Due to poor civil engineering practices, corruption, natural disasters, the sabotage of infrastructure associated with Colombia’s armed conflict, and the politicisation of large infrastructure projects, Colombia is spending a significant amount annually on improving and rebuilding relatively new infrastructure. As the country’s population and economy continue to grow, so do its ...» more
The future of work for women in the Indo-Pacific region
The ‘future of work’ is a policy concept that explores how various technological, socio-economic, geopolitical, demographic, cultural, and environmental megatrends are developing and interacting to create new types of jobs, industries, labour conditions, and business models. It is not well-defined or critiqued as a definition, and there is no standard approach to what concepts ...» more
Who are the Elite Groups in Iraq and How do they Exercise Power
The 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq transformed Iraq’s political settlement by ejecting the previous elites from power and by initiating state-building processes with previously marginalised elites and different governance principles. Iraq’s current day elites and institutions are the inheritors of that process. This review summarises the post-2003 processes that structure the ...» more
Refugees in Uganda: (in)stability, conflict, and resilience
This paper analyses the structural challenges, root causes and dynamics of conflict, (in)stability and resilience in Uganda, with a particular focus on their relation to recent refugee movements. The first section of the paper explores the national dynamics that shape conflict, (in)stability and resilience in Uganda. The second section analyses the refugee flows, policies, ...» more
Digital Development and the Digital Gender Gap
This rapid literature review collates findings from recently published papers on digital development and gender, highlighting some of the most commonly discussed discussions related to economic, social and political development. As the scope of this query is very large, this review provides an illustration of some of the commonly identified issues in the literature. The digital ...» more
Digital development and the digital gender gap
This rapid literature review collates findings from recently published papers on digital development and gender, highlighting some of the most commonly discussed discussions related to economic, social and political development. As the scope of this query is very large, this review provides an illustration of some of the commonly identified issues in the literature. The digital ...» more
Digital inclusion – recent trends and messages
This annotated bibliography collates extracts from recently published flagship policy reports on digital inclusion in international development, highlighting the key messages, trends and issues. The digital inclusion agenda seeks to close the gaps in access to, and adoption of, fast evolving information and communication technology (ICTs) services, particularly mobile phones ...» more
Conflict analysis
Conflict analysis is a structured process of analysis to understand conflict. It focuses on the conflict profile (its history), the actors involved and their perspectives, the causes of conflict, and the dynamics of how these elements interact. This Topic Guide looks at how conflict analysis is done – at the systematic approaches and tools for conflict analysis developed for ...» more
Restricting space for civil society
There is consensus in the literature reviewed for this rapid query that the space for civil society to act has been increasingly restricted in the past decade. This is a global phenomenon – occurring in different ways and not in all countries – but in all regions of the world. It is occurring in all regime types – not just authoritarian countries. However, at the same time, in ...» more
Influencing laws and guidelines on humanitarian assistance
International humanitarian law (IHL) and international disaster response laws, rules and principles (IDRL) set out rules and guidance on how to access affected populations, and how to deliver humanitarian assistance, during armed conflicts and disasters. This includes guidance on customs clearance and the taxation of relief, among other areas. IDRL is a fragmented collection of ...» more
Improving access to justice through information and communication technologies
Legal empowerment aims to enable citizens to actively use the law and shape it to their needs. Examples of awareness-raising and legal education initiatives using ICTs include: using television and radio talk shows to build links between the formal and informal justice systems; broadcasting documentaries on local television stations to promote gender equality; etc. Many ...» more
Policy approaches and lessons from working with non-state actors in security and justice
DFID has a rule of law policy approach. Programming decisions are made by a context-based, problem solving approach and therefore the policy does not identify overarching actors or themes for engagement. Is one of few donors to have published a briefing (DFID, 2004) entirely focussed on engaging with non-state security and justice actors. Engaging with non-state actors is also ...» more
Donor policy approaches to security and justice
This rapid policy mapping gives an overview of security and justice policies from the following donors and development agencies: DFID; European Commission; USAID; AFD; SIDA; World Bank; BMZ; and JICA. In terms of the differences and similarities to DFID’s approach, it finds that DFID is one of the only donors that conceptualises security and justice as a joint policy area, ...» more
Links between women’s empowerment (or lack of) and outbreaks of violent conflict
A number of studies quantitatively find a strong correlation between levels of gender inequality and conflict. They find that gender inequality increases the likelihood that a state will have internal conflict and international disputes. There is substantial evidence that traditional patriarchal gender identities lead to militaristic and violent conflict approaches. Women ...» more
Links between gender-based violence and outbreaks of violent conflict
Gender-based violence (GBV) is prevalent in all contexts and countries of the world. There are studies that quantitatively find a strong correlation between levels of structural/institutional GBV (manifested as gender inequality) and conflict (e.g. Caprioli, 2005, etc). They find that gender inequality increases the likelihood that a state will have internal conflict. Countries ...» more
Targeting groups at risk of extremism through security and justice programming
Several governments and NGOs are engaged in domestic and foreign 'countering violent extremism' (CVE) programming in the security and justice fields. USAID and the Danish government have been particularly active in this area. CVE activities are often divided into: hard power approaches (military, legislative, policing, infrastructure protection, crisis planning, border ...» more
Gender-related results in security and justice policy and programming
There is a paucity of evidence that examines the overall impacts of security and justice programming on gender-related results in the two areas of this query. The literature available tends to be donor funded evaluations and policy papers, it tends to be fragmented, and it tends to examine programmes on a case-by-case basis. Security and justice programing is highly context ...» more
Sequencing reforms in fragile states
How can governments in fragile and conflict affected states (FCAS) plan and manage reforms when everything is urgent and important, and when capacity and resources are low? How can external actors strategically support the fulfilment of essential and expected state functions? This Topic Guide provides an overview of the evidence that examines the sequencing of statebuilding and ...» more
Lessons from confidence building measures
When designing CBMs, lessons include: Link CBMs to wider peace- and state-building processes or negotiations; locally design CBMs according to local context; use CBMs in situations where trust is low; start CBMs in non-controversial, or symbolic, issue areas; design CBMs with long-term, incremental approaches; combine several CBMs at different track levels, and in different ...» more
Working with members of parliament’s constituency funds
The key points from this rapid literature review include: CDFs are a relatively recent phenomenon (with most being established from the 2000s onwards), and they are relatively few in number (Barkan & Mattes, forthcoming). As a result, little is known about them. Countries that have used CDFs include: South Sudan; Philippines; Honduras; Nepal; Pakistan; Jamaica; Solomon Islands; ...» more
