The literature here provides a guide to existing concerns and approaches to the promotion of pro-poor outcomes through land and property rights. Generally, there is increasing emphasis on both the impacts upon women and the need for interventions to be designed and implemented with gender sensitivity. There is also a strong emphasis on the need to locate land and property ...» more
Truth Commissions
Political backing is integral to the success of a truth commission. It is often presumed that national governments that have themselves established truth commissions (either by presidential decree or through legislation) will be supportive of them. This, however, has not always been the case. Where political will is absent, the work and impact of the commission is frequently ...» more
Impact of ‘Resource Curse’ Mitigation
Initiatives to address the resource curse vary in the harms they address and in whether they operate at a national or trans-national level. They include attempts to: reduce corruption through the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI); counteract the ‘Dutch Disease’ using Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs); curb funding sources for militia through the Kimberly Process ...» more
Rule of Law Approaches
There is no universal definition for the term 'rule of law' or a common approach toward rule of law. There are, however, some universal key distinctions and principles.A key distinction that is generally accepted is between ‘rule by law’ and ‘rule of law’: Under rule by law, law is an instrument of government and government is considered above the law; Under rule of law, ...» more
Resource Management and Conflict
There is an extensive literature dedicated to examining the links between the abundance of mineral resources and the incidence and duration of violent conflict. While the ‘resource curse’ thesis has become well-known, claims that an abundance of natural resources increases the likelihood of conflict have been widely disputed.However, beyond the case study literature, there is ...» more
New ICTs for Development
This short report provides a list of new information and communications technologies (ICTs) being used to enhance development outcomes. The use of ICTs among poor people is growing rapidly. In 2009, there were an estimated 2.2 billion mobile phones in the developing world and 305 million computers. In 1998, two of every 100 inhabitants in developing countries was a mobile phone ...» more
Civil Society and Accountability in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
The literature suggests that the conflict and political division between the West Bank and Gaza Strip has hindered civil society efforts at strengthening accountability. Firstly, the conflict has impeded the legislative process, thus limiting any intervention or influence that civil society can have in this area. Secondly, although relations between the Palestine National ...» more
Water and Energy in Central Asia
Much of the literature on the political economy of trans-boundary water and energy in Central Asia covers common ground on the following issues:Historical factors in the region and the legacy on water allocation of Soviet Rule – although there is some variation in opinion over the extent to which Soviet-era water and energy allocations have contributed to instability, conflict ...» more
Mapping Research on Inclusive Growth
This query response provides a mapping of organisations undertaking work on inclusive growth, highlighting key research themes. Where possible the contact details of relevant researchers are also provided.A large range of issues can be seen to have a bearing on the achievement of inclusive growth. These include: human capital accumulation, enabling institutions, inclusive ...» more
Mechanisms for Increasing Voice and Accountability
Whilst there is a vast literature on the importance of citizen voice and accountability in governance and development, there remain relatively few evaluations of the impact of donor programmes in this area. Several studies conclude there is a need for more evidence of why certain accountability mechanisms work well in certain contexts. There does not appear to be any research ...» more
Women’s Education, Conflict and Stability
There are very few studies which provide empirical support to the view that cultures where women are politically, socially and economically repressed are more prone to violent conflict and instability. Furthermore, evidence for a direct relationship between the level of educational attainment amongst women and girls and the degree of fragility or stability is scarce and no ...» more
Inclusive Growth
Various barriers and constraints to poor people’s participation in growth are identified in the literature. These include:GeographyLimited investment in human capitalPoor healthLimited assets and access to creditEconomic insecuritySome of the literature argues that facilitating access of the poor to growth is insufficient to obtain inclusive growth; attention must also be paid ...» more
Civil Society and Excluded Groups
There is a dearth of comprehensive studies that look precisely at the ‘value added’ of working through civil society to reach excluded, marginalised and vulnerable groups. This helpdesk research report thus relies on a range of more general literature on civil society and thematic and country case studies, drawing out information and findings on positive impacts from civil ...» more
Domestic Politics of Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry
Indonesia is the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world (after the USA and China) and about 85% of the country’s emissions are related to land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF), making it the source of one-third of global LULUCF emissions. The main proximate causes of deforestation and land use change in Indonesia are logging (both legal and illegal), ...» more
Promoting the Economic Participation of Women
Facilitating the participation of women in economic life is seen to provide financial gain at both household and national level, as well as having long-term impacts upon poverty reduction through creating changes in the intergenerational transmission of poverty processes. However, enabling women to participate in economic life is subject to both formal and informal constraints: ...» more
Gender and Conflict Assessments
Guidance for carrying out gender and conflict assessments is not well-developed; conflict assessments and gender assessments exist as separate types of analytical documents but there are comparatively few examples of gender and conflict assessments, and no established methodologies for doing them. Guidance for undertaking such assessments is drawn from three broad sources: a) ...» more
Transitional Justice and Reconciliation – Zimbabwe
On the 15th of September 2008, ZANU-PF and the two MDC formations signed the Global Political Agreement (GPA), intended to break the deadlock following the March 2008 elections. The agreement is silent on transitional justice, although it does include the provision to “give consideration to the setting up of a mechanism to properly advise on what measures might be necessary ...» more
Natural Resource Revenue for Service Delivery
There is very little literature which addresses the impact of natural resource revenues on the quality of service delivery per se. The evidence that does exist suggests large differences among natural resource dependent developing countries in terms of the effects of resource wealth on social expenditures. There is more consensus on those factors which hinder positive outcomes ...» more
Impact of Radicalisation/Violent Extremism on Poverty and Development Outcomes
Identifying the impact of violence arising from radicalisation processes and extremism upon poverty and development outcomes is difficult due to the lack of literature which deals with the subject matter specifically. The discussion concerning radicalisation and extremist violence tends to focus on the following areas: 1) Islamic extremism and religious fundamentalism; 2) ...» more
Child Marriage
This short report summarises some of the main evidence presented in recent literature about the prevalence, trends and impact of child marriage (defined by UNICEF as customary or statutory union where one or both of the partners is under the age of 18). It is based on a 2-day survey of prominent (widely-cited) literature published by credible institutions. It does not ...» more
