Beyond the Participatory Paradox in Sudan: A Pluriversal Participation Framework for Humanitarian Design

This article reframes the ‘participatory paradox’ in Sudan—where well‑intended participation reproduces exclusion and epistemic injustice—by offering an empirically grounded, decolonial alternative: the Pluriversal Participation Framework (PPF). Using a qualitative, practitioner‑centred design rooted in decolonial feminist epistemology, the study integrates a narrative synthesis, iterative dialogues with seven Sudanese practitioners positioned as co‑theorists, and three sectoral case analyses (WASH in Darfur; nomadic education in Blue Nile; mobile protection committees near Khartoum). Thematic analysis reveals that insecurity, donor logframe rigidity, and colonial knowledge hierarchies render participation simultaneously mandatory and structurally constrained. Practitioners respond through patterned strategies—tactical hybridity (blending analogue/digital tools and formal/informal channels) and subversive intermediation (low‑visibility brokers who leverage social trust). These constitute ‘reparative infrastructures’ that keep humanitarianism alive in the grey zones where formal systems fail. The PPF advances three tenets: valuing embodied epistemologies, embracing tactical hybridity, and leveraging subversive intermediation. It reframes adaptation as political craft and sets out implications for MEL, funding, and ethics (including pluriversal outcome harvesting and risk‑as‑solidarity). The article concludes by situating Sudan within wider fractured‑sovereignty contexts and outlining a research agenda for testing the framework comparatively.