This report explores the growing contribution of ICTs to government services, financial services, education, health, climate change adaptation and agriculture. It also examines two cross-cutting themes: regional trade and integration, and ICT competitiveness.This summary focuses on the chapter ‘Modernizing Government through ICT’. The chapter sets out a three-tier framework for ...» 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.
The Politics of What Works in Service Delivery: An evidence-based review
Important conceptual advances in understanding the politics of basic service delivery have centered on the role of actors, incentives and institutions in enabling or constraining reform. However, empirical research exploring how different forms of politics impact on service outcomes remains limited and fragmented, leaving little scope for systematic analysis or policy uptake. ...» more
Approaches to Conducting Political Economy Analysis in the Urban Water Sector
This report provides guidance on conducting political economy analysis in the urban water sector, highlighting lessons from case studies. The cases span successful reforms, such as in Chile and Senegal; reforms where the results are still incomplete or have not been replicated, such as Ghana and Panama; and those where reforms are pending, such as Pakistan. The paper identifies ...» more
A Gendered Analysis of Decentralisation Reform in Cambodia
This study examines the extent to which democratic devolution has opened space for women to engage in (local) politics. It investigates women's representation in the commune councils; and women's articulation and exercise of power as local politicians. The study finds that decentralisation reforms have opened a space for women to achieve a greater presence in local politics. ...» more
On Norms and Agency: Conversations about Gender Equality with Women and Men in 20 Countries
This report draws on conversations with 4,000 men and women from 20 countries about the effects of gender differences and inequalities on their lives, focusing on persistent social norms and their impact on agency. It finds that, while significant progress has been made on gender equality in many places, gender disparities are still evident, particularly regarding empowerment ...» more
Measuring the Impact of Peacebuilding Interventions on Rule of Law and Security Institutions
This paper highlights the importance of measuring the impact of peacebuilding interventions on rule of law and security institutions. It shows that there are a range of feasible approaches and methodologies, and that the approach taken will need to vary from case to case. Several approaches and methodologies can be combined in order to build on their individual strengths and ...» more
State-building, Peace-building and Service Delivery in Fragile and Conflict-affected States: Synthesis Research Report
How does the fulfilment of people’s expectations for services relate to their perception of the legitimacy of the government? This question has been examined in a one-year research project on State-building, Peace-building and Service Delivery in Fragile and Conflict-affected States. Findings suggest general principles that include: a focus on equitable service delivery; the ...» more
The Resilient Oligopoly: A Political-Economy of Northern Afghanistan 2001 and Onwards
This report provides a detailed political economy analysis of northern Afghanistan – the provinces of Faryab, Jowzjan, Sar-i Pul, Balkh and Samangan. It notes the competition between two key figures, Atta and Dostum, who each lead a network of allied strongmen spread across the northern region. The importance of Afghanistan’s northern region stems from the economic role of the ...» more
Engagement with Non-State Actors in Fragile States: Narrowing Definitions, Broadening Scope
International actors concerned with state-building processes in fragile and conflict-affected situations increasingly acknowledge the leverage of non-state actors in building a legitimate state apparatus. However, the risk-averse nature of the current aid architecture means that aid is usually channelled through large, established INGOs to a narrow range of formally-constituted ...» more
The Integrity of Elections: The Role of Regional Organizations
This book examines the mandates of and initiatives on electoral processes of six regional organizations: the African Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union, the League of Arab States, the Organization of American States and the Pacific Islands Forum. It covers areas such as election observation, electoral technical assistance and gender ...» more
Early Warning Systems: A State of the Art Analysis and Future Directions
This report assesses existing monitoring/early warning systems for environmental threats (geological hazards, hydro-meteorological hazards, epidemics and food insecurity). It identifies current gaps and needs, and suggests guidelines for developing a global multi-hazard early warning system. Effective early warning systems integrate four elements: risk analysis; monitoring and ...» more
The Instrumental versus the Symbolic: Investigating Members’ Participation in Civil Society Networks in Tanzania
Civil society organisations (CSO) can provide a conduit through which the voices of citizens are able to reach and influence high-level policy dialogue and debate. But is this happening in practice? This study set out to examine how effectively and meaningfully CSO member organisations are participating in two civil society networks in Tanzania, and to assess how effective ...» more
The Politics of Practice: Security and Justice Programming in FCAS
Security and justice programming in fragile and conflict-affected situations often remains technocratic, siloed, and insufficiently attuned to context, despite more nuanced thinking in recent policy documents. How can policy be implemented more effectively? This report summarises discussion at an expert meeting hosted by ODI in November 2012. The report outlines challenges and ...» more
Adaptive Social Protection: Making Concepts a Reality
This guide provides an inventory of existing toolkits on incorporating CCA and DDR into development projects and programmes, but notes a lack of focus on designing social protection programmes. To address this gap, the guide outlines the process required to incorporate climate change adaptation and/or disaster risk reduction into social protection programmes. It provides case ...» more
Development as a collective action problem: addressing the real challenges of African governance
There has been growing recognition in the literature that governance reforms should be guided not by ‘best practices’ based on experience in the West, but by approaches that attain a ‘good fit’ with the needs and possibilities of particular developing countries.This report argues that this alternative agenda remains ‘dangerously content-free’. There is a need to spell out what ...» more
Access to Water in the Slums of Sub-Saharan Africa
This paper examines the limitations of private-sector-oriented solutions to water supply in informal settlements and argues that market-oriented solutions are inappropriate for sub-Saharan African countries where over two-thirds of the urban population live in squatter settlements with multidimensional challenges. There are particular concerns over the pricing, regulation, and ...» more
Understanding and Improving Accountability in Education: A Conceptual Framework and Guideposts from Three Decentralization Reform Experiences in Latin America
This paper builds a framework for understanding accountability reforms in the education sector and develops three illustrative Latin American cases of governance reform in the education sector (Chile, Nicaragua and Bogotá, Colombia). This framework pays attention to exit and voice alternatives (where exit alternatives introduce competition between providers and voice ...» more
The World Bank’s Approach to Public Sector Management 2011-2020: “Better Results from Public Sector Institutions”
‘Public sector management (PSM) reform is concerned with improving public sector results by changing the way governments work. It is a challenging reform area in which to offer assistance. Sustainable institutional change often requires that thousands of public agents alter their behaviour, and political incentives may be at odds with improving public sector performance. ‘What ...» more
Pipe Dreams? The Governance of Urban Water Supply in Informal Settlements, New Delhi
Based on fieldwork on urban water supply in New Delhi, this paper shows that while informal providers fill a gap left by the public utility, residents can remain captive consumers with limited ability to influence service quality or price.In this case, residents were successfully able to organise themselves to drive improvements to services through a gradual evolution of their ...» more
School Governance, Teacher Incentives, and Pupil- Teacher Ratios: Experimental Evidence from Kenyan Primary Schools
This paper assesses a programme that allowed Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) to recruit novice teachers in Kenya. The study found that despite only receiving a quarter of the pay of government-employed teachers, these PTA-hired teachers had fewer days off and achieved better results for their students.The study found that the benefits of the programme were limited by the fact ...» more
