What can be learned from aid packages that appear to have successfully engaged with governance constraints in public service delivery? This ODI report draws on four case studies from Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Uganda. The findings suggest that external actors can play a beneficial role in supporting government efforts to address governance constraints, if an appropriate ...» 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.
Delivering Aid in Highly Insecure Environments: A Critical Review of the Literature, 2007–2012
This report focuses on: approaches to secure access; principles and partnership; governance, accountability and value for money; and new technology and innovation. It notes that the difficulties of conducting detailed field research in unstable environments have limited the literature’s scope and findings. There is a lack of empirical evidence and quantitative analysis. Among ...» more
Overview and Synthesis: The Political Economy of Fiscal Transparency, Participation, and Accountability Around the World
This chapter brings together evidence from quantitative data and in-depth qualitative case studies. It finds that four main factors affect fiscal transparency, participation, and accountability across countries: 1) processes of political regime change and increasing political competition, 2) fiscal and economic crises, 3) corruption scandals and the media, and 4) external ...» more
What is the Evidence on the Impact of Employment Creation on Stability and Poverty Reduction in Fragile States: A Systematic Review
This systematic review found a significant research gap in terms of studies providing empirical evidence on the impacts of employment creation interventions on poverty and stability in fragile states. It identified only seven studies meeting the inclusion criteria. These all concerned programmes that directly created short-term/emergency employment, six examining the impact on ...» more
What Matters Most? Evidence from 84 Participatory Studies with Those Living with Extreme Poverty and Marginalisation
This Participate report draws on the experiences and views of people living in extreme poverty and marginalisation in 107 countries. It highlights four key messages that consistently emerge in different contexts: 1) the very poorest are less able to access infrastructure, services, support and opportunities; 2) development that is sustainable requires meaningful participation ...» more
Cash Transfers and Child Schooling: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation of the Role of Conditionality
Do conditions imposed by Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) influence the outcomes they seek to improve? This paper presents the results of a randomized experiment in rural Burkina Faso to estimate the impact of conditional and unconditional cash transfers on education. The study of the two-year pilot programme found that unconditional and conditional cash transfers had a ...» more
Models of Public Service Reform: A Problem-Solving Approach
This paper identifies six models of public service reform that have been practiced in developing countries over the past half-century. It critically reviews their implementation, discussing them as attempted solutions to problems that have arisen in the policy process in different countries. The models are: public administration; decentralisation; pay and employment reform; New ...» more
The Media and Conflict: An Assessment of the Evidence
This three-page brief summarises a systematic evidence review by Schoemaker and Stremlau (forthcoming). It discusses the strength of the evidence that currently exists around the role of media and information in periods of conflict and political change. It finds that, while there are frequent claims that the media promotes or prevents conflict, there is little evidence to ...» more
Fragile States: Resource Flows and Trends
While situations of fragility clearly have common elements – including poverty, inequality and vulnerability – how can we make sense of the great diversity in their national income, endowment in natural resources or historical trajectories? How do we move towards a more substantive concept of fragility that goes beyond a primary focus on the quality of government policies and ...» more
The Politics of Progress on Water and Sanitation in Colombo, Sri Lanka
This study explores the politics of urban water supply and sanitation delivery in the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka, where improvements in coverage have been achieved within a national context characterised by almost three decades of civil war. Though Colombo is by no means an unqualified success, or representative of the country as a whole, this isolated case offers an ...» more
Humanitarianism in the Network Age
This report explores how new ways of interacting are bringing people in need closer to people who can help. Its conclusions suggest a fundamental shift in power from capitals and headquarters to the people aid agencies aim to assist. This calls for more diverse and bottom-up forms of decision-making — something that most governments and humanitarian organisations were not ...» more
What Inequality Means for Children: Evidence from Young Lives
This paper draws together research from across the Young Lives longitudinal study of child poverty to answer questions about how inequality shapes children’s development. Overall, it finds clear evidence that children from the poorest households are most vulnerable and quickly fall behind their peers, in terms of equality of opportunity as well as outcomes. It argues that since ...» more
Interventions to Reduce the Prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in African Countries
This systematic review examined empirical research on: the effectiveness of interventions to reduce the prevalence of FGM/C in African countries; and on contextual factors that may help explain the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of such interventions. It was hampered by a lack of available information. However, it identified that all of the interventions were based on a theory ...» more
When Disasters and Conflicts Collide: Improving Links Between Disaster Resilience and Conflict Prevention
This report finds that the evidence base for the 'natural' disasters-conflict interface is fragmented and contested. This suggests that the complexity of conflict and disaster dynamics can only be understood when grounded in specific contexts. Examples are therefore provided of disaster risk reduction in Afghanistan, resilience building in the Sahel region, community based risk ...» more
Taxation and Development: A Review of Donor Support to Strengthen Tax Systems in Developing Countries
This paper reviews the state of knowledge on aid and tax reform in developing countries, with a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Four main issues are addressed: (1) impacts of donor assistance to strengthen tax systems, including what has worked, or not, and why; (2) challenges in ‘scaling up’ donor efforts; (3) how to best provide assistance to reform tax systems; and ...» more
Paid Work, Women’s Empowerment and Inclusive Growth: Transforming the Structures of Constraint
This report draws on household survey data collected in Egypt, Ghana and Bangladesh by the Pathways of Women’s Empowerment Research Partners’ Consortium. It examines the ‘resource’ pathways that enhance women’s agency and thereby contribute to the inclusiveness of economic growth. It also looks at the extent to which the structure of economic opportunities, generated by a ...» more
Strengthening civil society? Reflections on international engagement in fragile states
This discussion paper is derived from a study by the European Centre for Development Policy Management on the importance of civil society in fragile states. It aims to answer the following questions: What are the characteristics of fragile states and civil society in fragile states, and what particular challenges does this pose for engaging with civil society? What are ...» more
Does participation strengthen civil society?
Can projects that attempt to induce participation and build “social capital” help repair civil society failures? The evidence on this important question is weak for several reasons, including attribution. Projects tend to have very limited impact on building social cohesion or rebuilding the state, as they tend to exclude the poor and be elite-dominated. However, there is some ...» more
Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation
This special report brings together scientific communities with expertise in three very different aspects of managing risks of extreme weather and climate events. For this report, specialists in disaster recovery, disaster risk management, and disaster risk reduction, a community mostly new to the IPCC, joined forces with experts in the areas of the physical science basis of ...» more
Poverty and social impact analysis for climate change development policy and operations
This guidance note draws on World Bank experience to address the why, who, what and how to conduct poverty and social impact analysis (PSIA) in the context of climate change development policy and operations. PSIA provides an understanding of vulnerability, marginalisation, accountability and voice. This document supports the idea that integrating a strong social perspective ...» more
