organisation, full professional postal and e-mail addresses, as well as telephone and/or fax numbers.

Themes may include, but are not limited to, the following

• Regenerative economies, peoples’ economics, feminist ecosocialism, sustainable sovereign industrialisation

• Countering corporate power

• The role of public service/public ownership  in achieving climate justice

• Agroecology and food sovereignty

• Community-led resilience building

• Locally-led zero-waste systems and infrastructures

• Renewable micro-grids, open source, appropriate technology

• Indigenous traditional knowledge in mitigation and adaptation strategies

• Organising and network building among climate action groups

• Public engagement and education

4. RESPONSIBILITIES

The Research Writer shall undertake the following:

1. Research and draft an article for the publication;

2. Attendance in planning activities, clarificatory meetings, and progress update reporting, as deemed necessary by IBON International;

3. Regular and timely submission of progress updates;

4. Regular and timely submission of drafts;

5. Maintain confidentiality and respect intellectual property rights; and

6. Turnover of all editable files of the project deliverables

5. SUBMISSION PROCESS

Interested research writers/civil society organizations shall submit the following:

1. Organizational Profile;

2. Detailed Curriculum Vitae, including previous works; and

3. Research Title, Abstract (max. 300 words). A list of 6 keywords for indexing, abstracting services, and online searching purposes must be provided

The deadline for submission is May 22, 2024 at 23:59 (PST).
Please submit your proposals through this form:

6. TIMELINE

Date	Activity
25 April 2024	Call for Submissions
23 May 2024	Review of Applications
11 July 2024	Deadline of First Draft
15 August 2024	Deadline of Second Draft
12 September 2024	Deadline of Third/Final Draft

7. CONSULTANCY FEE

IBON International will provide each participating research writer/civil society organisation with a total consultancy fee of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.00). It is understood that this amount covers the consultancy fee and all other expenses that the participating research writer/civil society organisation will incur in the performance of their obligations for this project.

 

This project is supported by Brot für die Welt.