There is a large volume of literature on youth participation in development, including on the benefits of involving young people in local, national, regional and global governance initiatives. Although not as voluminous, there is also a significant body of work on youth participation in civic life, though much of this focuses on issues of education and employment (Oxfam 2016) ...» more
State-society relations
Communication interventions supporting positive civic action in Lebanon
This rapid review synthesises data from academic, policy and NGO sources on the role media can play in creating/easing tensions between refugees and the host community, and within the host community itself. Acknowledging the importance media can play in perceptions, and considering the confessional and political nature of the media, the review also maps the media/social media ...» more
Threats to and approaches to promote freedom of religion or belief
Violations of religious freedom are increasing globally in scale, depth and blatancy. Carried out by both government and non-state actors, they range from the mundane (e.g. administrative restrictions) to the extreme (e.g. genocide). A multi-layered, multi-actor approach is needed to protect and promote freedom of religion or belief. The literature stresses that approaches to ...» more
Civil Society in Authoritarian Regimes
This rapid review synthesises findings from rigorous academic, practitioner, and policy references on the role of civil society in promoting social accountability in authoritarian regimes and the ways donors can support them. The main geographic focus of this report is East Africa, with a secondary focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. In the African context civil society is best ...» more
Disability in Somalia
People with disabilities have been identified as a particularly marginalised and at risk group within Somali society as a result of the numerous attitudinal, environmental, and institutional barriers they face, and the lack of concerted efforts to include them. This rapid review identifies available evidence on the experiences of people with disabilities living in Somalia. ...» more
Women’s participation in peacebuilding and reconciliation in Iraq
This rapid review synthesises data from academic, policy and NGO sources on women’s participation in peacebuilding in Iraq. Peacebuilding will be defined as a ‘range of measures targeted to reduce the risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict by strengthening national capacities at all levels for conflict management and to lay the foundation for sustainable peace and ...» more
Rohingya refugee crisis: impact on Bangladeshi politics
The huge Rohingya refugee influx into Bangladesh is seen in the literature as likely to strengthen the position of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party. However, there are concerns that it will lead to further authoritarianism in the country, as well as fuel extremist sentiment. The Bangladeshi public are generally supportive of the ...» more
Social capital in Yemen
Social capital in Yemen is informed primarily by tribal affiliation, particularly in rural areas and in the north. Other important sources including faith based institutions, local community solidarity initiatives, civil society organisations and support from the diaspora. While social capital has been eroded due to political, social and economic changes in recent years, the ...» more
Transparency and accountability initiatives in the extractives sector
Research on the impact and effectiveness of transparency and accountability initiatives (TAIs) targeted at the extractives sector is hard to come by. With the exception of some more systematic evaluation of the impact of multi-stakeholder initiatives, in particular the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the existing evidence is weak. Indeed, beyond the ...» more
Parliamentary transparency and accountability
This report presents and discusses what evidence exists about initiatives to promote transparency among legislators, members of parliament (MPs), and legislative processes and what impact this has had on legislative accountability. In this report we distinguish between two types of accountability: vertical (in which citizens play a direct role in holding the powerful to ...» more
Transparency and accountability in fragile and conflict-affected settings
Over the past 10 years, there have been numerous meta-studies and syntheses of the impact and effectiveness of transparency and accountability initiatives (TAIs), many of which attempt to incrementally add value to the existing evidence base or offer new perspectives on existing conclusions. These studies are almost unanimous in their conclusion that little of practical or ...» more
Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in Libya
The literature on gender equality, development and security suggests that sustainable peace and successful long-term development are linked to gender equality policies (Selimovic & Larsson, 2014: 5). UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (SCR 1325), approved in 2000, reaffirms the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace-building, and in ...» more
Civil society organisations and accountability in cash transfer programmes
Cash transfer programmes, like most social protection programmes, are vulnerable to fraud, errors, corruption and misuse of funds, which undermine their achievements1 (Perron, 2012: 1; Bhargava and Raha, 2015: vi). Effective mechanisms for transparency, accountability and participation help minimise those in need being wrongfully excluded from programme rolls; discourages ...» more
Branding and communication of development assistance
In recent years, international donors and non-governmental organisations have placed increasing emphasis on prominently branding the development interventions that they fund. Spreading knowledge about the identity of an aid project sponsor is one mechanism by which donor governments conduct local level diplomacy with direct beneficiaries and through which they hope to influence ...» more
Urban governance
What is urban governance and why does it matter? How can key urban policy issues be addressed? This topic guide introduces the literature on urban governance and its relationship to growth and poverty reduction. It considers the key debates and issues, and sets out some implications for practice on specific urban governance challenges. ...» more
CSOs supporting accountability in cash transfer programmes
Cash transfer programmes, like most social protection programmes, are vulnerable to fraud, errors, corruption and misuse of funds, which undermine their achievements. Civil society organisations (CSOs) have supported, or provided, accountability mechanisms in countries around the world: working to improve transparency to help citizens hold authorities accountable; checking ...» more
Dominant party systems and development programming
There is a lack of applied thinking or rigorous empirical investigation into how donors and the international community can work with dominant party systems to promote more responsive state-society relations, or other forms of development progress. Frequently cited examples of existing research are not based on recent, systematic comparative research and focus mainly on ...» more
Social movements
Social movements as contentious politics Social movements are large, often informal groupings of people who come together against power holders around a common cause, in response to situations of perceived inequality, oppression and/or unmet social, political, economic or cultural demands. At their core, social movements are not about “polite debate” or “invited spaces” of interaction between…» more
Open data, transparency and accountability
Open data involves the release of data so that anyone can access, use and share it. One of the main objectives of making data open is to promote transparency. For open data and transparency initiatives to lead to accountability, the required conditions include: getting the right data published; enabling actors to find, process and use information, and to act on any outputs; ...» more
Social movements
Social movements express social, cultural, political or economic concerns locally, nationally or transnationally, and they are found in both democratic and repressive states. A variety of actors use social movements to champion a cause and direct, promote or resist change. This topic guide introduces some of the key literature and debates on social movements and collective ...» more
