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
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).
Youth and Governance
This report seeks to identify the key governance issues in relation to youth, and to examine how these may be shifting.There has been growing awareness of the need to develop comprehensive and integrated approaches to youth policy, which move beyond sectoral interventions, and which address governance challenges alongside education, training and skills barriers. The report ...» more
Overview of key governance issues related to natural resource management
General trends in governance have an impact on natural resource management. The trend towards decentralisation and strengthening local democracy has affected the comparative influence of actors at different levels on the exploitation of natural resources. Trade is also likely to become an increasingly pressing issue. It has profound impacts on domestic and local governance 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
Urbanisation and Governance
This paper identifies the main governance issues and trends related to urbanisation. It is based on a rapid review of the available literature and inputs from several experts in the field of governance and urbanisation. There is a growing consensus that issues relating to urbanisation cannot simply be tackled by monetary or technical interventions, but that new governance ...» 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
Cooperatives and Development
A cooperative is an autonomous association of people united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. Although the reliability of figures is poor, ...» more
RCTs for Empowerment and Accountability Programmes
This report examines the extent to which RCTs have been used successfully to measure empowerment and accountability processes and programmes. Field experiments present immense opportunities, but the report cautions that they are more suited to measuring short-term results with short causal chains and less suitable for complex interventions. The studies have also demonstrated ...» more
Impact of Communication for Development (C4D)
Development agencies are increasingly recognising the potential of communication for development (C4D) to improve development outcomes and to enhance the overall effectiveness of aid programmes. This coincides with growing evidence of the impact of C4D on the MDGs. This report provides some practical, tangible examples of where C4D activities have improved development outcomes ...» 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
Current Trends in Governance Support
This helpdesk research report identifies current trends in donor support for improved governance and provides information on levels of expenditure on governance. Its findings are based on information gleaned from donors’ websites, studies by donors, academics and research organisations, and from comments from experts and donor staff. It is possible to identify four areas of ...» more
Evidence-based strategies for preventing child/early marriage
Early marriage is still prevalent in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. It exposes millions of girls to the risks associated with early sexual activity and pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, social exclusion, limited education and livelihood opportunities, and gender-based violence. Factors influencing the age at which girls marry include the extent of their education and of household ...» more
Poverty and vulnerability in DRC
Analysing data on the DRC is extremely difficult. Robust, geographically disaggregated data on poverty in DRC is scarce, with most analysis focused on Kinshasa or DRC as a whole. A lot of data has not been processed and data from national and different multilateral agencies can contradict each other. There is a need for greater capacity to identify and understand the nature of ...» 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
Evidence on Women’s Access to Financial Services
The evidence considered in this report suggest that women lack access to particular financial services, and that accessing financial services has the potential to lead to economic empowerment. The literature indicates that men have better access to formal services such as formal credit loans or formal savings accounts. However, there is also strong evidence that informal ...» more
Engaging Private Sector Actors in Delivering Development
Donors, both bilateral and multilateral, are using a range of creative approaches to encourage private sector actors to participate and invest in activities that help deliver development. Donor initiatives that engage private sector actors can help to provide better quality jobs, goods and services, and can innovative solutions to development challenges. However, more ...» 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
Experience with Health SWAps
Experiences with SWAps have shown that they can have a positive impact on improved national ownership and leadership; donor harmonisation and alignment; and greater coherence, transparency and accountability along the policy-result chain. This query examines the key determinants and prerequisites for success in health SWAps. It also looks at the success of different SWAp ...» more
