Candidate Entry into Local Government

This research project tackles the governance challenge of getting high human capital, high integrity, representative citizens to put themselves forward for consideration as political candidates. We plan to explore potential solutions to this challenge with our partners in government and civil society in connection with the 2023 Local Council Elections in Sierra Leone. To do so we propose an initiative that would: i) identify, screen, and encourage high quality potential candidates to enter politics; and ii) share information about these potential candidates with political parties. We plan to randomize this initiative across 150 of 300 local government wards to assess impacts on the pool of aspirants, selected candidates, and elected officials. Additionally, inside the set of treated wards, we propose a sub-experiment focused on increasing female representation in politics. This will explore barriers to female participation emanating from voters, party elites and potential candidates themselves.