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Home»Social Development

Social Development

Social Protection Topic Guide

Horizontal inequalities: reading pack

Gender, countering violent extremism and women, peace and security in Kenya

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
January 2021

Kenya ranks 109 out of 153 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, with a score of 0.671. There are significant inequalities between males and females in education attainment, health outcomes, representation in parliament, and labour force participation. This Factsheet outlines some of the top-line information on gender, countering violent extremism and women, peace and ...» more

Gender and countering violent extremism (CVE) in the Kenya Mozambique region

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
November 2020

This evidence synthesis drew on a mixture of academic and grey literature. While the literature on Kenyan women and Al-Shabaab was quite extensive (albeit with gaps, e.g. on returnees), nothing was found on women and Ansar al-Sunnah/violent extremist groups operating in northeastern Mozambique and the Mozambique-Tanzania cross-border region. This report should be read in ...» more

Prevalence of health impacts related to exposure to poor air quality among children in Low and Lower Middle-Income Countries

Helpdesk Report
  • Suzanne Bartington and William Avis
October 2020

This rapid review provides an assessment of the contemporary health impacts arising from the household (indoor) and ambient (outdoor) air pollution exposure in low income (LIC) and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs), with a specific focus upon children aged under 5 years. The review synthesises findings of key systematic reviews, as well as international and national ...» more

Key Drivers of Modern Slavery

Helpdesk Report
  • William Avis
August 2020

This rapid literature review provides evidence of key drivers of modern slavery. It draws on a mixture of academic and grey literature from multinational and bilateral institutions as well as non-government organisations (NGOs) and think tanks. Given the rapidly developing global context, it also draws on emerging opinions from blog posts and journalistic reports to provide ...» more

Impact of COVID-19 on Child Labour in South Asia

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
June 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has not (to date) hit South Asia as badly in terms of infections and deaths as some other parts of the world (notably Europe). However, it is having a profound negative economic impact on the region. Experience of previous epidemics/financial crises suggests that the current crisis will lead to a rise in child labour across the developing world, including ...» more

Workplace-based Learning and Youth Employment in Africa

Literature Review
  • Sithandiwe Mujuru,
  • Zenobia Ismail
May 2020

Workplace-based learning is a supply-side approach to youth employment that includes practical or on-the-job training that is usually provided through an apprenticeship, internship, learnership , work placement or other practical training component of a vocational education or training programme. For the workplace-based learning approach to be effective, it requires ...» more

Social and behaviour change communication interventions in Mozambique

Helpdesk Report
  • Rachel Cooper
February 2020

Social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) is the use of communication to change behaviours by positively influencing knowledge, attitudes and social norms at the individual and community level. Approaches to SBCC include, but are not limited to: media campaigns, peer educators and mentors, small group sessions, community dialogues and events, and digital tools. This ...» more

Fossils fuels and job creation in Africa

Helpdesk Report
  • Rachel Cooper
January 2020

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

Conditionality and other approaches to secure women’s rights provisions in peace processes

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
January 2020

This rapid literature review found no examples of the use of aid conditionality specifically to ensure inclusion of women’s rights provisions in peace process outcomes but did identify other effective approaches, notably mobilisation of women, external pressure by mediators/international development partners, and funding and capacity building support for women’s groups. There ...» more

The future of work for women in the Indo-Pacific region

Helpdesk Report
  • Siân Herbert
September 2018

The ‘future of work’ is a policy concept that explores how various technological, socio-economic, geopolitical, demographic, cultural, and environmental megatrends are developing and interacting to create new types of jobs, industries, labour conditions, and business models. It is not well-defined or critiqued as a definition, and there is no standard approach to what concepts ...» more

Mapping of stakeholders engaged in Public Works Programmes (PWPs)

Helpdesk Report
  • Thomas Corser
May 2018

Public works programmes (PWPs) have received increasing attention as a social protection intervention due to their perceived benefits of tackling poverty by addressing basic consumption needs whilst improving public goods and community infrastructure. This helpdesk report maps organisational and individual actors engaged in PWPs in development and humanitarian contexts from a ...» more

Social protection

Topic Guide
  • Becky Carter,
  • Keetie Roelen,
  • Sue Enfield,
  • William Avis
December 2019

Social protection is commonly understood as ‘all public and private initiatives that provide income or consumption transfers to the poor, protect the vulnerable against livelihood risks and enhance the social status and rights of the marginalised; with the overall objective of reducing the economic and social vulnerability of poor, vulnerable and marginalised groups’ (Devereux ...» more

Interventions to Reduce Forced Marriage

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
November 2019

This review drew largely on academic papers as well as reports by international development organisations. Evidence and hence lessons on how to combat forced marriage are limited and sometimes contradictory. Overall, the literature points to a number of approaches that can be effective, notably: empowerment of girls; community approaches to change social norms and attitudes on ...» more

Linking Social Protection and Humanitarian Response – Best Practice

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
November 2019

This review looks at the alignment of humanitarian response in refugee crises with national social protection systems. It examines the experience of three countries dealing with protracted refugee situations: Turkey, Lebanon and Cameroon, and also identifies lessons from other literature. The number of people affected by crises and disasters continues to rise, and ...» more

Challenges Religious Minorities Face in Accessing Humanitarian Assistance

Helpdesk Report
  • William Avis
November 2019

This rapid literature review, surveys evidence regarding the challenges specific religious minorities face in accessing humanitarian assistance. This review acknowledges that there remains a paucity of research on the presence, scale and diversity of religious groups, experiences, values, motivations and engagements in a range of humanitarian contexts and how these intersect to ...» more

Preventing/Countering Violent Extremism Programming on Men, Women, Boys and Girls

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
November 2019

Gender and age can have a big influence on people’s roles in relation to violent extremism: if they are vulnerable to recruitment, if they join violent extremist groups, the driving factors, what their participation in violent extremism entails, and – critically – what approaches should be taken to preventing or countering violent extremism (P/CVE). Hence, it is important not ...» more

Social Safety Nets in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States

Helpdesk Report
  • Rachel Cooper
February 2019

Social safety nets in fragile and conflict-affected states often include cash and in-kind transfers, school feeding programmes and public works programmes (O’Brien, Scott, Smith, Barca, Karden, Holmes, Watson & Congrave, 2018). Programmes often target vulnerable households, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in order to reduce their exposure to shocks and ...» more

Cash-Based Initiatives for Refugees in Jordan: Annotated Bibliography

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
January 2019

The available literature tells us little about the effectiveness of targeting of cash-based initiatives (CBIs) for refugees in Jordan. However, it suggests there are positive impacts on food security for refugees, their ability to pay for rent and utilities and their psycho-social well-being, as well as some reduction in resort to negative coping strategies. The impact of CBIs ...» more

Benefits of STEM Education

Helpdesk Report
  • Zenobia Ismail
January 2019

The literature concurs with the general view that science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education is necessary to facilitate economic development, international competitiveness and job creation. However, the literature does not specify the particular benefits of STEM education in developing countries since the consensus is that STEM education is  generally ...» more

Effectiveness of Donor Support to Women in Formal Political Leadership-Narrative Review

Helpdesk Report
  • Emilie Combaz
January 2019

This narrative review synthesises a selection of key evidence based on a rapid, non-systematic literature review (this makes it subject to limitations).The evidence base offers no comparative rankings on which types of interventions, and which specific interventions, have been more effective. Overall, it shows that the interventions most frequently used by aid actors, including ...» more

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  • Social Development
    • Gender
      • Gender-based violence & VAWG
      • Men & masculinities
      • Sexualities
      • Women's economic participation
      • Women's political participation
    • Inequalities & exclusion
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      • Class / caste
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      • Older people
      • Race & ethnicity
      • Religion
      • Spatial factors
    • Poverty & wellbeing
      • Extreme poverty
      • Jobs & livelihoods
      • Multidimensional poverty
    • Social protection
      • Informal social protection
      • Labour market interventions
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