Definitions and types of aid China’s measurement of “foreign aid” differs from “official development assistance”, for example by including military assistance and excluding donor administrative costs. The main forms of Chinese foreign aid are: complete projects; goods and materials; technical cooperation and human resources development cooperation; medical teams and ...» more
Resources on governance and inclusion
Inclusion is a prominent concept – some say “buzzword” – in current international development thinking and debates. The recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promote inclusion – to “leave no one behind” – and place governance at the heart of achieving this. For example, SDG 16 aims to “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide ...» more
Social capital in Yemen
Social capital in Yemen is informed primarily by tribal affiliation, particularly in rural areas and in the north. Other important sources including faith based institutions, local community solidarity initiatives, civil society organisations and support from the diaspora. While social capital has been eroded due to political, social and economic changes in recent years, the ...» more
Effectiveness of working in consortia
The role of working in partnerships to address complex development challenges is gaining increasing attention. Development research suggests that collaboration might be the key to meaningful and practical solutions to complex real-world problems (Gonsalves 2014: 2). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promote multi-stakeholder partnerships. Working in consortia is one ...» more
Integrating special-status territories into national political structures
This rapid literature review has searched for experiences of areas or regions that have gone from having a form of special status governance to integration into a national political, legal and administrative system. The focus was on identifying cases similar to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistan, and the Government of Pakistan’s proposed reforms to this ...» more
Infomediaries and accountability
The term “infomediaries” – or information intermediaries – is used to refer to actors who “synthesize, translate, simplify and direct information on behalf of others”. There appears to be strong evidence of the link between free media and better governance and government responsiveness on a range of issues (e.g. public spending on education and health). A DFID review on ...» more
Economic and market resilience before and after shocks
This report focuses on humanitarian and disaster risk reduction interventions that aim to reinforce economic resilience to anticipated shocks and support economic recovery after a shock, both in situations of natural disasters and conflict. There is limited evidence on the economic impacts of indirect market support interventions because: Providing indirect support to ...» more
Micro levies for global public goods
One type of innovative development finance is the micro levy, also referred to in donor literature as taxes, dues and solidarity levies for development. Donor proponents of this type of innovative finance for development make the case for linking new taxes on globalised activities (finance, travel etc) or global public bads (carbon emissions) to financing global public goods. ...» more
Facts about security and justice challenges
Some of the global statistics included in this report are: A gap in access to justice exists for a majority of the people in the world, perhaps even as many as two thirds, according to an estimate by the Hague Institute for the Internationalization of Law. Preventing and redressing violence against women and girls is now on the public policy agenda, but abuse and violence ...» more
Lessons learned for national state entities for recovery and reconstruction
Key indicative lessons learned for national state entities from the literature reviewed include: Structure Develop national recovery frameworks in advance of disasters. Appoint a lead agency with a built-in end date, a clear legal mandate and an experienced politically aware leader. Integrate the immediate humanitarian action into the government-coordinated recovery ...» more
Development outcomes of the political and social inclusion of young people
Qualitative case studies provide evidence – albeit limited, mixed and context-specific – of a wide range of development outcomes from the political and social inclusion of young people. The key findings are: Some development actors see youth participation as an end in itself – children and young people’s enjoyment of meaningful participation is an intrinsic human ...» more
Benefits to society of an inclusive societies approach
There are many claims for the benefits to society of an inclusive societies approach across a broad range of societal outcomes. The anticipated development benefits of inclusive societies are increasingly present in donor policy thinking and global dialogues, including the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goal framework. The desired impacts range from economic benefits to ...» more
Public sector institutional reform
The public sector is the single most important investment instrument for the state, and improving the way it is managed is critical for development outcomes including service delivery, social protection and private sector regulation. Public sector governance reform involves institutional reform – that is, changing the rules and norms that govern public sector activity. How can ...» more
The multilateral system’s contribution to international development goals on governance
The multilateral international development system is sprawling and fragmented, with multiple autonomous specialised organisations that coordinate on specific issues. Traditionally this system has run on hierarchical lines; today more dynamic instances of coordinated governance are emerging, with multilateral organisations partnering regionally with public and private actors. ...» more
Political economy constraints for urban development
Experts highlight evidence gaps in particular on the political economy of urban service delivery; social and political participation by urban poor people; the relationship between urbanisation, urban poverty and urban violence; the relationship between state fragility, state legitimacy and the national political settlement; and what works and what does not in tackling political ...» more
Pro-poor national budgets
There is a wealth of evidence that spending on basic social services (health, nutrition, education) and social protection can be progressive and reach the poor, with particularly high potential returns from expenditures in these sectors reaching poor and vulnerable women and children. In recent years, empirical research has reinvigorated interest in the potential poverty ...» more
Multi-agency stabilisation operations
While there is as yet limited empirical evidence of what works best in multi-agency – or ‘whole-of-government’ – approaches to stabilisation, the literature does identify some lessons learned and principles of good practice. These include: Overcoming common challenges: establishing transparent processes to identify and manage tensions and trade-offs between neutral humanitarian ...» more
Inclusive institutions
Institutions are the formal and informal rules and norms that structure citizens’ rights, entitlements, opportunities and voice. How can policymakers and practitioners support inclusive institutions to promote development that ‘leaves no-one behind’? What do we know about what has – or hasn't – worked, and where? This Topic Guide synthesises the evidence, debates and approaches ...» more
Transparency and accountability
More and better data is thought to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for increasing citizens’ access to that data. Likewise, increased access to more and better data is seen as a necessary but not sufficient condition for strengthening a government’s political accountability to its citizens. To date, however, there is limited understanding of exactly how, where and ...» more
Democratic governance initiatives – policy advocacy
It appears that there are many descriptive case studies of civil society advocacy campaigns to strengthen democratic governance, but few publicly available evaluations of the international interventions to provide support to these campaigns and the civil society organisations (CSOs) involved. Some studies do mention links between the policy advocacy initiatives and poverty ...» more
