Financial barriers can greatly limit access to education for the poor. The key financial burdens of schooling are direct costs (school fees), indirect costs (uniforms, stationary, other learning materials and transportation) and opportunity costs (time for household tasks and foregone wage labour). Macro-level barriers in situations of conflict and fragility (lack of ...» 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.
NGOs in the Palestinian Territories
From the small number of evaluations available, there is evidence to suggest that Palestinian NGOs have been effective in providing services and contributing to a variety of social, rural and private-sector development goals. Although smaller, locally-oriented organisations tended to be more effective at reaching the most marginalised groups and were deemed to be more ...» 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
Technical Assistance for Post-disaster Recovery
There is a paucity of literature making explicit recommendations for technical assistance to support long-term recovery in post-disaster conflicts. Nevertheless, much of the criticism leveled against TA is the same as that leveled against early recovery interventions, including:the fact that TA remains largely supply-drivena low level of ownership and involvement on the part of ...» more
Community-based Approaches and the Extractives Sector in Situations of Fragility and Conflict
The literature offers a number of recommendations on community engagement in the extractives sector. The following are particularly relevant to fragile and conflict-affected contexts:Engage with local communities as partners in preventing and managing conflict, rather than approaching them as a threat or risk.Distribute any benefits from the project (including jobs, development ...» more