In the shade of a spreading acacia tree, the villagers meet to decide their future. There are important decisions to be made - about the allocation of work, the installation of a water pump, representations to be made to the local authorities.
This is rural Ethiopia, and the trappings of Western parliamentary democracy as we know it are absent - no men with gavels or horsehair wigs, no polling clerks, no division bells.
And yet this process is representative if not classically democratic. Certainly, the women sit towards the back, but their voices too will be heard eventually. True, the chief's word carries great weight, but his main role is as a conduit for the collective views of the gathering. Cut to a small office in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. A mediator, trained in conflict resolution, is trying to effect a compromise between an aggrieved policeman and his neighbour.
In the past, such disputes might have been settled by violent means - the neighbour might have been "disappeared" in the middle of the night. Today, though, the Centre of International Studies, with the support of Irish Aid, is leading the way in providing peaceful solutions to the problems of postcivil war Nicaraguan society.
The two examples illustrate the challenges facing anyone who wants to encourage the spread of concepts such as democratisation, good governance and the rule of law. The problems, and even their solutions, rarely correspond to our notions of democracy - responses must be moulded to suit local circumstances.
Since the start of this decade, Western governments have realised that human rights and democratisation must play a greater role in their aid programmes. The mind must be fed, as well as the stomach, if the vicious circle of repeated coups and growing corruption is to be broken.
In step with this trend, the proportion of Irish aid going on such programmes has increased, and is set to reach £1.25 million this year. This figure excludes spending on human rights and democratisation in Irish Aid's six priority countries in Africa and in South Africa; this has been included in the relevant country budgets since 1997, on foot of a recommendation made in an external review by consultants.
"There has always been provision for programmes relating to democratisation, such as support for the training of local officials. But in recent years, the language has changed, and the commitment has been more clearly articulated," says Martin Greene of Irish Aid.
Greene stresses the need to start at grassroots level, by familiarising local people with concepts of representation and equality, and by providing training in basic literacy.
"If you start from the top, you'll be building castles in the air. If you're a rural villager in Ethiopia, it matters more that the local official is not corrupt than what is going on in the supreme court in Addis Ababa."
Spending on human rights and democratisation encompasses a wide variety of projects carried out by Irish NGOs and international bodies. Apart from Africa, Central America, Cambodia and Bosnia are the main focuses for support.
Programmes include election monitoring, grass-roots civic awareness programmes, basic human rights education and literacy programmes, training for parliamentarians and judges, and projects designed to assist prison reform.
In Rwanda, for example, Irish Aid has supported a programme to train judges and lawyers, who are in scarce supply since so many were killed in the 1994 genocide.
In the town of Giterama, Jean-Baptiste Kalindi stands in his newly-restored office in the court building. A bible and a few dusty files rest on the shelves.
A former diplomat in China, Kalindi has been retrained as a local justice to fill the void left since the killings in 1994. His offices have been refurbished by the Irish agency Concern, with funding from Irish Aid.
To our eyes, the surroundings seem modest, but Kalindi assures me he has all he needs to start his new task. "We are waiting, we are ready," he says.