The experience of various women and CVE programmes confirms that women can and do play a significant role in P/CVE - but they need to be supported and empowered to do so. Key lessons emerging from experience to date include the following: Need for gender mainstreaming: It is important to consult women and involve them in programme design and implementation, carry out ...» more
Australian Government (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
The GSDRC began providing international development research services to the Australian government in 2008, under the former agency AusAID and then more recently to the aid programme housed within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The GSDRC publications listed below have been commissioned by the Australian government.
Impacts of social protection programmes on children
The impact of social protection on children is under-researched. Key findings and insights from the literature include: Multidimensional social protection systems have had positive impacts on addressing economic and human development, multiple vulnerabilities, and both social and economic inequities. Child-sensitive social protection programmes are more intentionally ...» more
Addressing case delays caused by multiple adjournments
A number of policy studies recommend measures to tackle case delays in developing countries, but relatively few of these recommendations are supported by rigorous empirical evidence. It also appears that data on court performance in developing countries is scarce. The exception to this is a series of World Bank studies, which measures the effectiveness of its justice reform ...» more
Trade promotion of female-owned and/or managed small and medium enterprises
Evidence shows that despite barriers to women’s engagement in export trade, there are multiple approaches and entry points yielding successful results and impacts in promoting female-owned and/or managed small and medium enterprise integration in export markets. Key findings from the literature include: Barriers for women: there is significant consensus in the literature ...» more
Political dynamics and the effectiveness of aid programmes
There is an increasing recognition amongst development scholars and practitioners that the obstacles to effective change in developing countries are not only related to technical or financial issues, but are also bound up with domestic politics and power relationships (DfID 2010a; DfID 2010b; Di John and Putzel, 2009; Leftwich: 2011; Parks and Cole, 2010; DFID 2016). As a ...» more
Disaster risk financing and insurance in the Pacific
The Pacific region has low insurance penetration compared with other parts of the world. General (non-life) insurance penetration for Pacific countries ranged between 0.5% (Indonesia) and 2.5% (Samoa) in 2012. The mean penetration rate for Pacific countries for which data could be obtained was 1.6%, which is considerably less than the rate in Australia (2.2%), half the rate of ...» more
Links between education and peace
Education is a significant contributor to peace, and appears in two of the 24 indicators in the Positive Peace Index produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace. Education can lead to peace and be a part of ‘building back better’ by supporting the transformation of the security situation, political institutions, economic regeneration and social development. However, ...» more
Curriculum development in fragile states to encourage peace and reduction of conflict
Research on education and conflict shows that education systems are not politically neutral but are an important part of the political economy that can exacerbate or mitigate conflict (Novelli et al., 2014; Bush and Saltareilli, 2000). The curriculum can be used as a vehicle to promote dominant ideologies. There are numerous instances where school curricula have been used to ...» more
Engaging stakeholders in areas of cross-border infrastructure investment
This rapid review of the literature identifies a number of best practices for engaging with a range of stakeholders in contexts where trans-boundary infrastructure investment occurs. It outlines general guidelines and best practices identified by internationally recognised bodies, and presents specific evidence from the sectors of water infrastructure and energy (e.g. ...» more
Improving access to menstrual hygiene products
The market for menstrual hygiene products in developing countries is expanding rapidly, driven both by private demand and by public efforts to improve girls’ educational outcomes and women’s health and dignity. However, many women and girls cannot consistently afford the monthly cost of disposable menstrual products and revert to less hygienic solutions when facing cash ...» more
Transporting materials to schools
Most programmes have faced similar challenges and limitations in transporting materials to schools, and have found transferable approaches to what works. These are: Financing: the burden of paying for delivery falls on different actors. The literature is clear that either the government or the publishers should cover the costs, but often it has been teachers who travel to ...» 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
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
Conflict early warning and early response
Lessons emerging from the literature include: Linking warning and response: The biggest challenge for conflict early warning systems is that they have not yet been effectively transformed into a preventive response. Specific response plans must be developed as part of the early warning system. Preventative interventions to reduce the potential for violence should: i) address ...» more
Alternative dispute resolution for businesses in developing countries
Dispute resolution mechanisms can be arranged in a continuum. At one end are processes like which are formal, inflexible, and adversarial, and which depend on neutral third parties to decide the outcome of the process, such as litigation in court, where the outcome is decided by a judge. At the other end are increasingly informal, flexible, and consensual processes such as ...» more
Conflict sensitivity in education, the private sector and infrastructure development
Conflict sensitivity in education: There has been increasing awareness that education systems are not neutral. Education can exacerbate conflict if it increases social tensions or divisions between groups. This may be the case if: education policies and practice are inequitable; education systems reinforce identity grievances; or educational curricula promote militarism.It is ...» more
Social protection programmes for people with disabilities
This mapping report gives an overview of nine social protection programmes for people with disabilities. The programmes are all run by governments of low income or lower middle income states in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Many of the programmes have been established within the last decade, for example in Uganda, Kenya and Indonesia, and may still be in trial and error mode. ...» more
Dealing with election-related violence in fragile and conflict-affected states
There are a number of causes of election-related violence, which can occur at different stages of the electoral cycle. Dealing with this violence very much depends on understanding these causes and tailoring measures to address them. This report draws on guidance material, evaluation literature and empirical studies to provide a brief overview of measures to prevent and address ...» more
Capacity development at the national level in fragile and conflict-affected states
There is a clear international consensus on desirable principles for capacity development in fragile states, which include country ownership, use of country systems, improvements to technical assistance and training, adapting initiatives to local contexts, a focus on adaptive and flexible approaches, a focus on results, improved coordination, and a focus on a clear set of ...» 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
