Fossil fuel development, including oil, gas and coal, can provide or support employment in a number of different ways. Estimates for Africa’s extractive sector as a whole put it as employing less than 1% of Africa’s workforce (Fine et al., 2012). However, it is hard to determine the number of jobs supported directly or indirectly by the fossil fuels industry in different ...» more
Supporting economic development
Livestock and Conflict in South Sudan
Livestock are critically important in South Sudanese society1 and this is reflected in the role livestock play in the country’s conflict, both serving as drivers of conflict and being negatively impacted by the conflict, with the two often reinforcing each other in a vicious cycle. This review drew largely on a mixture of academic and grey literature to assess the ...» more
Natural Resources Management Strategies in the Sahel
Natural resources, both renewable and extractives are extremely important to the livelihoods and economies of the Sahel (defined as Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger). For example, agriculture accounts for over 30% of Mali’s GDP and cotton and gold account for over 80% of exports (IMF, 2018, p. 6). There is potential for conflict between renewable and ...» more
A Mapping of Larger Youth Employment Programmes in Developing Countries
There is a robust literature on youth employment that spans academic and grey literature. This rapid literature review combines academic and grey literature to identify larger youth employment programmes in developing countries. The review identifies the countries, which have a national youth policy. There is no literature that assesses the sustainability of national youth ...» more
Innovative Financial Technologies to Support Livelihoods and Economic Outcomes
Access to digital technologies, in particular, mobile phones, internet connectivity and biometric authentication, allows for a wider range of financial services, such as online banking, mobile phone banking, and digital credit for the unbanked. Digital financial services can be more convenient and affordable than traditional banking services, enabling low-income and poor people ...» more
Inclusive and Sustained Growth in Iraq
Iraq faces significant economic challenges, in particular stemming from its dependence on oil revenue and the country’s bloated public sector. Private sector growth is particularly constrained by the dominance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), restrictive regulations, lack of access to finance, shortage of skilled labour and inadequate infrastructure. This review drew ...» more
Barriers to Women’s Economic Inclusion in Tanzania
The main barriers to women’s economic inclusion in Tanzania are: time poverty (because women have to spend so much time on household chores); lack of education; reproductive health pressures; lack of assets and access to financial services; in the case of agriculture - lack of access to male labour and inputs such as fertiliser; in the case of entrepreneurship – a difficult ...» more
Indicators and Methods for Assessing Entrepreneurship Training Programmes
Entrepreneurship training programmes are an important component of demand-side job creation strategies in developing countries (Fox and Kaul, 2017). Assessments of such programmes are constrained by variations in the programme content, as entrepreneurship training is often combined with grants, life-skills training, internships and mentorship. The targets of these programmes ...» more
The Impact of Entrepreneurship Training Programmes
Entrepreneurship training programmes generally have a positive impact on existing and aspiring entrepreneurs, especially in terms of promoting better business practices. Programmes which provide training for entrepreneurs often include other interventions such as micro-finance, grants, internships or mentorship (McKenzie & Woodruff, 2013). The varied content of the ...» more
Inclusive and Green Growth in Developing Countries
This rapid review explores the potential trade-offs involved in supporting Inclusive and Green Growth (IGG) in developing countries. The International Institute for Environment and development comments that to bring about real transformation towards IGG will require leadership, to generate societal demand, including by poor women and men, and to supply supportive governance ...» more
Lessons Learned from Youth Employment Programmes in Developing Countries
Youth employment programmes are varied but meta-analysis and systematic reviews of impact assessments of these programmes indicate that some interventions have an overall positive effect on employment and earnings. Assessments of programmes which support youth job creation in the private sector find that larger businesses are more likely to generate jobs than micro-enterprises. ...» more
Jobs in Kenya: opportunities and challenges
This report examines job opportunities in Kenya and challenges to their expansion. Job opportunities are measured on three levels: quantity, quality and inclusiveness. All three outcomes matter for a country’s development; “just having jobs is not enough” (World Bank, 2017). For individuals, the quantity, quality and inclusiveness of jobs determine living standards, since jobs ...» more
Linkages between private sector development, conflict and peace
The private sector can both exacerbate drivers of conflict and contribute to peacebuilding in post-conflict states. Examples of the role that the private sector can play in conflict and peace at the macro, meso and micro levels include the following: Macro level There is a general consensus in the literature that illicit trade in natural resources can increase in the ...» more
Improving gender outcomes for regional trade programmes
Global trade and regional integration have gender-specific outcomes: in developing countries and specifically in South Asia, women do not have the same access as men to benefits of trade. This report reviews the gender outcomes of trade and describes policies and initiatives tackling the three main gender-based barriers to benefiting from trade: (i) sociocultural norms, (ii) ...» more
Impact of lifting economic sanctions on poverty and growth
This rapid review synthesises findings from rigorous academic, practitioner, and policy references, focusing on recent and seminal works with the aim of highlighting the impact of lifting sanctions on poverty and economic development. There is a further aim of helping to inform policymakers in Sudan in the event of sanctions being fully lifted. Therefore, an analysis of the ...» more
Barriers to youth work opportunities
There is growing evidence that youth unemployment is becoming a bigger issue and challenge than adult unemployment (Manpower group, 2012). While young labour participants and adult participants can be affected by similar opportunities and barriers to work, youth may experience these barriers to a greater degree and may also face additional constraints. This report ...» more
Economic Situation in Jordan
Jordan has one of the smallest economies in the Middle East, and its lack of natural resources and water scarcity make it heavily dependent on foreign aid and foreign investment. Following the global financial crisis of 2008 growth slowed significantly; the deteriorating regional situation since 2011 and subsequent mass influx of Syrian refugees has made recovery difficult, ...» more
Impact of economic sanctions on poverty and economic growth
Key findings are as follows: Economic sanctions lead to an increase in the poverty gap and deprived sections of the population feel the most impact. For the most part sanctions fail to achieve their aims and elites manage to negotiate the adverse effects to a far greater level than poorer citizens. Sanctions have a damaging effect on income inequality and impact ...» more
Human rights and governance provisions in OECD country trade agreements with developing countries
Trade agreements increasingly feature governance and human rights provisions. Countries taking the lead in this are the United States and Canada (the EU was not covered in this review). However, they tend to be selective in their provisions, focusing in particular on labour rights, transparency and anti-corruption, as well as public participation and intellectual property ...» 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
