This systematic review finds that both micro-credit and micro-savings can reduce poverty but do not in all circumstances, nor for all clients. Given these varied results, it is important to consider whether there is potential for harm in offering either of these services, or in not doing so. While the lack of financial services may limit the ability of the poor to withstand ...» 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.
A Conceptual Analysis of Livelihoods and Resilience: Addressing the ‘Insecurity of Agency’
This paper suggests that humanitarian debates focus on reducing people’s vulnerability and enhancing their agency, rather than on building resilience. It finds that symptoms of resilience can too easily be misidentified, and that structural factors that prevent people from living with security about their futures can be missed. It notes the importance of the concept of agency – ...» more
Understanding Theory of Change in International Development
This paper reviews the concepts and debates within donor, agency and expert guidance ‘Theory of Change’ (ToC) documents. It finds confusion surrounding ToC definitions and use, but that ToC is commonly understood as an articulation of how and why a given intervention will lead to specific change. The paper identifies four main (overlapping) purposes of ToC – strategic planning, ...» more
Can Donors and Non-state Actors Undermine Citizens’ Legitimating Beliefs?
This paper analyses Afrobarometer survey data from 19 African countries to investigate associations between donor and non-state service provision and citizens’ sense of obligation to comply with tax authorities, the police and the courts. The findings suggest that service provision by donors and non-state actors strengthens, rather than undermines, the relationship between ...» more
From Conflict Analysis to Peacebuilding Impact: Lessons from the People’s Peacemaking Perspectives Project
This project used participatory approaches to produce analyses of 18 conflict situations around the world. Its final report recommends that, to use locally-led analysis more consistently and effectively, donors could: pay more attention to the process of analysis; encourage analysis to focus on potential solutions, not just describe the problem; prioritise the translation of ...» more
Mind the Gap: Lessons Learnt and Remaining Challenges in Parliamentary Development Assistance – A Sida Pre-Study
What do we know about how – and how well – the international community supports parliaments? This study finds that a clear and consistent set of principles and recommendations has emerged in the literature. Perhaps the most important of these is the need to understand the political economy of parliaments in incipient democracies. However, there appears to be resistance to ...» more
Social Protection and Social Exclusion: An Analytical Framework to Assess the Links
There is increasing interest in social protection as a ‘developmental’ and ‘transformative’ tool. Existing evaluations of social protection programmes discuss effects on people’s well-being, but rarely allow inferences about people’s ability to alter what drives their deprivation and vulnerability. This paper presents a way of using the concept of social exclusion to enhance ...» more
New Technologies in Cash Transfer Programming and Humanitarian Assistance
Advances in new technology in low-income countries mean there is growing interest in how technology can best serve humanitarian responses. Technology is felt to have potential to detect needs earlier, enable greater scale and speed of responses, enhance specificity of resource transfers to match needs and increase accountability while reducing opportunities for corruption and ...» more
Civil Service Reform: A Review
Understanding of how best to promote civil service reform has been hindered by the complexity of the subject, disagreement on objectives, and lack of reflection on experiences and of dissemination of results. Based on a literature review, this paper suggests principles for the design of more effective CSR programmes. These principles include: adaptation to the local context, ...» more
Public Financial Management Reforms in Post-conflict Countries: Synthesis Report
This synthesis report considers the feasibility of and constraints to public financial management reforms in post-conflict contexts. It discusses findings from a cross-country analysis of the design, implementation, and impact of PFM reforms in eight post-conflict environments over ten years. It finds that, while significant progress in improving public financial management is ...» more
Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
How can evaluations provide strong evidence and lessons about what works and why in complex conflict settings? This publication provides step-by-step guidance on evaluation, as well as some basic principles on good programme design and management. The guidance is to be used for assessing activities in settings of violent conflict or state fragility, such as peacebuilding and ...» more
Assessing Armed Violence in Nepal
This first issue of Rupantaran, (‘transformation’ in Nepalese), highlights key issues surrounding armed violence in Nepal and considers current development solutions. Rupantaran, produced by the Nepal Armed Violence Reduction Working Group and IDS Knowledge Services, explores the impact that armed violence has on development in Nepal. While awareness of armed violence in Nepal ...» more
Women’s Political Participation and Economic Empowerment in Post-conflict Countries: Lessons from the Great Lakes region in Africa
Does women's increased representation in national and local decision making translate into the adoption of gender equality policies and greater socio-economic status for women? This report highlights findings and recommendations from research on women's political participation and economic empowerment in Burundi, Rwanda, DRC and Uganda. Findings include a lack of enforcement of ...» more
The Evaluation of Politics and the Politics of Evaluation
How can development programmes that are thinking and working politically be assessed? This paper proposes that using a mixture of assessment methods, with an appreciation of the strengths and limitations of each, provides the most effective solution to the assessment challenge. It outlines a range of evaluation methods and illustrates their usefulness for different processes ...» more
Informal Justice Systems: Charting a Course for Human Rights-Based Engagement
This major study seeks to identify how engagement with informal justice systems can build greater respect and protection for human rights. The study also examines the value of informal justice systems in offering, in certain contexts, flexible structures and processes, cost-effectiveness and outreach to grassroots communities. It considers the weaknesses and strengths of ...» more
Tools for the Job: Supporting Principled Humanitarian Action
This report, based on case studies conducted in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan and South Sudan, considers principled humanitarian action from the perspectives of both NGOs and donors. It examines hurdles that can prevent humanitarian organisations from adhering to the principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality. It considers ...» more
A Rough Guide to Community Engagement in Performance-Based Incentive Programs
Engaging and empowering communities to enhance accountability is a growing trend in the health sector. This guide aims to help policymakers and programme managers assess whether engaging communities makes sense in the context of the performance-based incentive (PBI) programmes they support, and to determine the best approach for such engagement and how to mitigate the risks. ...» more
Links Between Climate Change, Conflict and Governance in Africa
Adaptation and climate risk management is becoming an increasingly important policy discourse in almost all African countries. There is consensus that a response to climate change demands a concerted approach grounded in the principle of collective but differentiated responsibility. However, divergences in the perceived causes of climate change have revealed a deep divide ...» more
Trends and Challenges in Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination: A Review of the Literature
In many of the most difficult operating environments, the relationship between humanitarian and military actors has been unconstructive, largely because of differences in motivations, goals and approaches. Lessons from more positive interaction indicate that investment is needed over time to establish a relationship, to explore areas of common ground, establish boundaries and ...» more
Governance Measurements for Conflict and Fragility: A Comparative Inventory
This publication aims to provide a representative catalogue of governance assessments and measurement initiatives conducted in conflict/fragile countries and territories over the last decade (2000-2010). It covers initiatives that operate at different levels (global, regional, national or local), have distinct objectives, apply a variety of data collection and analysis ...» more
