Key fndings: This report focuses on vulnerable groups in Burma and access to basic services. The first part of the report outlines groups considered to be vulnerable and marginalised. These include minority ethnic groups (such as the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Mon, Rohingyas, Shan). In some cases, minorities’ ethnic identity is closely linked with a religion other than ...» more
Early marriage and sexual and reproductive health
Although the marriage of adolescent girls has been declining in many regions of the world, significant proportions are still marrying at a young age. Early marriage is most common in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Central America. This report focuses on the relationship of age of marriage with: Age of onset of sexual activity: A delay in marriages has in some cases ...» more
Public sector provision of services in PNG
Despite the initiation of a series of public sector reform policies in Papua New Guinea (PNG) since the late 1990s, service delivery and accountability remain weak. There has been a disconnect between the adoption of sound policy making and actual implementation at all levels of government. This has resulted in variation in performance between sectors and over time. Specific ...» more
Social Media and Reform Networks, Protest and Social Movements
The widespread diffusion of the Internet, mobile communication, digital media and a variety of social software tools throughout the world has transformed the communication system into interactive horizontal networks that connect the local and global. They enable citizens to interact and can accelerate cooperation and action. This helpdesk research report looks at the role of ...» more
Governance in Southern and Eastern Africa
This literature review identifies key governance issues and trends in Southern and Eastern Africa. Some of the issues and trends reflect developments and challenges common throughout the continent. This review highlights a range of governance issues and trends, including: the emergence of hybrid regimes mixed results on human rights and rule of law the persistence of ...» more
Factors Contributing to Transitional Justice Effectiveness
Many claims have been made about the positive impact that transitional justice can have on societies recovering from violent conflict. Sceptics argue, however, that many transitional justice measures can undermine negotiated settlements and exacerbate divisions. There is growing recognition of the need to engage in more systematic research on the effects and impact of ...» more
DDR and Transitional Justice
This report looks at the links between DDR and transitional justice. DDR programming has become a regular component of international peace support and peacebuilding architecture. DDR programmes can play an important role in limiting violence by disarming large numbers of actors and disbanding illegal, dysfunctional or bloated military structures. While there is a growing body ...» more
Communication initiatives to change attitudes/behaviours
Key Findings: Behaviour change communication has been widely used in health education, and much of the literature included in this report is related to the health sector. Initially, communication initiatives adopted a diffusion approach, aimed at changing individual attitudes and behaviour. More recently, attention has also been paid to face-to-face and participatory ...» more
Governance/anti-corruption indicators in budget support
Key findings: Budget support is untied aid channelled directly to a country’s budget in support of a national development strategy (or in the case of sector support, in support of a particular sector or purpose).While there is literature that discusses the design and effectiveness of governance indicators generally, there is very little documentation specifically on the ...» more
Climate Change and Empowerment
Key findings: There is limited but growing attention to the ways in which empowerment and climate change policy and interventions interact with and benefit each other. The vast majority of this literature focuses on the empowerment of women, and centres on climate change adaptation. While the links between gender and adaptation and gender perspectives on adaptation have been ...» more
Cash transfers in fragile/conflict-affected environments
There has been a rise in the implementation of cash transfer schemes in fragile and/or post-conflict environments. However, these programmes have often been small in scale compared with commodity distributions. Concerns about implementation in such contexts include insecure delivery and corruption. However, many methods have been used in unstable contexts to safely transfer ...» more
Community Empowerment Outcomes – South Asia
Key findings: The vast majority of the literature focuses on the empowerment of women in the community. Of these, some evaluate the contribution of the underlying activity (e.g. micro-finance) in promoting empowerment outcomes, rather than assessing the outcomes of empowerment programmes, more generally. Nonetheless, outcome findings do overlap for both and there is value in ...» more
Political Economy and Governance in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
This report is based on some of the recent literature on governance and political economy in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It should be read in conjunction with the helpdesk research report on ‘New Literature on Conflict in the DRC’, which includes a section on political issues. The report outlines the following key governance and political economy issues discussed in ...» more
Development Assistance and Social Capital
Most studies on social capital examine the impact of social capital variables on particular development outcomes. There are few studies that provide evidence of the impact of development assistance on social capital, and even less that focus specifically on Sudan and more widely on Central and East Africa. A common theme among the available studies from the regions is the ...» more
Gender Equality in Fragile States
To date, the debate on state fragility has failed to take into account gender dimensions; and policy-makers have often ignored issues of gender in state-building approaches and interventions. The vast majority of the literature on gender and state-building is critical of donor approaches and interventions. Gender is typically seen as a luxury that should be left aside until the ...» more
Trust Funds to Pay Security Forces Salaries
While there is much literature on aid modalities, including MDTFs; and on police reform – there is little that discusses the use of trust funds to pay security forces salaries. This helpdesk research report focuses primarily on the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA), which is profiled most frequently in the literature that does address this area.LOTFA was set up ...» more
Mapping of Organisations Countering Trafficking
The United Nations definition of human trafficking is: ‘the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a ...» more
Value for Money
DFID appears to have gone the furthest among aid agencies in developing the concept of ‘value for money’ (VFM). It is the only agency that explicitly uses the terminology frequently in its policies and procedures and has a Value for Money department. DFID’s approach to VFM involves ‘assessing whether level of results achieved represent good value for money against the costs ...» more
Social Protection and Access to Education
Financial barriers can greatly limit access to education for the poor. The key financial burdens of schooling are direct costs (school fees), indirect costs (uniforms, stationary, other learning materials and transportation) and opportunity costs (time for household tasks and foregone wage labour). Macro-level barriers in situations of conflict and fragility (lack of ...» more
Political Economy of Cash Transfers
Cash transfers are a form of social assistance in which money or cash-like instruments (e.g. vouchers) are distributed to vulnerable individuals or households. They can vary in targeting (eligibility requirements, such as age, poverty, and disability) or conditionality (specific actions required to receive payment, such as requiring children to attend school or a health ...» more
