What enables women's substantive voice and influence in decision-making processes? Does women's presence and influence in decision-making improve outcomes for other women and advance gender equality? This report synthesises findings from two years of research on women's voice and leadership in decision-making in developing countries. It explores the factors that help and hinder ...» 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.
Adolescent boys and young men
While there has been an increased focus on engaging adolescent boys and young men in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and gender equality, and an increased recognition in the mutual benefit this brings, it is often still not a priority. This paper argues that the need for this engagement and the importance of addressing the specific health and social ...» more
The Philippine social pension at four years: Insights and recommendations
This study provides lessons in two key areas for assessing the progress of the Philippine social pension: (a) impact of the scheme, and (b) implementation, specifically targeting and validation. Findings suggest the scheme provides invaluable support recipients, but needs to do more to reach the most vulnerable older people, improve targeting and ensure methods of delivery are ...» more
Labor markets and poverty in village economies
This paper reports the results of a randomized evaluation of the nationwide roll-out of a program that transfers assets and skills to the poorest women in villages in Bangladesh, studied through a detailed labour survey that tracks over 21,000 households, drawn from the entire wealth distribution in 1,309 rural Bangladeshi villages, four times over a seven year period. The ...» more
A study on organisational development
People often do not understand what organisational development is and yet, if they work in international development, it is very likely that they must have been involved in it. There is a wealth of information on Organisational Development (OD) and so, planning which approach a programme takes from the outset is important. This paper synthesises global literature - particularly ...» more
Test it and they might come: Improving the uptake of digital tools in transparency and accountability initiatives
Information and communications technologies (ICTs) and data play an increasingly visible role in transparency and accountability initiatives (TAIs). This article investigates TAI tool selection processes in South Africa and Kenya. It argues that in many cases, tools are chosen with only limited testing of their appropriateness for the intended users in the intended contexts, ...» more
Anti-corruption strategies in foreign aid: From controls to results
This paper argues that efforts to address corruption - targeting funder integrity, recipient integrity and global support - have proven to be largely ineffective against corruption and had a limited impact on development results. It highlights how current approaches rely primarily on transactional controls and, to a lesser extent, on investments in transparency and raising ...» more
Beneath the apparent state of affairs: Stability in Ghana and Benin: The potential for radicalization and political violence in West Africa
In this report of a research mission to West Africa, the authors describe (potential) tensions between religious denominations in the West African region, with a specific focus on Benin and Ghana. The report is based on extensive interviews during October 2015 that were conducted in Cotonou, Porto Novo, Accra and Tamale with labour unions, students, journalists, border ...» more
Shock-responsive social protection systems research: Literature review
What is the relationship between social protection, humanitarian and disaster risk management systems? This literature review consolidates current thinking and emerging evidence on this topic, including ways in which long-term social protection systems can be scaled up to provide support in humanitarian emergencies. The authors reviewed over 400 papers including peer-reviewed ...» more
Innovating for pro-poor services: Why politics matter
This paper argues that politics is a major factor that can interact with innovations, with positive or negative implications for services for poor people and achievement of related sustainable development goals targets. The key question it seeks to address is, ‘How do innovation and politics interrelate when it comes to providing services for poor people, and what are the ...» more
Good neighbours? Africans express high levels of tolerance for many, but not for all
This report presents new findings on tolerance in Africa from Afrobarometer Round 6 surveys in 33 countries in 2014/2015. (The questions on tolerance were not asked in Algeria, Egypt, and Sudan because research partners deemed the question about tolerance for homosexuals too sensitive.) The survey asks respondents whether they would like, dislike, or be indifferent to having ...» more
United they fall: Why the international community should not promote military integration after civil war.
Civil war participants, scholars, transnational civil society, and international governmental organizations believe that military integration significantly reduces the risk of a society’s relapse into civil war. However, other than a few scattered case studies and some contradictory aggregate data analyses, there has been little theoretical or empirical investigation about what ...» more
Meaningful community engagement in the extractive industries
What is the relationship between extractive industry projects and the local communities living in close proximity to such projects? Stakeholder engagement is central to extractive industry companies securing a social licence to operate. While there is lots of guidance on how to do stakeholder engagement well, this paper draws attention to the major implementation challenges ...» more
Women’s resilience: Integrating gender in the response to Ebola
This report presents the results of desk research by the African Development Bank’s Office of the Special Envoy on Gender on the implications of Ebola virus disease (EVD) for women in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The reduction in health services has increased maternal, infant, and child mortality rates. According to reports across the three countries, women farmers and ...» more
Building effective women’s economic empowerment strategies
How can the private sector actively promote women’s economic empowerment? This paper argues that real progress will come when companies shift from opportunistic and isolated initiatives to holistic and integrated approaches. It proposes eight building blocks that should address underlying systemic barriers to women’s economic empowerment and include gender dynamics across the ...» more
DisasterNet Philippines: Scoping study report
The Philippines is a country disproportionately affected by natural disasters. This scoping study assesses some of the key gaps in disaster preparedness and current limits of disaster resilience strategies. It argues that while the country possesses a robust disaster management system, underlying disparities in wealth, large numbers of informal settlements, and the limited ...» more
When and how to develop an impact-oriented monitoring and evaluation system
This guidance note was developed in response to a common challenge experienced by organisations whereby they commission an impact evaluation at the end of intervention only to find that there is insufficient data about implementation, context, baselines or interim results. Dealing with impact – if deemed relevant to the type of intervention – early on in the intervention cycle ...» more
Arab voices on the challenges of the new Middle East
This survey represents the detailed views of 105 experts from almost every Arab country. Questions were asked in both English and Arabic, and respondents include include civil society leaders and activists, industry leaders, scholars, former cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, and advisers to heads of state. Some emerged during the Arab Awakening; others have decades of ...» more
Evaluating digital citizen engagement: A practical guide
This guide provides practical steps to assess the extent to which digital tools have contributed to citizen engagement, and to understand the impact that the introduction of technology has had on the engagement processes. The guide draws on examples and lessons from case studies from Brazil, Uganda, Cameroon and Kenya. It can be used at many stages— to inform project design, as ...» more
Aid and business for sustainable development: Emerging lessons from effective aid–business partnerships in the era of the SDGs
This project aims to better understand the key features and functions of successful partnerships for sustainable development (SD) between donors, large enterprises, small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and the informal sector. It analyses how SD goals can be achieved through all scales and types of public–private partnerships (PPPs) between governments, donors, NGOs and ...» more
