This paper presents experimental evidence on a one-year pilot programme in rural Nicaragua aimed at improving households’ risk-management through income diversification. The programme took place between November 2005 and December 2006 in the aftermath of a severe drought in the northwest of the country. The intervention targeted agricultural households exposed to weather shocks ...» 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.
Gender, Fragility and the Politics of Statebuilding
This report examines how the international community can better integrate gender into its statebuilding support. In particular, it focuses on how international actors can promote the participation of women in the core politics of statebuilding, i.e. the negotiation of the political settlement, democratisation processes, the development of civil society’s voice and engagement ...» more
Resilience: New Utopia or New Tyranny? Reflection about the Potentials and Limits of the Concept of Resilience in Relation to Vulnerability Reduction Programmes.
Resilience is becoming influential in development and vulnerability reduction sectors such as social protection, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. In that context, the objective of this paper was to assess in a critical manner the advantages and limits of resilience. While the review highlights some positive elements –in particular the ability of the term ...» more
Shocks and social protection in the horn of Africa: Analysis from the productive safety net programme in Ethiopia
Using panel data from the Ethiopian Productive Safety Net Program, this paper explores the degree to which this social protection programme has been successful in protecting its beneficiaries against the various shocks that have affected the Horn of Africa in the recent past. The analysis suggests that although the PSNP has managed to improve households’ food security and ...» more
Gender in value chains: Practical toolkit to integrate a gender perspective in agricultural value chain development.
This toolkit intends to motivate and help practitioners in integrating a gender perspective in agricultural value chain development, by providing practical tools for all stages of the value chain intervention. It follows the logic of the value chain development project cycle, structuring practical tools for all stages accordingly. The toolkit provides an overview of material ...» more
Integrating gender into the New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States
The New Deal builds on previous international commitments such as the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2008) and the Accra Agenda for Action (2008), and provides new momentum to efforts to support countries making the transition to peace. However, to date, gender issues have been largely absent despite their status as a ‘cross-cutting’ theme, and more political will, ...» more
Education attainment in public administration around the world: Evidence from a new dataset
The paper provides a detailed description of a novel dataset on education attainment in public administrations covering the period 1981-2011 for 178 countries. The dataset uses information extracted from CVs for over 130,000 mid to senior level officials from mainly central banks and ministries of economy and finance. Key findings: The main finding is that there is little ...» more
The role of customary governance systems for local democracy, good governance and service delivery: The case of Ghana
Local governance, decentralization and democracy are key components of the traditional Ghanaian institution of chieftaincy. In the past this institution engendered participatory democracy, good governance and social protection, but it is currently challenged by the formal decentralization of public administration. Although the institution has remained intact, its functions have ...» more
Democratic Accountability in Service Delivery – A Synthesis of Case Studies
This paper analyses and compares several case studies on democratic accountability in service delivery, aiming to identifying general themes and lessons. International IDEA selected these projects from more than 60 submitted and assessed in 2010, as they highlight some common themes and lessons critical for understanding democratic accountability in the context of service ...» more
Empowering Women for Stronger Political Parties: A Guidebook to Promote Women’s Political Participation
Over a period of eighteen months, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) compiled twenty case studies of party activities to promote women’s political empowerment. Drawing on those and other examples, UNDP and the NDI identified concrete steps that can be taken by political parties to promote women in political life. This ...» more
Women’s economic empowerment and inclusive growth: labour markets and enterprise development
The paper aims to examine how empowerment has been conceptualised in the field of gender and development as well as the emergence of an explicit concern with women’s economic empowerment. It also reviews empirical literature on gender and labour markets in order to draw out what they tell us about the blockages and barriers to women’s progress within the economy and about ...» more
Liberia: Time for Much-Delayed Reconciliation and Reform
Despite marked improvements, numerous grievances that plunged Liberia into bloody wars from 1989 until President Charles Taylor left in August 2003 (originally for exile in Nigeria) remain evident: a polarised society and political system; corruption, nepotism and impunity; a dishevelled security sector; youth unemployment; and gaps and inconsistencies in the electoral law. The ...» more
Engaging Men to Prevent Gender-based Violence: A Multi-country Intervention and Impact Evaluation Study
This report documents the implementation of a multi-country project to engage men and boys in preventing violence against women and promote gender equality. Project activities in each country varied but all included educational workshops with men and young men on gender equity and training programs with partner staff on evidence-based methodologies for the prevention of ...» more
Divided we stand: Libya’s enduring conflicts
The main factor driving both positive and negative developments in Libya has been the lack of a fully functioning state and of effective army or police. Local actors –civilian and military councils, revolutionary brigades, notables – have stepped in to provide safety, mediate disputes and impose ceasefires.The rebels who rose up against Qadhafi were much better armed. ...» more
Promoting healthy behaviours and improving health outcomes in low and middle income countries: A review of the impact of conditional cash transfer programmes
This paper provides an overview of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programmes in low and middle income countries and present the evidence to date on their contribution to improvements in health and the encouragement of healthy behaviours. Several bibliographic databases and websites were used to identify relevant studies. To be included, a study had to provide evidence of ...» more
How Effective are Cash Transfer Programmes at Improving Nutritional Status? A Rapid Evidence Assessment of Programmes’ Effects on Anthropometric Outcomes
Cash transfer programmes are a widely applied social protection scheme that has achieved successes in fighting poverty worldwide. A large literature has sprung up around these programmes, yet the relationship between cash transfer programmes and the nutritional status of recipient children is unclear. Can cash transfers be counted on to improve child health, or are mediating ...» more
Livelihoods, basic services and social protection in South Sudan
This paper summarises the existing literature on livelihoods, basic services and social protection in South Sudan; presents a brief analysis of this literature, its strengths and its gaps; and lays out potential research questions for the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium (SLRC). It provides a brief overview of the country and the impact of the conflict with the North ...» more
Building the House of Governance in Jonglei State
The people of Jonglei State share a common history together with richly diverse traditions and interests. At the same time, they have suffered the hardships of various cycles of conflict, which have disrupted life in their communities over a long period. At the end of 2011, within months of the country’s independence, incidents of violent conflict within the state had sent ...» more
Impact Assessment of Community Participation in Solid Waste Management Projects in Selected Areas of Faisalabad City
This paper attempts to determine the impact of community participation projects on the management of solid waste in some selected areas of Faisalabad, Pakistan. The government of the Punjab province initiated a project to upgrade the environment and solid waste management system in Faisalabad in different phases. This project was thought to be successful as it created a great ...» more
Effectiveness Review: Community-Based Disaster Risk Management and Livelihoods Programme, Pakistan
Under Oxfam Great Britain’s (OGB) Global Performance Framework (GPF), sufficiently mature projects/programmes are being randomly selected each year and their effectiveness rigorously assessed. Pakistan’s Community-based Disaster Risk Management and Livelihoods Programme was randomly selected for an Effectiveness Review under the adaptation and risk reduction (ARR) thematic ...» more
