In post-conflict environments, the international community plays an important role in supporting successful planning, delivery, and embedding of elections within a wider context of support to political systems and democratisation. This rapid review provides an overview of lessons on developing more inclusive politics through sub-national electoral processes in recent academic, ...» more
Helpdesk Reports
These rapid-response reports provide digests of key research findings, lessons and expert thinking on specific questions from development practitioners and policymakers. If your question is not already covered below, ask us for a report (free for staff of agencies that we have existing arrangements with).
Conflict analysis of Bangladesh
This rapid literature review examines the root causes and dynamics of conflict and (in)stability in Bangladesh. Key findings include: Conflict Profile: Bangladesh has a violent political culture, and has experienced widespread political violence, especially around elections – this is a feature of its increasingly authoritarian democracy Social, ethnic, and ...» more
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Response on Violent Extremist Recruitment and Radicalisation
This rapid evidence review provides evidence on the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and response on violent extremist recruitment and radicalisation. It draws on a mixture of academic and grey literature from multinational and bilateral institutions as well as nongovernment organisations (NGOs) and think tanks. Given the rapidly developing global context, it also ...» more
Mitigating the economic impacts of epidemics and financial crises: Focus on middle-income countries
As governments around the world seek to respond rapidly and appropriately to the impacts of COVID-19, it can be beneficial to look back at responses to similar global systemic shocks. This can reveal relevant lessons, ranging from public health measures to policies for reducing the economic costs. This rapid literature review looks at lessons learned from efforts to mitigate ...» more
Impacts of Covid-19 on Inclusive Economic Growth in Middle-income Countries
Covid-19 is likely to cause much greater economic damage than any recent disease outbreak or economic crisis (Shretta, 2020). As of April 2020, the IMF is forecasting that the global economy is likely to contract by -3% in 2020 (IMF, 2020c, p. 1) and that ‘the cumulative loss to global GDP over 2020 and 2021 from the pandemic crisis could be around 9 trillion dollars’, making ...» more
Coping mechanisms in South Sudan in relation to different types of shock
This rapid evidence review provides an assessment of negative and positive coping mechanisms of different groups (based on wealth (below the poverty line/elites), gender, age, (dis)abilities, geographies (rural/urban), and ethnicity of people in South Sudan in relation to different types of shock. It draws predominantly on a range of grey literature from multinational and ...» 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
Media/communications on peacebuilding/social cohesion/changing prevailing narratives on conflict
The media can play a positive role in peacebuilding/conflict prevention. Recognition of this has led to increasing programmes on media/communications and peacebuilding, with common interventions including training of journalists, and development of pro-peace programme content. However, there are significant challenges in designing and implementing such programmes, and even more ...» 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
Justice systems in the Sahel
This review looks at justice provision in four countries in the Sahel: Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad. All feature formal (state) justice systems alongside customary/religious justice, with the latter typically being seen by citizens as more accessible, cheaper and less corrupt. State justice systems in all the countries face similar challenges: corruption, resource and ...» more
The use of fossil fuels in the Middle East and North Africa
This rapid literature review collates evidence from academic and grey literature on the use of fossil fuels in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). MENA, for much of its recent history, has been known for its energy wealth. The region is, however, significantly diverse, not only in terms of economic and political structures, but also in terms of energy resource and ...» more
Responding to popular protests in the MENA region
This review looks at government responses to violent protests in a selection of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Focusing on the 2011 Arab Spring protests, it finds that the initial response of most regimes was violent repression – Tunisia where the president stepped down, and Morocco and Jordan where the respective monarchies promised reform, are the only ...» more
International Actors’ Support on Inclusive Peace Processes
This rapid literature review collates evidence from academic and grey literature on support on inclusive peace processes. The review identified limited evidence based on robust evaluations, there is, however, a wide range of reviews (principally case studies) of peace processes and national dialogues that have been collected and collated to distil lessons on what works and ...» 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
Integrated approaches to refugee management in Uganda
Uganda has been a global leader in implementing an integrated approach to refugee management in which refugees enjoy essentially the same rights and access to jobs and services as locals. This approach has benefited both refugees and host communities: the former have land and (limited) livelihood opportunities, the latter benefit from improved services for all and the positive ...» more
Aid and non-state armed groups
This rapid literature review collates lessons related to aid (conditionality) and non-state armed groups (NSAGs). This is a companion paper to Herbert (2019)1 which looks more broadly at lessons from the use of aid conditionality in peace processes, that paper includes greater detail on what conditionality is. While the question posed sought to find information on where ...» more
Conditionality and other approaches to secure women’s rights provisions in peace processes
This rapid literature review found no examples of the use of aid conditionality specifically to ensure inclusion of women’s rights provisions in peace process outcomes but did identify other effective approaches, notably mobilisation of women, external pressure by mediators/international development partners, and funding and capacity building support for women’s groups. There ...» more
Lessons from the use of aid conditionality in peace processes
This rapid literature review collates lessons from the literature on peace conditionality. This is a companion paper to Herbert (2019)1 which looks more specifically at lessons related to aid (conditionality) and non-state armed groups (NSAGs). While there is literature on peace conditionality more generally – e.g. being used for a range of purposes, and at different ...» more
