This report was prepared to inform discussions at the first meeting of the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding (“the Dialogue”) on 9-10 April 2010 in Dili, Timor-Leste. The report synthesises the findings of seven multi-stakeholder consultations which were carried out between November 2009 and March 2010. Consultations were held in Burundi, the Central ...» 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 Poverty: Elites, Citizens and States: Findings from ten years of DFID-funded research on Governance and Fragile States 2001-2010
During the 1990s donors came to realise that development required better ‘governance’, and DFID recognised early on the need to work with the research community to identify ways of improving governance for better development outcomes. The Centre for Future States and the Citizenship, Accountability and Participation Programmes (Institute of Development Studies, Sussex); the ...» more
Working Effectively in Conflict-affected and Fragile Situations: Briefing Paper D: Promoting non-discrimination
Addressing discrimination, inequality and human rights is a core challenge of the state-building and peace-building process. It is at the centre of the negotiation of state–society relations and is a process rife with contradictions and tensions. Donors thus have a responsibility to address discrimination within their support to peace-building and state-building. The first ...» more
“Now, the world is without me”: An investigation of sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
Research on sexual violence in DRC is extremely challenging. Sexual violence is deeply stigmatized in and many of those affected live in remote or insecure regions. This paper conducts a study of sexual violence survivors at Panzi Hospital located in Bukavu, South Kivu Province. The paper aims to determine where and how women are being attacked and what makes them vulnerable to ...» more
Building Peaceful States and Societies: A DFID Practice Paper
This paper outlines a new, integrated approach, which puts state-building and peace-building at the centre of DFID’s work in fragile and conflict-affected countries. It outlines how DFID can: i) address the causes and effects of conflict and fragility, and build conflict resolution mechanisms; ii) support inclusive political settlements and processes; iii) develop core state ...» more
Working Paper on Preventing and Responding to Sexual Violence against Women Displaced by Conflict
This working paper considers ways to enhance the capacity of UN agencies, host governments, donors and civil society to prevent and respond to sexual violence against women displaced by conflict. From March-May 2010, the Civil Society Advisory Group to the UN on Women, Peace and Security (CSAG) reviewed a wide variety of reports and projects, engaged in three-dozen interviews ...» more
The spoils of nature: Armed civil conflict and rebel access to natural resources
Several studies have attempted to unravel mechanisms on why natural resources are linked to armed conflict but no coherent picture has yet emerged. This article seeks to address this puzzle by concentrating on the issue of how rebel access to natural resources affects conflict. It uses new data on gemstone and hydrocarbon localities throughout the world and controls for the ...» more
Do No Harm: Additional Model of the Framework
The Reflective Case Studies of the Do No Harm Project (DNH), explore how people use the concepts and ideas of Do No Harm. This includes asking people about the DNH Framework, how they use it, which parts they use, what is most useful and what the results of using DNH have been in their setting. It has been discovered that the original DNH framework is not widely used by people ...» more
Gender-responsive Peace and State-building: Transforming the Culture of Power in Fragile States
This policy brief draws on four research initiatives to compile lessons learnt on donor engagement that aims to increase women’s participation in conflict-affected countries. These include 1) the costing and financing of the implementation of SCR 1325, 2) the operationalisation of SCR 1325 in peace processes, 3) on the inclusion of women in the current peace talks in ...» more
Aiming High, Reaching Low: Four Fundamentals for Gender-Responsive State-building
This policy brief identifies and discusses four building-blocks for the implementation of a gender-responsive approach to state-building in fragile contexts: Apply gender analysis consistently. International efforts to build gender-responsive state institutions require gender-sensitive context analysis that is attuned to formal and informal societal processes and power dynamics ...» more
Aid in Support of Gender Equality in Fragile and Conflict-affected States
This study provides an overview of DAC members’ funding targeted to gender equality in fragile and conflict?affected states. The methodology relies on data on DAC members’ aid targeting gender equality and women’s empowerment in 43 fragile or conflict-affected states. The data are compiled with the help of the gender equality policy marker in the Creditor Reporting System ...» more
Women & Mobile: A Global Opportunity – A Study on the Mobile Phone Gender Gap in Low-and Middle- Income Countries
The GSMA Development Fund, in partnership with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, undertook this study in order to understand women’s ownership of mobile phones in low and middle-income countries as well as the benefits mobile phones can bring to development. The report makes the case for empowering women through mobile technology. The findings and case studies within this ...» more
The Dynamics of Social Change: Towards the Abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Five African Countries
This study examines the social dynamics of the abandonment of female genital mutilation/cutting(FGM/C) in five countries – Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal and the Sudan – and seeks to inform policies and programmes aimed at ending the practice, both in countries where it is part of local tradition and among diaspora communities in countries of immigration. Despite the range of ...» more
Understanding vigilantism: informal security providers and security sector reform in Liberia.
The focus of this report is to explore and describe informal security organizations (mainly community watch and vigilante groups) in modern-day Liberia, a country that at the moment is undergoing security sector reform with major assistance from the international community. The study draws on interviews carried out with informally organized security groups found in various ...» more
Natural Hazards, UnNatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective Prevention
The adjective “UnNatural” in the title of this report conveys its key message: earthquakes, droughts, floods, and storms are natural hazards, but the unnatural disasters are deaths and damages that result from human acts of omission and commission. Every disaster is unique, but each exposes actions—by individuals and governments at different levels—that, had they been ...» more
Building Back Better: Delivering People-centred Housing Reconstruction at Scale
The Indian Ocean tsunami was a disaster on an unprecedented scale and elicited local and international responses which went well beyond the experience of previous disasters. The widespread efforts which ensued provided a test-bed for some of the prevalent ideas, beliefs and practices of the early years of this century concerning the management of natural disasters and their ...» more
Partnerships for Indigenous development: International development NGOs, Aboriginal organisations and communities
This paper outlines two pilot case studies which examine how international development non-government organisations (INGOs) conduct their work with Aboriginal organisations and communities in Australia. The paper explores how INGOs working with Indigenous communities and community organisations reflected the community development (or bottom–up) approaches which both the ...» more
Political and Social Analysis for Development Policy and Practice
Political economy (PE) analysis is concerned with the interaction of political and economic processes in a society: the distribution of power and wealth between different groups and individuals, and the processes that create, sustain and transform these relationships over time. PE analysis elucidates how power and resources are distributed and contested in different contexts, ...» more
Evaluation of UNDP Contribution at the Regional Level to Development and Corporate Results
This evaluation, conducted by the UNDP Evaluation Office, looks at the regional work of UNDP and assesses its contributions to the achievement of the objectives set out in the UNDP strategic plan (2008-2013). The scope of the evaluation includes UNDP regional programmes and the relevant institutional arrangements, especially the work of the regional service centres. The ...» more
The international development institutions and regionalism: the case of South-East Asia
Regionalisation and regional integration have been the subject of debate in political science and political economy regarding its impact on development for some time but only recently have they gained sustained attention in mainstream economic analysis and development theory; this literature emphasises things like trade, foreign direct investment (FDI) and regional production ...» more
