There is little direct evidence on the added value of an inclusive societies approach for increasing the effectiveness of poverty reduction efforts. The state of research in this area is predominantly theoretical and not empirical, although there is a clear normative consensus that poverty reduction and sustained economic growth is contingent upon the development of ...» more
Supporting economic development
Economic growth and fragility
There is fairly consistent evidence of a correlation between low levels of economic development and state fragility. However, there is less comprehensive literature available looking at the role economic growth has played in helping countries break out of fragility. The strength and basis of the economy are important factors affecting the stability and resilience of states, ...» more
Political economy constraints for urban development
Experts highlight evidence gaps in particular on the political economy of urban service delivery; social and political participation by urban poor people; the relationship between urbanisation, urban poverty and urban violence; the relationship between state fragility, state legitimacy and the national political settlement; and what works and what does not in tackling political ...» more
Women’s networks in MENA
There is a large number of women’s networks in the region, ranging in size and influence. Grassroots networks exist alongside high-level political and policy networks. Most are focused on women-only activities. The key areas of activity are: improving women’s entrepreneurship and developing women as business owners and business leaders; peacebuilding; reducing violence ...» more
Political economy of energy in southern Africa
Some African states, with encouragement from international donors, have developed regional power sharing arrangements as a strategy to deal with the continent’s energy problems. Power pools aim to balance electrical loads over a larger network, lower electricity prices, and expand access by encouraging trade and investment in the sector. The Southern African Power Pool ...» more
Inclusive growth
Absolute poverty has fallen substantially over the last 30 years, with most of this reduction attributable to rapid economic growth in developing countries. Yet growth often does not meet the needs of the poor. Economic growth in the absence of measures to ensure the sustained equitable distribution of its benefits has frequently perpetuated the concentration of wealth in the ...» more
Policy objectives and evidence of impacts
Social protection can have a wide range of objectives and impacts, from food security, access to services, gender equality, and state-building, to social transformation. The emphasis in developing countries has been on poverty and vulnerability reduction, and human development, for which there is good evidence. There is less evidence on longer-term developmental impacts such as ...» more
Donor action on women’s employment in ASEAN countries – update
This report updates on an earlier report on the same topic. It confirms that donor action on women’s employment and entrepreneurship has been limited or very recent in ASEAN countries. The ILO is the major aid entity involved. Other major ones include the Asian Development Bank, UN Women and the International Finance Corporation. Limitations and gaps in the literature are ...» more
Alternative dispute resolution for businesses in developing countries
Dispute resolution mechanisms can be arranged in a continuum. At one end are processes like which are formal, inflexible, and adversarial, and which depend on neutral third parties to decide the outcome of the process, such as litigation in court, where the outcome is decided by a judge. At the other end are increasingly informal, flexible, and consensual processes such as ...» more
Donor action on women’s employment in ASEAN countries
Donors have attempted little to improve women’s participation and conditions in the ASEAN workforce. Isolated cases highlight some findings: Success stories include donors action through: national policies (Cambodia); mandatory monitoring of working conditions (Cambodia); gender-sensitive design and evaluation of projects (Viet Nam, Cambodia); capacity development for ...» more
Benefits of urbanisation in Asia
This report reviews selected literature on urbanisation in East, South and South-East Asia, and draws out its developmental benefits and lessons for donors. There is a strong evidence base on urbanisation and urban poverty, but mostly looking at the development challenges of increasing urbanisation. Since the literature largely takes a negative or problem-solving approach to ...» more
The shadow economy in conflict-affected countries
Approaches which can be used to leverage the positive social function that shadow economies provide to conflict-affected populations include: Using humanitarian aid to complement people’s coping strategies (Goodhand, 2006). Understanding the relationship between different aspects of the economy through stakeholder assessments can reduce the risk that interventions have ...» more
Stakeholder effectiveness in natural resource management
Countries that are rich in natural resources, both renewable resources such as forests and fisheries, and non-renewable resources such as oil and minerals, have not produced more positive development outcomes than non-resource rich countries. To improve development outcomes and avert several types of harmful effects – often grouped together and termed the ‘resource curse’ – ...» more
Peacebuilding and economic growth
This report provides an overview of the literature on the relationship between peacebuilding and economic recovery and growth in fragile and conflict affected states, with particular emphasis on the Asia-Pacific context. The majority of the conflicts occurring in the Asia-Pacific region take place at the sub-national level. There is evidence to suggest that while many of the ...» more
Women’s and girls’ benefits from market-oriented agriculture in Uganda
Knowledge about women’s and girls’ benefits from commercial agriculture is limited but sufficient to form the basis of this report. Internal obstacles include: ownership, tenure and access in relation to land; a gendered division of labour and time; unequal domestic decision-making power; interactions between poverty, the harvest cycle and the food market; and changing ...» more
Literature review poverty, social analysis and the political economy of Tonga
Key findings: This rapid review examines evidence on poverty, social and political economy analysis published since 2010. The majority of the literature found through this review has been published by regional and international organisations, donors, and the Tongan government. There is substantial policy and practitioner literature that examines the Pacific as a region, or ...» more
Women’s access to finance in Mozambique
Access to finance in Mozambique is very low across all sectors of the population; 77 per cent are deemed to be financially excluded. The most excluded are those with the lowest levels of education, lowest income and in the most remote locations. This report reviews the barriers for women's access to finance, their current use of financial services and products, and the specific ...» more
Promoting social development and human rights in private sector engagement
The private sector is regarded as the driving force for job creation, economic growth and poverty reduction. For donor agencies, engaging and working with private sector actors offers a number of potential benefits, including improving the delivery. As the business community is directly involved in many of the core activities of international donors (such as anti-corruption, ...» more
Political economy analysis for economic and private sector reforms
It is inherently difficult to identify how widely political economy analysis (PEA) is used to support economic and private sector (EPS) programming for a number of reasons. PEA is one of a number of factors that can influence programming and implementation and it is difficult to state categorically that a PEA had a definitive impact on reforms. It is also likely that there are ...» more
The influence of international commercial and investment law and procedure on foreign investment and economic development/ growth
Key findings: On international investment treaties: There is a large emerging empirical literature looking at the impact of international bilateral investment treaties (BITs) on foreign direct investment (FDI), but findings are mixed on the relationship between BITs and FDI. The evidence points to investment treaties being part of a wider set of forces fostering FDI. Concerns ...» more
