What kinds of governance arrangements are most effective in Africa in providing the public goods essential to sustained and inclusive development? Drawing on empirical research by the Africa Power and Politics Programme in Malawi, Niger and Ghana, this article challenges conventional perceptions of 'good governance'. It argues for 'practical hybrid' arrangements that combine ...» 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.
Supporting Child Rights: Synthesis of Lessons Learned in Four Countries
This report synthesises lessons learned from an evaluation of Norwegian and Swedish aid interventions that aimed to promote child rights in Guatemala, Kenya, Mozambique and Sudan. It notes that a child rights perspective is integrated to the extent that interventions embody the four main principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. More effort is needed to ...» more
World Development Report 2011: Overview
Some 1.5 billion people live in countries affected by repeated cycles of political and criminal violence. This report argues that breaking these cycles involves a) strengthening legitimate national institutions and governance to meet citizens' key needs; and b) alleviating international stresses that increase the risks of conflict (such as food price volatility and infiltration ...» more
Real Governance Beyond the ‘Failed State’: Negotiating Education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
How are state services governed even when the state administration has retreated from the public domain? Failed states are often described as a vacuum of authority, yet although there is often no overall regulatory authority, this does not mean that sectors are ungoverned. This article describes the organisation of the educational system in the Democratic Republic of Congo ...» more
Non-State Providers and Public-Private Partnerships in Education for the Poor
How can non-state providers of education and public private partnerships work most effectively for poor people in East Asia and the Pacific? This report highlights issues, opportunities and challenges related to non-state providers and their partnerships with the state in fulfilling the right to education for all. It argues that non-state providers present a significant ...» more
Electoral Accountability, Fiscal Decentralization and Service Delivery in Indonesia
How does the introduction of local elections affect the pattern of public spending and revenue generation at the local level? The relationship between institutions of political accountability and government performance remains a key concern for analysts and practitioners of public policy design. This article analyses how institutional design for electoral accountability affects ...» more
Climate Change and Conflict: Lessons for Conflict Resolution from the Southern Sahel of Sudan
What lessons can be learned from work by NGOs to address climate and environmental conflicts in the southern Sahel? This study suggests that NGOs and international organisations can play an important role in providing funding and technical support to address climate and environmental related conflicts. They can help to reduce environmental threats, to address structural ...» more
Poverty Reduction with Strategic Communication: Moving from Awareness Raising to Sustained Citizen Participation
What is the role of communication in Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) processes? This study looks at communication in PRS processes in Ghana, Tanzania, Moldova and Nepal, and in Latin America and the Caribbean. It also explores how the use of strategic communication is being integrated into national development planning and implementation. The rise of new information ...» more
Global Norms: Creation, Diffusion, and Limits
What strategies are needed for global norms in development to take root and become part of global and domestic agendas? This study explores global development norms from emergence to implementation. It argues that raising awareness alone is not sufficient to achieve transformational change: implementation and monitoring must be considered equally important to global ...» more
Strengthening the Voice of the Poor: Faith-Based Organizations’ Engagement in Policy Consultation Processes in Nigeria and Tanzania
This paper reports on pilot projects in Nigeria and Tanzania that tested the potential for religious organisations to engage collaboratively in policy consultation processes. The cases showed that Faith-Based Organisations can cooperate across religious and denominational divides to assemble grassroots data on issues central to Poverty Reduction Strategy Processes (and their ...» more
Governance for Development in Africa: Building on What Works
How can a 'best fit' approach to governance improve development effectiveness? In its present form, 'good governance' is not evidence based. This brief highlights the need to build on the strengths of existing institutional arrangements when supporting governance reform in developing countries. It argues that governance assistance should be refocused on nurturing developmental ...» more
A Decade of Struggling Reform Efforts in Jordan: The Resilience of the Rentier System
How have efforts towards political reform fared in Jordan in the past ten years? How can this performance be explained? Successive Jordanian governments have failed to dismantle the laws and institutions that thwart the development of an effective system of checks and balances. This paper charts efforts at reform, and finds that an entrenched elite has successfully fought off ...» more
Working Politically Behind Red Lines: Structure and agency in a comparative study of women’s coalitions in Egypt and Jordan
How can the international community advance gender equality in socially conservative contexts through effective support to women's coalitions? This report looks at how six collective initiatives in Egypt and Jordan have formed and worked politically to advance gender equality. It argues that engaging in informal 'backstage' politics is as important as formal channels of ...» more
Executive Accountability in Southeast Asia: The Role of Legislatures in New Democracies and Under Electoral Authoritarianism
Does a new democracy or electoral authoritarianism better allow legislatures to check the executive? This study examines accountability and legislative power in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia and Singapore. While legislatures are weaker under electoral authoritarian regimes than in new democracies, they define the opposition better. Opposition members try to use ...» more
How Can Citizens be Helped to Hold their Governments Accountable?
How can international development actors help citizens to hold their governments to account? This chapter highlights lessons from a multi-author volume on accountability through public opinion. It argues that to achieve accountability, the following are needed: support for transparency and access to information; a free and plural media; and institutional strengthening for civil ...» more
Restoring Confidence: Moving Away from the Brink
There are a number of pathways back from the brink of violent conflict, but there are two common elements in successful cases. The first is building 'inclusive-enough' coalitions, and identifying the signals and commitment mechanisms that can galvanise support for change. Pacts to end violence need not be all-inclusive, and can promote peace if they are minimally inclusive at ...» more
Gaining State Support for Social Accountability
If social accountability is to be successful in holding public power-holders responsible for their actions, then the state must support the mechanisms used in exacting it. This chapter examines the many types of state support for social accountability, from the intensely active to the extremely reluctant.Citizens asking the state for social accountability can be met with a ...» more
Expert Advocacy for the Marginalised
What role does democratic mediation play in deepening democracy in the global South? Democratic mediation is an increasingly common component of engagements between citizens and public authorities across the globe. This paper surveys three kinds of democratic mediation observed across a large number of case studies. It argues that increasing opportunities for democratic ...» more
Mobile Phones, Popular Media and Everyday African Democracy: Transmissions and Transgressions
Do new media technologies, including mobile phones, facilitate political participation and create social change? Why is there renewed optimism in the potential for mobile phones to facilitate change when the sector is typified by inequalities? This paper explores the analytical frameworks for understanding the relationship between mobile phones and participatory democracy. It ...» more
The Contribution of Government Communication Capacity to Achieving Good Governance Outcomes
How important is a government's capacity to communicate effectively with its constituents? What the role does communication play in good governance? This policy brief argues that good communication is a fundamental function of modern governance. Effective two-way communication between the government and the public strengthens legitimate public authority. This, in turn, ...» more
