An initial review of the literature indicates that gender is not systematically included in PEA. This was also conveyed by a number of experts consulted for this report, who stated that few if any PEAs to their knowledge had included a gender analysis, with the issue usually treated only in passing. The report nevertheless highlights the existing examples of gender-oriented ...» more
Social Development
Disability inclusion in social protection
Key Findings: Three types of programmes: i) targeted specifically at people with disabilities; ii) mainstream programmes; and iii) targeted mainstream programmes explicitly including people with disabilities. Targeting: programmes can target all disabled people, or be means tested for a particular level or type of disability, or targeted at children with disabilities. ...» more
Social transfer evaluation syntheses
This paper includes cash transfers, cash-for-work, asset transfers and pensions. It excludes all other types of social protection, such as microfinance, food-for-work, school feeding, vouchers, and insurance. It lists meta-analyses, systematic reviews, syntheses and meta-evaluations, and excludes single programme evaluations. This report does not include primary research ...» more
Post-graduation from social protection
This paper reviews the results of social protection graduation programmes. It highlights whether people who leave the programmes are lifted sustainably out of poverty, and what changes they experience in their lives and livelihoods. The first part of the report reviews general lessons about how graduation happens and whether there are any impacts on employment, and the second ...» more
State fragility and social cohesion
This report reviews the relationship between social cohesion and state fragility – focusing on literature from 2010 onwards. There is no clear empirical understanding in the literature of how social cohesion contributes to state resilience or fragility, as it is very difficult to measure, and to assess independently other variables that impact on state fragility. Key points ...» more
Community-based social protection
This report reviews the use and effectiveness of community-based social protection (CBSP) mechanisms, and examines how they are integrated into formal social protection schemes and what impact this might have. It begins with a loose definition of the terms used, followed by a section on the evidence on how effective CBSP appears to be. The following section presents the main ...» 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
Social inclusion in productive safety net programmes
Evidence is scattered and quite limited, with a heavy slant towards Ethiopia. Multi-country literature offers the following on social inclusion: Lessons for projects, programmes and policies: - Community participation: beneficiary outreach is key. Participatory targeting, project selection and monitoring are useful, though attention needs to be paid to exclusion, ...» more
National databases of the poor for social protection
There is very scant literature on creating or unifying registries to make up a national database of poor households or individuals to be used for social protection programmes (expert comments). Literature on registries tends to relate to the benefits of civil registration (i.e. the registering of births and deaths), or how better to target and register the poor. This report ...» 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
Evidence on ‘rule of law’ aid initiatives
This report reviews the contribution of rule of law to development and poverty reduction, with evidence from aid initiatives. The first section provides a brief overview of the evidence base on the links between rule of law and development and poverty reduction. The second looks at evidence from successful aid initiatives, focusing on how interventions have contributed to rule ...» 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
Ethnic minority public sector employment
This report identifies initiatives in developing countries which seek to attract, develop and retain indigenous or ethnic minority employees in the public sector workforce. This is supported with a brief overview of lessons learned from similar programmes in Australia, which are largely considered successful. The paper concentrates on civil service and central government ...» more
Responding to the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon – lessons learned
Three groups of lessons emerge from the literature: Political lessons include: understanding Lebanon’s historic refugee experience; understanding how sectarian divisions affect policy and decision-making; the limitations of excluding key stakeholders; and understanding historic relations between refugees and host communities. Strategic lessons include developing a medium-term ...» more
Democracy strengthening in Sudan
This report summarises key points of development work and research conducted on democracy strengthening in Sudan. It excludes the nation-state of South Sudan, but does include some work covering the southern areas of Sudan before the secession in 2011. Most of the literature focuses on democratic elections, from voter education to election conduct, but this report also tries to ...» more
Impact of gender-responsive budgeting
Gender-responsive budgeting has been applied by a few dozen developing countries since the mid-1980s, though to very different extents and in diverse forms. It is difficult to identify what its impact has been on gender outcomes and on resource distribution within government, due to a limited evidence base and to complexity in assessing and interpreting impact. Nevertheless, ...» more
Gender dimensions of conflict drivers and stabilisation in eastern DRC
There are large knowledge gaps. Gendered evidence is very limited and problematic. The evidence available points to the following findings: On conflict drivers: - Gender is mostly discussed in relation to rape as a weapon of war (masculinity and instrumental use of gendered terror by armed groups). - Sexual and gender-based violence has led to traditional authority and ...» more
Tools for participatory analysis of poverty, social exclusion and vulnerability
Among the tools reviewed are: Ranking: Commonly divided into three approaches: problem ranking, preference ranking, and wealth ranking, which enable practitioners to gain an understanding of local perceptions and preferences on a range of issues, including poverty. Seasonal Calendars: Visual tools which can be useful for identifying periods of stress and vulnerability ...» more
Livelihoods in fragile contexts
There is strong literature on both livelihoods in general and livelihoods in fragile contexts, presenting conclusions and lessons from programmes and synthesising evidence from other contexts. This review draws mainly on lessons learned in the field, rather than rigorous evidence of impact. There are few impact studies conducted on programmes in fragile environments, as ...» more
Safe spaces for girls: six-country mapping
This review presents a broad overview of the most prominent and well-evidenced programmes providing safe spaces for girls in six selected countries. Key findings The criteria for defining a ‘safe space’ followed the Population Council’s guidance, and the following programmes all contain these elements: A physical space where adolescent girls (10-19 years old) meet regularly An ...» more
