Sustainable agricultural standards, hereafter standards, is a broad term encompassing certification schemes, tools, and programmes. The International Trade Centre’s Sustainability Standards Map includes 166 agricultural standards. However, there is a smaller number of prominent standards that are popularly used by major retailers or for particular commodities. Two studies ...» more
Donor Support for Climate Change Initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa
Donors in the Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) climate and environment space include both bilateral donors such as France and Germany, multilateral development banks and multilateral climate funds. France and Germany are key bilateral donors to the region, supporting both single country and regional programmes. Many donors, including the EU, France, Germany, the ...» more
The Development Impact of Chinese Development Investments in Africa
This Emerging Issues report examines a number of popular narratives about the impacts of Chinese investment on economic development in Africa. Popular narratives include Chinese infrastructure investments that have weak links to growth, Chinese investment leads to limited job creation in host countries, and Chinese development projects lead to environmental degradation ...» more
Risk of Capital Flight Due to a Better Understanding of Climate Change
The physical risks of climate change, including both gradual global warming and an increase in extreme weather events, are likely to cause increasing financial and economic losses. Lower and middle-income countries may be more vulnerable to physical risks due to their reliance on climate-sensitive economic sectors and their limited capacity to absorb economic losses. However, ...» more
Water Finance and Nature-based solutions
Nature-based solutions (NbS) for water security can address a number of challenges simultaneously and deliver co-benefits. Broadly, NbS protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural and modified ecosystems to address societal challenges (Cohen-Shacham et al., 2016). NbS approaches for water security include source water protection, watershed management, sustainable drainage ...» more
Nature-based solutions and water security
Water security is important for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development. It involves safeguarding sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable water as well as protection against water risks. Achieving water security depends on a number of elements including natural processes, infrastructure, institutions, and governance. Water ...» more
Faith-based organisations and current development debates
This report provides a brief synthesis of the role of faith-based organisations in civil society. Faith-based organisations (FBOs) became more prominent in donor agendas, international development and academic research in the 1990s. There has been an increase in the number of FBOs from the 1980s onwards in response to neo-liberal policies in many countries, which resulted in ...» more
Water for the urban poor and Covid-19
Water, sanitation and hygiene are vital for the suppression and treatment of Covid-19. To maintain and increase access to water for the urban poor and other groups during the crisis, eleven African governments have announced various forms of free water. This includes governments paying users bills in some contexts (e.g. Ghana) and provision of water for vulnerable communities ...» more
Water security beyond Covid-19
Strengthening water security is essential for preventing and combatting future pandemics. Measures to supress the Covid-19 pandemic, including hand-washing, selfisolating and lockdowns assume that societies, communities and households have sustainable access to acceptable amounts of adequate quality water. However, across developing countries, water insecurity is increasing, ...» more
Biodiversity conservation and restoration and Poverty Reduction
Reconciling the twin goals of biodiversity conservation and restoration, and poverty reduction is difficult. A number of factors seem to influence effectiveness across intervention types including context, intervention design, governance and management quality, community engagement and participation, and intervention or programme length. This report largely focuses on outcomes ...» more
Social and behaviour change communication interventions in Mozambique
Social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) is the use of communication to change behaviours by positively influencing knowledge, attitudes and social norms at the individual and community level. Approaches to SBCC include, but are not limited to: media campaigns, peer educators and mentors, small group sessions, community dialogues and events, and digital tools. This ...» more
Fossils fuels and job creation in Africa
Fossil fuel development, including oil, gas and coal, can provide or support employment in a number of different ways. Estimates for Africa’s extractive sector as a whole put it as employing less than 1% of Africa’s workforce (Fine et al., 2012). However, it is hard to determine the number of jobs supported directly or indirectly by the fossil fuels industry in different ...» more
Engaging new governments on development priorities
This rapid literature review considers donor engagement with newly elected governments in aid recipient countries. It sought to focus on the immediate period after a new administration is elected and takes office. However, despite the importance of donor-government engagement, few studies were located during the timeframe of this review that focuses on how donors should engage ...» more
Political economy of Papua New Guinea and the water, sanitation and hygiene sector
The political economy of Papua New Guinea is characterised by formal and customary governance actors, structures and institutions, weak governance and corruption. Traditional institutions and structures including ‘big man’ politics, the wantok system and customary land tenure have been overlaid with formal governance structures including national, provincial and local ...» more
International donor activity on climate change mitigation and adaptation in the G5 Sahel countries
This review provides a snapshot of current adaptation and mitigation projects being implemented by multilateral and bilateral donors in the G5 countries of the Sahel. Although not a systematic review, the research for this review has methodically examined key multilateral donor websites and bilateral donor websites for information on each of the G5 countries and climate ...» more
Legal Pathways’ Effects on Irregular Migration
Regular migration pathways include labour mobility regimes, sponsorship programmes for high-skilled workers, student visas and protections for refugees. In contrast, irregular migration pathways include illegal entry, overstaying a visa and befallen irregularity (where regular status is lost) (Vickstrom, 2014). The links between regular (legal) pathways for migration and ...» more
Social Safety Nets in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States
Social safety nets in fragile and conflict-affected states often include cash and in-kind transfers, school feeding programmes and public works programmes (O’Brien, Scott, Smith, Barca, Karden, Holmes, Watson & Congrave, 2018). Programmes often target vulnerable households, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in order to reduce their exposure to shocks and ...» more
Natural Resources Management Strategies in the Sahel
Natural resources, both renewable and extractives are extremely important to the livelihoods and economies of the Sahel (defined as Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger). For example, agriculture accounts for over 30% of Mali’s GDP and cotton and gold account for over 80% of exports (IMF, 2018, p. 6). There is potential for conflict between renewable and ...» more
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Services in Pakistan
Access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services varies across and between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab Provinces. The Government of KP’s 2017 Health Survey found that 89% of households have access to improved water sources, and 85% have accessed to improved sanitation (Government of KP, 2017). In contrast, according to the Government of the Punjab, access to ...» more
Water Management/Governance Systems in Pakistan
Provincial governments in Pakistan are responsible for water and sanitation and in 2001 devolved responsibility for service delivery to local governments. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab provinces, a number of institutional actors are involved in water management and governance. The provincial Public Health Engineering Departments (PHEDs) install drinking water supply ...» more
