Zenobia Ismail Abstract: The literature on state capture is growing and encompasses more countries and contexts. This paper argues that it is time to consider varieties of capture that have different trajectories and outcomes. Two factors, the level of democracy and the strength of institutions, are proposed as starting points for thinking about varieties of capture. Using ...» more
Governance
Scaling plastic reuse models in LMICs
To read the full article Click Here This Rapid Evidence Review synthesizes the current evidence base on the design and scalability of “refill on the go” and “return on the go” plastic reuse models in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). With plastic pollution rising sharply, transitioning from single-use to reuse systems presents a significant opportunity to reduce ...» more
Financing the Africa we want? Reflections from the 2025 Ibrahim Governance Weekend
Arol Dut* The Ibrahim Governance Weekend (IGW) is an annual event organized by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, with this year’s event held in Marrakech. Under the theme ‘Financing The Africa We Want’, the participants included Now Generation Network members, civil society representatives, current and former African leaders, university professors, among others, who are ...» more
Is state capture coming to the United States? Americans can learn to recognise it from the experiences of other countries
Zenobia Ismail* Corruption involving the state, such as neopatrimonialism, clientelism and crony capitalism, are generally perceived to occur mainly in emerging democracies in the Global South or Eastern Europe. The so-called mature democracies tend to be seen as largely immune from extensive corruption. However, the unprecedented influence of business elites like Elon ...» more
Participatory methods for community consultation
This annotated bibliography identifies literature about specific participatory methods and tools for community consultation. Key findings Some donors have used particular participatory methodologies to inform country level strategy – such as Participatory Poverty Assessments by the World Bank and a donor staff immersion approach by the Swiss Agency for Development and ...» more
Community Monitoring of Service Delivery
Community involvement in the systematic collection of information to assess the quality of public services can take many forms. Mechanisms include citizen report cards (survey-based quantitative assessments of services) community scorecards (quantitative surveys combined with qualitative meetings), social audits (combination of the two) or participatory expenditure tracking. ...» more
Donor Support for the Human Rights of LGBT+
This rapid review synthesises evidence on the bilateral and multilateral donors promoting and protecting the human rights of LGBT+ people on a global scale. It focusses on those donors that have policies, implementation plans and programmes on LGBT+ rights. This review also examines the evidence on the impact of their work. The bilateral donors providing the most ...» more
Interventions to Address Discrimination against LGBTQi Persons
Most of the programmes and interventions that are mentioned in the literature address LGBTQi rights by ensuring that men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people have access to healthcare that is funded by international aid. The other main conduit of support is to use aid funds to provide financial and technical support to organisations and activists who advocate for ...» more
Increasing Birth Registration for Children of Marginalised Groups in Pakistan
This review looks at approaches to promote birth registration among marginalised groups, in order to inform programming in Pakistan. It draws on a mixture of academic and grey literature, in particular reports by international development organizations. While there is extensive literature on rates of birth registration and the barriers to this, and consensus on approaches to ...» more
Maintaining basic state functions and service delivery during escalating crises
This rapid literature review explores how to maintain essential state functions and basic service delivery during escalating conflict situations. It draws on literature and ideas from various overlapping agendas including development and humanitarian nexus; development, humanitarian and peacebuilding nexus (the “triple nexus”); fragile states; state-building; conflict ...» more
Donor Support to Electoral Cycles
This rapid literature review explains the stages of an election cycle, and how donors provide support to electoral cycles. It draws mainly on policy guidance websites and papers due to the questions of this review and the level of analysis taken (global-level, donor-level). It focuses on publications from the last five years, and/or current/forthcoming donor strategies. The ...» more
COVID-19, governance, and conflict: emerging impacts and future evidence needs
This paper reviews emerging evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on governance and conflict, using a “governance and conflict first” approach in contrast to other research and synthesis on COVID-19 in the social sciences that tends to be structured through a public health lens. It largely focuses on evidence on low- and middle-income countries but also includes a number of ...» more
Water in Sustainable Agriculture Standards
Sustainable agricultural standards, hereafter standards, is a broad term encompassing certification schemes, tools, and programmes. The International Trade Centre’s Sustainability Standards Map includes 166 agricultural standards. However, there is a smaller number of prominent standards that are popularly used by major retailers or for particular commodities. Two studies ...» more
Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief
Freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) is a fundamental human right. However, the general global the trend in recent years is towards increased FoRB violations by both government and non-government actors. Notable exceptions are Sudan and Uzbekistan, which have shown significant improvement in promoting FoRB, while smaller-scale positive developments have been seen in a number ...» more
Covid-19, Conflict, and Governance Evidence Summary No.30
This fortnightly Covid-19 (C19), Conflict, and Governance Evidence Summary aims to signpost the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and other UK government departments to the latest evidence and opinions on C19, to inform and support their responses. Based on the feedback given in a recent survey, and analysis by the Xcept project, this…» more
Covid-19, Conflict, and Governance Evidence Summary No.29
This fortnightly Covid-19, Conflict, and Governance Evidence Summary aims to signpost the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and other UK government departments to the latest evidence and opinions on Covid-19 (C19), to inform and support their responses. Based on feedback from the recent survey, and analysis by the Xcept project, this edition, as…» more
Trends in Conflict and Stability in the Indo-Pacific
This report looks at trends in conflict and instability in the Indo-Pacific region, focusing on climate change effects and a number of civil liberties. The Indo-Pacific region is both highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and already facing significant security risks and challenges, many of which will be exacerbated by the impact of climate change. There are ...» more
Covid-19, Conflict, and Governance Evidence Summary No.28
The fortnightly Covid-19, Conflict, and Governance Evidence Summary aim to signpost the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) and other UK government departments to the latest evidence and opinions on Covid-19 (C19), to inform and support their responses. This summary features resources on C19’s unequal impacts and policy responses; responses to build long-term resilience…» more
Gender, countering violent extremism and women, peace and security in Kenya
Kenya ranks 109 out of 153 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, with a score of 0.671. There are significant inequalities between males and females in education attainment, health outcomes, representation in parliament, and labour force participation. This Factsheet outlines some of the top-line information on gender, countering violent extremism and women, peace and ...» more
Covid-19, Conflict, and Governance Evidence Summary No.27
This fortnightly Covid-19, Conflict, and Governance Evidence Summary aims to signpost the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and other UK government departments to the latest evidence and opinions on Covid-19 (C19), to inform and support their responses. This summary features resources on how C19 is catalysing global civil society, C19’s impact on borderlands…» more
