This literature review aims to reflect relevant empirical and policy analysis together with more up-to-date commentary on the situation in Mali, as of January 2013. The conflict in Mali is highly complex and fluid: the situation with regards to the various groups engaged in conflict is developing on a daily basis, as are the responses from local and international actors. ...» 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.
Dare to prepare: taking risk seriously
In moving towards the post-2015 Development Agenda, and with evidence pointing towards a world in which disasters are even more frequent than today, the centrality of ‘risk’ is becoming an essential component of all development and humanitarian work. Emergency preparedness has the potential to be truly transformative, a means to reshape the way the aid system approaches crisis. ...» more
Obstacles to Increasing Tax Revenues in Low Income Countries
Why do the governments of low income countries not raise more tax revenues? Two different but complementary approaches are used to answer it. The first approach is comparisons: among countries today, and within countries over time. This approach tends to generate relatively conservative answers to the central question. It leads to an emphasis on the ‘sticky’ nature of the ...» more
What is the evidence that the establishment or use of community accountability mechanisms and processes improves inclusive service delivery by governments, donors and NGOs to communities?
What interventions have had an impact (positive or negative) in promoting community accountability and influencing inclusive service delivery? Community accountability is a process by which a community works together to create and affirm values and practices, and provide safety and support. The review was interested in interventions designed to increase citizen participation ...» more
Nudging Armed Groups: How Civilians Transmit Norms of Protection
The article examines the varying roles that norms play to either enable or constrain violence in armed conflict settings, by drawing on experiences from communities and armed groups in Colombia and Syria. It begins by presenting an explanation of how norms of violence and nonviolence may arise within communities and influence the behaviour of civilian residents, reducing the ...» more
Analysing nutrition governance in fragile contexts: lessons and implications
This briefing describes lessons learnt and implications from a MQSUN assignment which main objective was to analyze the research and policy challenges for improving nutrition governance in a context of state fragility. Efforts to strengthen government commitment to reduce under nutrition in Fragile and Conflict Affected States (FCAS) face a number of context specific ...» more
Relative Effectiveness of Conditional and Unconditional Cash Transfers for Schooling Outcomes in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review
Increasing educational attainment around the world is one of the key aims of the Millennium Development Goals. Cash transfer programs, both conditional and unconditional, are a popular social protection tool in developing countries that aim, among other things, to improve education outcomes in developing countries. The debate over whether these programs should include ...» more
Pendulum Swings: The rise and fall of insurgent militias in South Sudan
This Issue Brief from the Small Arms Survey’s Human Security Baseline Assessment (HSBA) for Sudan and South Sudan, reviews Southern insurgent activities in 2012-13, focusing on groups’ strength, goals, achievements, and disposition following a renewed offer of amnesty from President Salva Kiir.Among the report’s key findings:Southern rebel insurgencies have decreased ...» more
What is Youth Violence in Jonglei?
Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 the state of Jonglei in South Sudan has experienced widespread local violence and insecurity. This violence is often described as “tribal” or as an escalation of “traditional” cattle raiding practises through the proliferation of modern arms. A generation of “youth in crisis” is perceived to be at the heart of the ...» more
‘We are one, but we are different’: Murle identity and local peacebuilding in Jonglei State, South Sudan
Despite the Murle group being politically and economically marginalised, local and national political and popular discourses portray this group as the main aggressor in South Sudan’s Jonglei State. This widely asserted narrative ignores the fact that responsibility for the cycle of violence in Jonglei rests with all those perpetrating violence and certainly not solely with one ...» more
Rural Housing Reconstruction Program Post-2005 Earthquake. Learning from the Pakistan Experience. A Manual for Post-Disaster Housing Program Managers
This manual is a guide for those tasked with responding to post-disaster housing reconstruction needs. It details the various processes, tasks, and interventions involved in the design and management of such programs. It uses Pakistan's post-earthquake Rural Housing Reconstruction Program (RHRP) as a case study, and draws on the experience and lessons from that to derive ...» more
Migrants’ Remittances, Poverty and Social Protection in the South Pacific: Fiji and Tonga
Small island states are increasingly characterised by the growing role of international migration and remittances as components of national and household incomes. Recent household-level survey data on migration and remittances in two Pacific island states, Fiji and Tonga, demonstrate that where formal social protection systems are largely absent, migration and remittances can ...» more
Missed opportunities: the case for strengthening national and local partnership-based humanitarian responses
Partnerships with national and local actors have long been identified as a source of problems in international humanitarian aid. Major evaluations of numerous high profile humanitarian crises have identified insufficient investment in, and commitment to, such partnerships as the biggest hindrance to effective performance. Efforts to work with national and local actors do not ...» more
Towards People-Centred Economic Reintegration? An Analysis of the Economic Reintegration Strategy of Demobilised Combatants in Colombia
This paper investigates the suitability of the economic reintegration strategy for former Colombian combatants, taking into account the challenges facing this population. It argues that the international discourse primarily consists of a market-centred versus a people-centred perspective, each with a distinct approach to economic reintegration. The paper finds that in Colombia ...» more
Glass half full: Study on EU lessons learnt in mediation and dialogue
The EU has developed its capacity and experience in mediation and dialogue over the last 20 years along the lines of the five roles of the EU: as a mediator itself, and in promoting, leveraging, supporting and funding mediation and dialogue. Lessons learnt articulated in this study cut across or reference the five roles and range from Track 1 (the highest political level) to ...» more
A New Deal ? Development and Security in a Changing World
A growing proportion of aid spending now goes into conflict-affected states and conflict prevention. As a result, development and security are increasingly intertwined and this inter-relation is hotly debated. The key question however is not whether development and security should be linked, but rather how and for whose benefit.Key findings:Developmentalist critiques of the ...» more
The age of choice: Developing countries in the new aid landscape
The aim of this paper is explore the implications of the new and complex aid landscape for developing country governments. In 2000, development assistance was overwhelmingly provided by traditional bilateral and multilateral donors, which provided aid in specific ways and according to a particular set of norms. Today, this is being complemented by the growth of other forms of ...» more
Growth Still Is Good for the Poor
Incomes in the poorest two quintiles on average increase at the same rate as overall average incomes. This is because, in a global dataset spanning 118 countries over the past four decades, changes in the share of income of the poorest quintiles are generally small and uncorrelated with changes in average income. The variation in changes in quintile shares is also small ...» more
Evaluation of the Regional Programme for Asia and the Pacific (2008-2013)
During 2011, the Evaluation Office conducted a series of evaluations of UNDP’s global and regional programmes. This evaluation covered the Regional Programme for Asia and the Pacific 2008-2013, implemented by the UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, through its Asia- Pacific Regional Centre in Bangkok and the Pacific Centre in Suva. It examined the results achieved by ...» more
Evaluation of the Regional Programme for Arab States (2010-2013)
During 2012, the UNDP Evaluation Office conducted a series of evaluations of UNDP’s global and regional programmes. The present evaluation covered the Regional Programme for Arab States 2010-2013, implemented by the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States through its Regional Programme Division in New York. The evaluation found that in spite of wide disparities in social and ...» more
