Professor Fidelma Ashe:

As part of the process of constitutional change in Uganda, its Government funded a constitutional commission. That commission engaged in wide-scale civic engagement. It involved many thousands of people and hundreds of communities. The commission sent facilitators out to engage directly with those people. As it was so wide, it increased, to some degree, the legitimacy of the process, although there were still criticisms of that process. This is what the experts who looked at that case study are saying. It was also able to encapsulate women. Encapsulating women led to women asserting certain rights within that constitution and those provisions were in the final constitutional framework. To summarise, wide-scale participation enables us to ensure that it is a democratic process, that all different types of people are included, that they have the information they need, and that they have reliable information. That is what people ask for at every workshop. They are referring to the Brexit referendum and are worried it will be a similar process as regards the kind of information flow they will receive. The programme of civic education addresses that problem directly.

Again, it is not just about informing people or detailing the process as they go forward. It is also ensuring, on any initial plan, that communities can have feedback. People at the grassroots level have certain types of knowledge and experiences that they have built up over decades. Those experiences and that knowledge are very valuable. That system of civic education allows that flow of information to policymakers.