Audio of interviews with public campaigning political figures who want to be named and want their views to be known publicly. The interviewees were expressing their public political views and experiences with regard to unarmed neighbourhood watch schemes in Somaliland to prevent terrorist attacks, the global movement to prevent gender-based street harassment and the global citizen casualty recording movement to record the casualties of armed conflict. The ‘Transforming Insecurity through Nonviolent Networks’ (Trinsec) project was funded by the ESRC Transformative Call from 1 June 2013 until 30 June 2015 (seven month no cost extension due to illness). The main aim of this research was to analyse whether and how a particular form of civil society - nonviolent grassroots networks (NGNs) - can transform insecurity. The case studies were unarmed neighbourhood watch schemes in Somaliland to prevent terrorist attacks, the global movement to prevent gender-based street harassment and the global citizen casualty recording movement to record the casualties of armed conflict. Particular attention was paid to potential for integrating across issues and through levels of governance beyond specific NGNs. The research combined listening methodology (an open ended giving of space to the expression of the lived experience of an issue) and academic-practitioner co-production of research and impact (i.e. working together at every stage of the process rather than academics doing the research then trying to persuade practitioners to apply its findings). To achieve its main aim, the research delivered on five primary objectives. First, it assessed, integrated and advanced key disciplinary and interdisciplinary theoretical, conceptual and empirical literatures relevant to the overall research question. One of the main findings is that the co-production literature which focuses on identifying a concrete opportunity at the outset misses the value of strong relationships combining with serendipity in generating opportunities. Second, it analysed and compared the role of NGNs: the research found that they have had substantial successes with widely varying structures. Third, it analysed efforts by NGNs at cross-issue and cross-level integration. The research found that this was attempted in all three cases but with limited success. Fourth, the research considered how the bottom-across practices of NGNs can be integrated into bottom-up and top-down practices of transforming insecurity in ways which enhance rather than detract from the positive aspects of NGNs. The main finding here was that it takes sustained strategic effort to make headway: leaving it to viral, distributed digital networks is insufficient. Fifth, and the key payoff sought, the research identified underlying principles and practical mechanisms through which insecurity might be transformed that had the potential for wider application. In essence this involves using listening and co-production methodologies to underpin a practical step-by-step of finding good people, then agreeing on an approach, then building strong relationships and only then thinking about needs, then projects and then funding. The research refined these ideas through the creation of a research and impact initiative called ‘Somali First (SF): Promoting Somali-led Development’. SF is the culmination of Trinsec and its main follow-on activity. It integrates Somali government, business, civil society, academia and diaspora to demonstrate what a transformed Somali-led development process might look like. For example, partnering with Somali NGO the Observatory of Conflict and Violence Prevention, SF has secured $698,000 from the international Somalia Stability Fund to train sixty Somali researchers and produce sixty Somali research publications over the next two years.
Interviews. Participants were selected to capture a variety of roles and to record the views and recollections of key open political actors, all of whom want to be personally identifiable. Considering the intention for data collection on such public (and publicity-seeking) political figures combined with the fact that in Somalia where there is a predominantly oral culture, the University of Bristol Ethics Committee gave its permission for audio recording of consent rather than the use of a consent form.
