Sub-Saharan Africa was largely insulated from the initial stages of the financial crisis. With the worsening of the crisis, however, the region as a whole has now been exposed to the downturn. The countries most affected are those whose economies are highly specialised in the affected industries, especially when combined with pre-existing poor governance and weak state ...» more
Social Development
Argentine Financial Crisis (2001-2002)
The 2001-2002 Argentine financial crisis culminated in the collapse of the 1991 Convertibility Plan, the freezing of bank deposits, and the biggest foreign debt default in world economic history. By May 2002, 40% of the total workforce was either unemployed or underemployed.Social unrest during and following the financial crisis principally took the form of social protests. ...» more
Indonesian Financial Crisis (1997-1998)
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Indonesia along with other Asian countries experienced strong economic growth which produced reductions in poverty and improvements in social indicators. The financial crisis of 1997 undid many of these improvements as GDP dropped, unemployment rose, wages eroded, and prices increased dramatically. The rapid descent into economic hardship ...» more
Equality and Human Rights Commission
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is a non-departmental public body established under the Equality Act 2006. It began its operations on 1 October 2007. It brings together the work of the three previous equality commissions - the Disability Rights Commission (DRC), Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) and Commission for Racial Equality (CRE). The EHRC also takes ...» more
Identity Politics in Nepal
In 1990, the 30 year-old Panchayat regime was overthrown, a new Constitution written and a multiparty system re-established. Although these reforms did not properly address the exclusion of marginalised groups and ethnic centralisation continued, they did provide the space for such grievances to be mobilised and heard – resulting in the emergence of ‘identity politics’.There ...» more
Gender Equality in Parliamentary Strengthening and Electoral Support
Many countries around the world have recognised the under-representation of women in politics and started to adopt measures to help women enter politics and national legislatures. However, most of the research to date has focussed on explaining the process of women’s entry into politics, rather than whether and how they can make a difference once they enter parliament.Some of ...» more
Mapping Research on Migration
This query aims to identify research organisations with long-term programmes on the links between migration and development. There are a large number of institutes working on the issue of migration in the UK, US, and particularly Europe. Most of their work focusses on national and European migration trends, and the integration, exclusion, and citizenship of migrants within host ...» more
Increased religiosity among women in muslim majority countries
It has hitherto been assumed, at least by western development practitioners, that women's rights are best attained through secularist liberal interpretations of equality, of the sort reflected in conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Yet what does increasing use of the veil and greater religious observances ...» more
Women in Business in the Pacific Islands
There is a dearth of data and statistics on women’s economic activity in the Pacific Islands. Part of the problem is that women’s economic activity has predominantly been in the informal sector or within households, and has thus been either poorly remunerated or not at all. Much of the literature stresses the need for gender-disaggregated data to allow policy-makers to factor ...» more
Mapping Research Programmes on Conflict and Social Cohesion
This query aimed to map long-term research programmes on the links between conflict, state fragility and social cohesion. However, there appear to be few programmes which link the three together. Most of the current work being undertaken centres either on the link between conflict and state fragility; or between conflict and social cohesion. This query focuses on the latter. ...» more
Gender Issues in the Pacific Islands
Certain gender issues cut across many Pacific Island countries. These include low levels of women’s political representation; poor working conditions; violence against women; increased risk of HIV/AIDS and STIs; declining access to customary land rights and low levels of legal literacy about rights to land and property; and culturally-enforced discrimination and inequality of ...» more
Intangible Heritage and Post-Disaster Protection
Key findings: The protection of intangible cultural heritage has increased in prominence in recent years. Natural disasters and man-made disasters have destroyed and threatened much tangible and intangible cultural heritage (e.g. building typologies and skills, handicraft traditions, communal livelihoods and traditions, social relationships and ecological balances). Much of ...» more
Gender Inequality in Bangladesh
In the past thirty years, Bangladesh has undergone profound social changes, many of which have impacted gender inequality. Fertility rates have been halved, the gender gap in infant mortality, as well as in primary and secondary schooling, has been narrowed or closed altogether, the availability of micro-credit has boosted the solidarity of women as well as their earning ...» more
Social exclusion in Bangladesh
A large portion of the existing research on social exclusion in Bangladesh focuses on women (this is dealt with in a separate GSDRC Helpdesk Research Report on ‘Gender Inequality in Bangladesh’). Much of the remaining research focuses on ethnic minorities (indigenous peoples), who are concentrated in rural areas and variably excluded from social, political, and economic arenas. ...» more
Climate Change and Social Protection
The primary coping strategies and protection measures identified from this Helpdesk research are: Compensation mitigation measures, such as microinsurance and weather-risk crop insurance. In some cases, safety net approaches (e.g. public works, school feeding programmes) are linked to insurance payouts. Ex-ante adaptation measures, such as crop diversification (e.g. technical ...» more
Child-centred Research and Advocacy
Since the 1970’s there has been a shift from projects that focus ‘on’ children, through to projects that operate ‘with’ children in the 1990s, to the current focus on research and advocacy projects ‘by’ children. The following key findings are reiterated across several of the resources: Adults tend to be highly sceptical and suspicious of child -centred projects Power ...» more
Quotas for Women’s Representation in Africa
The success of quota systems in many African countries is largely attributed to: strong and active women’s movements; regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that have adopted gender balanced representation and set quota targets for member countries; and opportunities in post-conflict and transition societies, which allowed for advances in ...» more
Governance in Tribal Environments
This query has been able to identify very few resources that focus specifically on governance systems within tribal societies. However there is a wider body of literature which discusses traditional structures of authority and leadership. Even this, however, focusses mainly on democratisation and decentralisation processes. These sources agree that in many countries, the ...» more
Drivers of Extremism
There is little consensus on what the key drivers of radicalisation and extremism are. Some scholars and policy-makers argue that an absence of participatory democracy and a legitimate arena to channel discontent contributes to extremism. However, others have found no causal connection between authoritarianism and extremism. A common finding in the literature is that while ...» more
Youth Issues in Yemen
Over 20% of Yemen’s population is aged between 15 and 24 and, according to UN estimates, by 2025 will have increased by 69% - the second fastest growth rate in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Yemen also has high rates of illiteracy and youth unemployment. Lack of employment is considered to be one of the single most important and debilitating effects of ...» more
