This research paper explores patterns of politicisation in Afghanistan’s high schools. It reveals how the ban on political activities within schools has had little impact, and explores how the reproduction of the political establishment within schools poses a potential risk to Afghanistan's future stability. It suggests two ways to address this: (1) revoking the ban in order ...» 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.
Systems Thinking: An introduction for Oxfam programme staff
Systems thinking can be an important part of developing truly sustainable and transformative change. This introduction explains how a systems approach can be integrated within programmes and ways of working, and provides tools, case study examples and links to resources for further learning. It highlights the need for change at both a programme and organisational level to ...» more
Strategy testing: an innovative approach to monitoring highly flexible aid programs
How can we develop a rigorous and meaningful monitoring system that will support, rather than hinder, a flexible, adaptive programme approach? This paper outlines the Strategy Testing (ST) approach The Asia Foundation has developed in response to this question. It finds that ST is a promising monitoring approach, contributing to broader efforts to reorient development ...» more
Resource discovery and conflict in Africa: what do the data show?
Africa is often viewed as the prime location for natural resource driven conflict. The volume of research on this topic is sizeable. Yet establishing causality remains a challenge. This paper uses geocoded data on oil and mineral discoveries to study the effect of natural resources on conflict at the local level (1946-2008). It seeks to fill the gap on research which has used ...» more
Governance and inequality: Benchmarking and interpreting South Africa’s evolving political settlement
Has South Africa’s political settlement provided a constructive platform for successfully addressing the country’s deep-seated economic challenges in an inclusive way? This paper argues that the country’s stark inequality is a major cause of the increased pressure on maintaining its political settlement. It re-examines the foundations of South Africa’s democracy in an attempt ...» more