This report reviews the literature engaging with a key issue, the reform of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) in fragile and post-conflict countries. While MoI reform is crucial to the success of Security Sector Reform (SSR), as it enables management and oversight of the internal security forces, it has often been neglected by international actors and by the SSR literature. The ...» more
Gender and conflict
What do we know about the role of gender inequality in producing or exacerbating the structural causes of violence and conflict, and about the multi-layered effects of violence and conflict on gender relations? What do we know about how to support gender equality in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCAS)? This Topic Guide introduces the research evidence. ...» more
Economic growth and fragility
There is fairly consistent evidence of a correlation between low levels of economic development and state fragility. However, there is less comprehensive literature available looking at the role economic growth has played in helping countries break out of fragility. The strength and basis of the economy are important factors affecting the stability and resilience of states, ...» more
Gender responsive budgeting
Gender responsive budgeting (GRB) brings together two issues that are not commonly associated with one another: gender equality and public financial management. GRB argues that gender equality principles should be incorporated into all stages of the budget process. GRB initiatives seek to improve the results of budgets in general, and gender equality and women’s empowerment…» more
Designing and monitoring PFM reform programmes
The PEFA framework is the most comprehensive assessment instrument. It provides indicators to measure all dimensions of a PFM system. While PEFA assessments are now in wide usage, other diagnostic instruments and tools – like the IMF Fiscal Transparency Code and various World Bank and OECD tools – are used alongside them for more specific purposes. Alternatively, ...» more
Education and building legitimacy during conflict
This rapid review summarises the available evidence of how far support to education has strengthened governance during conflict. The main points made by the literature on education delivery during conflict and strengthened legitimacy for those delivering it includes: Service delivery and state legitimacy: expectations for services vary and this has an impact on the ...» more
Role of development assistance in countering extremism and terrorism
The relationship between development assistance and security has attracted particular attention since the post-2001 ‘global war on terror’. Heightened international concern about religious extremism has placed the development-security nexus into a renewed focus, with increasing recognition of the links between development, governance, and terrorist threat. Drawing from the ...» more
Wellbeing through empowerment, improved enabling environment, and assets
The literature is very clear that economic factors are critical to wellbeing. Almost all research states the necessity of income, financial security or productive assets. Nearly all the literature also looks at personal relationships as aspects of wellbeing, which are here categorised as part of the enabling environment. Empowerment is usually seen as agency, the ability to ...» more
Political economy constraints for urban development
Experts highlight evidence gaps in particular on the political economy of urban service delivery; social and political participation by urban poor people; the relationship between urbanisation, urban poverty and urban violence; the relationship between state fragility, state legitimacy and the national political settlement; and what works and what does not in tackling political ...» more
Lessons from governance interventions in fragile and conflict-affected states
Governance programmes include a broad range of issues, from support to parliamentary processes and elections, to state-building and rule of law interventions. The evidence base on governance interventions is fairly broad and rigorous, incorporating a mix of academic, policymaker, and think-tank literature. Details on lessons, however, tend to be limited. Much of the readily ...» more
Delivering education during conflict
Education is important for children’s wellbeing, development and future prospects, as well as for a country’s peace, stability and economic development; and is often a priority for those directly affected. Despite the challenges of delivering education during active conflict it is possible; and UN agencies, NGOs, and donors have supported governments, communities, and local ...» more
Thinking and working politically
Development assistance works best, and is least liable to do harm, when the people designing it are thinking and working politically (TWP). This thought has been around for some time, but what it implies in practice has not always been clear. Big steps have been taken to encourage donor agency staff to think politically about…» more
Crime and conflict
Practitioners increasingly recognise that they need a better understanding of the link between crime and conflict. Many informal accounts suggest the political power of organised crime groups in violent and fragile contexts is growing. In the absence of functioning institutions and strong state-society relations, organised crime groups infiltrate local and national political systems to serve…» more
Legitimacy, statebuilding and conflict
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ejxkg9NkFc (This 10-minute presentation accompanying the reading pack was recorded at the GSDRC Seminar on Conflict and Development, London, 23 March 2015.) Building legitimacy is widely considered to be a central aspect of statebuilding efforts in fragile and conflict-affected states. It features prominently in the statebuilding policies of donors and the G7+ alike. In the…» more
Initiatives to strengthen rule of law in Sindh
As in the rest of Pakistan, there are number of concerns relating to rule of law in Sindh that include: Difficulties accessing justice for the poor (Qaiserani, 2011, p. 1); lack of budget allocations for bodies such as the Sindh Human Rights Commission which prevent it from functioning (Zia, 2014, p. 2); dissatisfaction with the police; 39 per cent of Sindh respondents ...» more
Jobs, unemployment and violence
(This 10-minute presentation accompanying the reading pack was recorded at the GSDRC Seminar on Conflict and Development, London, 23 March 2015.) The notion that unemployment is a strong probable cause or motivating factor behind violence and violent conflict is remarkably pervasive in international development. It is believed that unemployment triggers participation in insurgencies, prompts people…» more
Decentralisation
What is meant by decentralisation and why is it so popular? Some form of public sector decentralisation is nearly universal practice. Is there clear justification? What is known about how well it works? How can policymakers and practitioners try to better design and implement decentralisation so as to reap potential benefits and limit potential problems?…» more
Horizontal inequalities
(This 15-minute presentation accompanying the reading pack was recorded at the GSDRC Seminar on Conflict and Development, London, 23 March 2015.) Civil wars are one of the main sources of state fragility, low incomes and poor human development. Hence, policies to prevent conflict must be a high priority for those concerned with promoting development in…» more
Pro-poor national budgets
There is a wealth of evidence that spending on basic social services (health, nutrition, education) and social protection can be progressive and reach the poor, with particularly high potential returns from expenditures in these sectors reaching poor and vulnerable women and children. In recent years, empirical research has reinvigorated interest in the potential poverty ...» more
Human rights
This topic guide provides an introduction to the interactions and links between human rights and international development. Human rights are increasingly visible in international development language, policies and programmes. Human rights, and the principles they are based on, are argued to improve the effectiveness of development programmes. But beyond that, a human rights ...» more
