In the last decade, scholars and humanitarians have rightly drawn attention to the high rates of gender-based violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which are associated with the high levels of conflict in the country since 1996. However, this focus detracts from the general health problems that stem from the deterioration of the health sector, which began ...» more
Library
This e-library contains more than 4500 external publications on governance, social development, conflict and humanitarian issues. It includes academic and grey literature selected for its basis in good quality research and coverage of a range of perspectives. Policy-oriented summaries of each document are provided, plus links to the full text.
Explaining positive deviance in public sector reforms in development
Public sector reforms are commonplace in developing countries. Much of the literature about these reforms reflects on their failures. This paper asks about the successes and investigates which of two competing theories best explain why some reforms exhibit such positive deviance.These theories are called 'solution and leader driven change' (SLDC) and 'problem driven iterative ...» more
The Partnership of Free Speech and Good Governance in Africa
New data from Afrobarometer, collected during face-to-face interviews with 51,605 people in 34 countries during 2011-13, finds that freedom of speech is strongly linked to popular perceptions of both media effectiveness and good governance. People who indicate they are free to say what they think also report higher levels of trust in their leaders, lower levels of corruption, ...» more
Funds for Peace? Examining the Transformative Potential of Social Funds
Social funds and large-scale community driven development (CDD) programmes are a popular policy instrument in post-conflict situations. This is partly because of claims that they can generate transformative impacts, such as creating more peaceful societies at the local level and promoting trust in government. Drawing on a rigorous literature review, this practice note assesses ...» more
World Disasters Report 2013
This year’s World Disasters Report focuses on the rapid spread of technologies, especially information and communication technologies, which is changing humanitarian action and humanitarians, too. It finds that the changes are most evident in highly technological environments, such as megacities, or when disasters affect critical infrastructures, resulting in secondary ...» more