State-society relations, citizenship and socio-political cohesion are areas of great importance to statebuilding and peacebuilding and are crucial to an integrated approach. State-society relations are defined by DFID as ‘interactions between state institutions and societal groups to negotiate how public authority is exercised and how it can be influenced by people. They are ...» more
Development Pressures
The Central African Republic crisis
Since March 2013, the Central African Republic (CAR) has been experiencing violent sectarian conflict. The conflict initially began between two well-defined rival groups that became increasingly fragmented, with competing agendas and interests. Further, the current transitional government lacks the capacity and political will to enforce any real political reforms. A number ...» more
Rapid fragility and migration assessment for Somalia
Somalia is a country of origin, destination, transit and return for a large number of people moving across the Horn of Africa region and beyond. Somalis have fled the country in large numbers since the late 1960s as a result of war, poverty and a lack of freedom. Protracted conflict and the absence of a functioning government have produced a diaspora of between 1 and 1.5 ...» more
Rapid fragility and migration assessment for Ethiopia
Migratory context and drivers: Until the early 1990s, Ethiopia was one of the largest sources of refugees and migrants in Africa; since then it has become the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa. Compared with many other countries in Africa, Ethiopia has a relatively low international migration rate. Analysis anticipates Ethiopia may experience rising outward ...» more
Rapid fragility and migration assessment for Eritrea
Eritreans have fled the country in large numbers since the 1960s as a result of war, poverty and a lack of freedom. The 30-year long Independence war produced a diaspora of over a million people, mostly based in Sudan, the Middle East, Europe and the US. Significant numbers displaced during this war returned after Independence in 1993 and throughout the remainder of the ...» more
Rapid fragility and migration assessment for Sudan
Sudan is a source, transit, and destination country for migrants. Sudanese migrants are a mixed group of refugees and asylum seekers, economic migrants and, to a lesser extent, foreign students. The majority are men aged 25–40, and they come from a wide range of socioeconomic and educational backgrounds. The majority of refugees and asylum seekers are in neighbouring ...» more
Gender roles and opportunities for women in urban environments
Key findings include: Urban women, on the whole, have greater access to services and infrastructure, more opportunities to engage in paid employment, and are subject to fewer sociocultural restrictions than women living in rural areas. However, they do not benefit equally with men in urban environments. They are disadvantaged in income poverty, asset poverty, time and ...» more
Urban poverty in Nepal
In presenting urban poverty trends and data in Nepal, key findings include: Urban poverty is becoming more pervasive in Nepal: The poverty rate is increasing in urban areas, whilst it is declining in rural areas (ADB, 2013; UNDP, 2014). Urban poverty rates vary substantially across Nepal: Urban areas in the hill ecological zone are the least poor with a poverty incidence ...» more
Urbanisation and urban growth in Nepal
Nepal is one of the ten least urbanised countries in the world. However, it is also one of the top ten fastest urbanising countries. In 2014, the level of urbanisation was 18.2 per cent, with an urban population of 5,130,000, and a rate of urbanisation of 3 per cent (UN DESA, 2014). For the period 2014-2050, Nepal will remain amongst the top ten fastest urbanising countries in ...» more
Engaging stakeholders in areas of cross-border infrastructure investment
This rapid review of the literature identifies a number of best practices for engaging with a range of stakeholders in contexts where trans-boundary infrastructure investment occurs. It outlines general guidelines and best practices identified by internationally recognised bodies, and presents specific evidence from the sectors of water infrastructure and energy (e.g. ...» more
Economic development in fragile and conflict-affected states
This Topic Guide draws on lessons from programmes and case studies to explore which types of economic development interventions can be effective in FCAS and which factors have contributed to successes and failures. ...» more
Drivers of irregular migration in North Africa
Irregular migration is the movement of people that takes place outside the regulatory norms of the sending, transit and receiving countries (IOM definition). A complex array of factors drives irregular migration. Most literature states that economic and conflict-related reasons, along with social networks and social support, are the major factors influencing migration. Economic ...» more
Impact of multilateral organisations on humanitarian outcomes
Even with strong evidence on programme impact, it is hard to attribute humanitarian results directly to multilateral organisations’ (MLOs) or specific forms of aid architecture. In an emergency context, there tend to be many actors and interventions and it is difficult to show a direct chain of causality between specific funding streams or organisations and results. The key ...» more
Public financial management in fragile states
Effective Public Financial Management (PFM) in fragile states is a critical foundation for basic economic governance and in establishing the performance, legitimacy and accountability of functional states. Extreme poverty is increasingly located in these countries, which face multiple challenges of ongoing conflict, instability and resource constraints, both financial and human. A June 2015 summary ICAI…» more
Fragility, violence and criminality in the Gulf of Guinea
The Gulf of Guinea is rich in oil and gas, and a major international trade route. While oil wealth in the context of weak governance and under-development is creating tensions leading to criminality and violence, high geostrategic stakes provide the incentives for national, regional and international actors to seek solutions. This rapid literature review analyses the causes, ...» more
Impact of communication campaigns to deter irregular migration
Understanding the decisions to leave is a key part of the success of communication campaigns to deter irregular migration. However there is very little evidence on the impact and effectiveness of these campaigns and anecdotal evidence suggests that they have limited, if any, effect on migrants’ decisions to leave. Irregular migration is the movement of people that takes ...» more
Migration and conflict in Afghanistan
Migration flows in Afghanistan includes external migration to neighbouring countries and across the world, and internal migration with many internally displaced people (IDPs). The last three decades of conflict have led to overlapping outflows and return of Afghan migrants driven by a complex set of factors. The literature on the topic is mostly qualitative and often based on ...» more
Early warning models for irregular migration
Estimating and predicting migrations has been a growing issue on the agenda of scholars and policymakers in the last decades. Forecasting irregular migration is of particular interest to policymakers as a tool enabling them to adapt policy to future trends. The meaning of irregular migration is not always clear as there is no universally accepted definition. It is still ...» more
Urban governance in Tanzania
Urbanisation has been increasing quickly in Tanzania with population growth in cities twice that of the national rate. Despite this, there is a small body of knowledge about urban governance comparative to the large number of references on urbanization in the country. This literature predominantly focuses on Dar es Salaam, and fails to disaggregate findings through the lens of ...» more
Climate finance and public finance management
Much attention has been directed at the international commitments to assist developing countries respond to climate change. This is reflected in the debate over the commitments made under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: at the UNFCCC negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009, developed countries committed to jointly mobilise $100 billion climate finance per…» more
