There have been growing calls to reframe social protection in terms of extending the 'social contract' to the poorest groups. This is often understood as relocating social protection within a broader project politics of rights and justice as opposed to patronage. However, it is important to consider the significant differences within social contract theory and between their ...» 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.
Lessons from Social Protection Programme Implementation in Kenya, Zambia and Mongolia
In what ways can social protection programming with its investments in human capital (through education, health and nutrition) stop the intergenerational transfer of poverty? This study examines social protection programmes in Kenya, Zambia and Mongolia to understand the factors (design and implementation) that account for success. It also assesses how research can be used to ...» more
Children and Social Protection in the Middle East and North Africa: A Mapping Exercise
This study maps child-sensitive social protection initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where children are typically overrepresented among the poor. It also considers the main actors involved in social protection provision, their strategies and programme limitations, and provides recommendations for improved child social protection. Challenges to more ...» more
Capital, Capacities and Collaboration: the Multiple Roles of Community Savings in Addressing Urban Poverty
Recent experiences demonstrate the significance of collective savings among low-income urban citizens in developing countries. Such practices have helped to raise incomes, consolidate and protect individual and collective assets, and reduce political exclusion. Some savings groups have evolved into substantive institutions. Not only can community savings initiatives trigger ...» more
International Engagement in Fragile States: Can’t we do better?
How successfully have the ten Principles for Good International Engagement in Fragile States and Situations (FSPs) been implemented? How can the international community improve its contribution to development in fragile states? This report presents the results of the Second Monitoring Survey on the implementation of the FSPs in thirteen countries. It finds that most aid actors ...» more
The Hidden Crisis: Armed Conflict and Education – Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2011
To what extent are the goals of Education for All being achieved in countries affected by armed conflict? This report shows that there is not only a lack of provision of education but also a failure to protect education systems and their students, and to devote sufficient funds to education in reconstruction and peacebuilding programmes. It argues that educational challenges in ...» more
Social Protection Floor for a Fair and Inclusive Globalization
This report outlines recommendations on how to extend social protection coverage through the social protection floor approach. A social protection floor involves an integrated set of nationally-driven and tailored policies designed to guarantee a) income security (through social transfers in cash or in kind); and b) universal access to essential, affordable social services. The ...» more
Constitution Building After Conflict: External Support to a Sovereign Process
This paper examines the challenges and nuances of external support to constitution building, which can, it argues, be both constructive and problematic. It calls for a restrained approach to such support, based on 'invitation points' rather than 'entry points'. The quality of the process used is crucial to successful constitutional design, and the choice of process needs to be ...» more
Reshaping Institutions: Evidence on Aid Impacts Using a Pre-Analysis Plan
'Community driven development' (CDD) has become a popular donor strategy in seeking to improve local institutions in developing countries. This study evaluates a CDD project in Sierra Leone that combined block grants for local public goods with intensive training and requirements for minority inclusion designed to catalyse collective action and empowerment. The study finds ...» more
Rethinking the Relationship between Neo-patrimonialism and Economic Development in Africa
Is it possible to boost poverty-reducing economic investment and growth in Africa by working with, rather than against, neo-patrimonial politics? This study of seven 'middle African' countries shows that neo-patrimonialism can be harnessed for developmental ends – if pro-market, pro-rural policies and an institutional system for centralising and distributing economic rents with ...» more
Misunderstanding the Maladies of Liberal Democracy Promotion
This paper contends that the problem with democracy promotion is not the over-zealous imposition of liberal norms, as much current criticism suggests. Instead, the paper argues, the problem is governments' failure to defend core liberal norms in a way that would allow local variations and choices of democratic reform, along with genuine civic empowerment and emancipation. ...» more
Social Repair in Divided Societies: Integrating a Coexistence Lens into Transitional Justice
This article suggests that transitional justice could contribute more positively to the process of reconciliation, one of its core aims, by: 1) supporting and working alongside coexistence initiatives; and 2) incorporating coexistence frameworks within its own processes and mechanisms. Coexistence initiatives – such as dialogue facilitation, intergroup projects aimed at ...» more
Transitional Justice and Displacement
How does transitional justice fit within broader responses to the problem of displacement? Conflict-induced displacement is an important factor in contexts in which transitional justice operates, yet displacement has received little attention in the literature and practice of transitional justice. This article argues that transitional justice can and should address ...» more
Voting Intentions in Africa: Ethnic, Economic or Partisan?
This study finds that economic interests play a larger role in people's voting intentions in African elections than previously recognised. More would-be voters in Africa consider policy performance, especially the government’s perceived handling of unemployment, inflation, and income distribution, than they do ethnic considerations. In addition, people tend to vote for ...» more
Eight Questions About Brain Drain
What does empirical evidence tell us about 'brain drain'? This paper concludes that new evidence should assuage some common concerns. Overall, brain drain rates are not skyrocketing. Africa is not the most affected region for brain drain; small island states are. Brain drain rates are highest from countries with small populations, those experiencing political instability, and ...» more
Promoting ‘Trickle-Up’: Linking Sub- and Supra-State Peacebuilding
This article reviews peacebuilding strategies in Asia, Europe, the Caucasus, Africa, Central America and the Middle East. It shows that country-based analysis can produce flawed conflict responses. Instead, policy based on conflict systems can shape more flexible and comprehensive responses. It can identify actors and dynamics that exist outside state borders, such as narcotic ...» more
The Complexity of Applying UN Resolution 1325 in Post Conflict Reintegration Processes: The Case of Northern Uganda
How effectively have the needs of women and girls been addressed during rehabilitation, reintegration and post-conflict reconstruction in Uganda? This study looks the reintegration experience of women and girls after the long war between the Ugandan government and the Lord's Resistance Army. The study analyses the situation in the context of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, ...» more
Post-Conflict Peacebuilding, Liberal Irrelevance and the Locus of Legitimacy
This article advances the idea of a 'popular peace' to address the lack of legitimacy that undermines orthodox peacebuilding projects. This concept would refocus liberal institution-building on local, democratically determined priorities, in addition to internationally favoured preferences (such as metropolitan courts and bureaucratic government). A popular peace approach could ...» more
The Impact of Vouchers on the Use and Quality of Health Goods and Services in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review
Have health voucher programmes achieved their objectives? This study assesses and synthesises evidence on such programmes' targeting and their effects on service usage, quality and efficiency, and on people's health outcomes. It finds robust evidence that health voucher programmes can increase the use of health goods/services and modest evidence that they can effectively target ...» more
Development, Climate Change and Human Rights: From the Margins to the Mainstream?
What are the social and political implications of a discourse linking climate change and human rights? How is this discourse relevant for development practitioners? The human rights lens has rapidly emerged from obscurity to prominence and has succeeded in broadening the scope of climate change debate. This paper predicts that vulnerable groups worldwide will increasingly use ...» more
