Democracy is under growing pressure worldwide. Polarisation, declining public trust, protracted conflict, climate stress, and geopolitical instability increasingly shape how democratic governance functions in practice. In this context, we propose a coherent set of sessions that explore how democracy support and governance interventions are being evaluated in complex, fragile, politicized and contested contexts.

Key issues explored:
• How can evaluation contribute meaningfully to vibrant democracies in contexts of polarisation, shrinking civic space, conflict, and war?
• What are the opportunities and risks of using perception data and innovative methods to evaluate democratic governance, citizen trust, and accountability?
• How can evaluations better connect development needs, public accountability, and democratic legitimacy in fragile and climate-affected regions?

The strand is expected to contribute to:
• Evaluation theory, by advancing conceptual thinking on democracy as a dynamic, systemic, and contested process;
• Evaluation practice, by sharing concrete methods, tools, and lessons from real-world evaluations;
• Policy dialogue, by strengthening how evaluation evidence informs democratic governance, donor strategies, and citizen accountability.