This report provides a synopsis of the food price rise and global economic crises together with their known and potential impacts on children and women. In outlining lessons and recommendations it argues that now is a critical time for government investment in social interventions, which when well-designed can boost economic growth and make growth more pro-poor. In particular, ...» 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.
Social Protection and the Informal Economy: Linkages and Good Practices for Poverty Reduction and Empowerment
How can social protection in developing countries empower people to create employment-related ways out of poverty? This paper examines empowerment in the context of social protection for informal workers. It argues that social protection can help to improve the health and well-being of informal sector workers, especially poorer women, and build their capacity to organise and ...» more
A User’s Guide to Measuring Gender-Sensitive Basic Service Delivery
How can gender-sensitive indicators be used to improve the relevance and quality of basic services for women? This guide offers suggestions and tools to help in developing and using appropriate indicators for various contexts. Sex-disaggregated and gender-sensitive indicators are essential for delivering gender-sensitive services that recognise the different roles, needs and ...» more
The Global Financial Crisis and its Impact on the Work of the Global Financial System
What impact will the global financial crisis have on the UN's work and how can these effects be alleviated? This report, based on a meeting of senior managers from UN agencies in 2009, calls for rapid action to address both the immediate challenges of the crisis and long-term issues. A coherent, comprehensive and coordinated strategy is needed. Recommendations include the ...» more
Social Protection in South Asia: A Review
How can social protection interventions help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals with equity in South Asia? What are the recent trends and future orientations of social protection in the region? This review finds that social protection needs to be scaled up and made more systemic in South Asia. Social protection strategies must respond to the multidimensional and ...» more
Delivering Services in Multicultural Societies
How can service delivery policies be designed and implemented so as to recognise and support cultural diversity? This book finds that long-term investment and strategies are needed. Basic principles include the importance of bottom-up and participatory approaches, deep institutional change, and ongoing policy adaptation. Poorly planned and under-resourced interventions can ...» more
Social Protection in the ‘Real World’: Issues, Concepts and Challenges
The paper reviews current social protection thinking and practice, and sets out key trade-offs around policy and implementation issues. It presents a conceptual framework that unbundles different models of social protection, including contexts where (1) social protection systems are absent, (2) elements of such systems exist, (3) systems are emerging or (4) systems have been ...» more
Social Protection is Centuries Old! Culture and Social Protection for the Very Poor in Uganda: Evidence and Policy Implications
In spite of continued growth, millions of Ugandans remain in long-term, extreme poverty. They are also likely to continue being by-passed by the opportunities that economic growth offers, mostly to the 'active poor'. Recognising this, government and other development actors are turning their attention to policy initiatives geared towards social protection. Taking a view of ...» more
Informal Social Protection in Post-Apartheid Migration Networks: Vulnerability, Social Networks and Reciprocal Exchange in the Eastern and Western Cape, South Africa
What systems of informal social protection exist amongst poor and marginalised African households in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, and in the rural Eastern Cape? This paper considers the dynamics of informal social protection in post-apartheid migrant networks. It argues that in poor and marginalised households in South Africa, the indirect impacts of social grants cannot be ...» more
Community Health Insurance in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Operational Difficulties Hamper Its Development?
Can community health insurance (CHI) increase access to care and offer financial protection for poor people excluded from formal insurance? What problems are there in implementing CHI? This literature review reveals major difficulties faced by CHI in sub-Saharan Africa: lack of a clear legislative and regulatory framework; low enrolment rates; insufficient risk management; weak ...» more
‘Does the Truth Pass Across the Fire Without Burning?’ Locating the Short Circuit in Rwanda’s Gacaca Courts
Are the Gacaca courts in Rwanda delivering reconciliation? This article, based on extensive field research, argues that the modern incarnation of this traditional form of justice is short-circuiting reconciliation by enforcing values and processes that run counter to established societal practices. In reality, the Gacaca courts are becoming more the tools of entrenched elites ...» more
Partnerships with the Private Sector in Health: What the International Community Can Do to Strengthen Health Systems in Developing Countries
Can and should the international community help developing-country governments engage with the private components of their health systems? This report presents the findings of a working group hosted by the Center for Global Development (2008-2009) to examine this question. The working group examined the need for support in this area, and conducted interviews with a broad range ...» more
Promoting Synergies between Social Protection and Smallholder Agricultural Policies
How do social protection and agricultural policies interact? What are the synergies or conflicts between them? This study examines the situation in poor communities in Africa and explores how social and agricultural policies can complement each other. Social protection can promote food security and agricultural production directly. However, the mix of policies and instruments ...» more
Early Conflict Prevention in Ethnic Crises 1990-98: A New Dataset
What are the trends in and effects of early conflict prevention during the escalation of ethnic crises? This article uses a new dataset to analyse operational conflict prevention measures prior to the outbreak of war in intrastate ethnic conflicts between 1990 and 1998. Most preventive action is focused on a few high profile cases, and Asia in particular receives little ...» more
Mediating Peace in Africa: Securing Conflict Prevention
How can the African Union's mediation and conflict prevention mechanisms be strengthened? This seminar report assesses the evolving African peace and security architecture and presents five key recommendations for its future development. It argues that the AU's partnerships should be strengthened, mediation work institutionalised, early warning systems established, ...» more
Attacking Inequality in the Health Sector: A Menu of Pro-Poor Policies
Several successful programmes addressing the problem of health care inequality have been documented in recent years. This chapter draws on 14 such case studies to suggest general lessons learned. It presents a menu of pro-poor policies, and identifies recurring themes and emerging 'rules of thumb'. Success in reducing inequality can be achieved through programmes that are: ...» more
Peacemaking in the Midst of War: An Assessment of IGAD’s Contribution to Regional Security
The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is the regional organisation of seven East African countries, aiming to achieve regional peace, prosperity and integration. When member states fuel military action even while participating in peace talks, however, what can IGAD achieve? This paper assesses IGAD's development and contribution to two major peace processes, in ...» more
Monitoring and Evaluation of Peace Operations
Peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations are tasked with increasingly complex and ambitious mandates, demanding integration and system-wide coherence, and resulting in the development of many sophisticated monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems. What are the critical challenges for M&E practitioners, and how can they strengthen research and practice? Peace operation M&E is ...» more
Climate Change, Conflict and Fragility: Understanding the Linkages, Shaping Effective Responses
What effect will climate change have on violent conflict? This report argues that climate change is most likely to provoke conflict in poor, badly governed countries with a recent history of violent conflict. Adaptation policies must respond to the links between climate change, state fragility and conflict, and must begin by focusing on as local a level as possible. Further, a ...» more
The Peace and Security Council of the African Union: Evaluating an Embryonic International Institution
How has the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) helped promote peace, security and stability on the African continent? This article provides an overview of the origin of the PSC, and discusses elements of its design and mandate. Does the PSC have the resources and credibility to influence the continent’s governments? Without significant additional funding ...» more
