This report looks at girls’ access to natural resources and how this contributes to their empowerment. As girls’ roles in the household are closely linked to women’s, mainly domestic roles, this report looks in particular at resources associated with household tasks, including water, agricultural land and labour. Literature on girls’ access to other natural resources appears ...» more
UK Department for International Development (DFID)
The GSDRC has provided research services to DFID since 2001, initially serving governance advisers, and gradually expanding to also cover social development, conflict, and humanitarian issues. The following GSDRC publications were commissioned by DFID.
Key Resources on Gender and Humanitarian Responses
This helpdesk report identifies some of the key resources on gender and humanitarian action. The most widely relevant, rigorous and accessible resources have been selected. This selection is based on the author’s own review of the available literature and on recommendations from a number of gender experts and practitioners. Within their sections, the resources have been ...» more
International Instruments and Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
This report outlines the international instruments available that address female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). It covers the international instruments, the regional instruments and resolutions and declarations currently available. The report also looks at the roles of committees and special procedures to implement some of these international instruments. It highlights the ...» more
Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting and gender indicators
FGM/C is rooted in gender inequality and is used as a form of social control over women. While the practice and the decision of putting a girl through FGM/C may be taken by the girl’s mother or another female relative, there is a need to contextualise these decisions within societies that are strongly patriarchal. Underpinning early marriage, early pregnancy, lack of girls ...» more
Women’s control of productive natural resources
This report looks at women’s access to and control of natural resources, especially water and forests. While it does not specifically look at women’s access to land, access to other natural resources are strongly linked to ownership and control of land (IFAD 2007; FAO 2007). As women continue to face restrictions on land ownership and control over land due to socially ...» more
Political Trends in Sub-Saharan Africa
This report uses data from the World Governance Indicators dataset, the Ibrahim Index, Freedom in the World, Afrobarometer and Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) to map political trends in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2000 and 2010 both in terms of numbers and weighted by population. The population-weighted values are strongly influenced by the performance of Nigeria, Ethiopia, ...» more
Early Warning Indicators of violent conflict
This report provides a general overview of the literature on conflict early warning systems (CEWSs) and identifies the most commonly-used indicators of violent conflict. CEWSs use a variety of data sources and models to predict conflict. These systems usually distinguish between long-term structural factors, medium-term proximate or accelerator factors, and short-term trigger ...» more
Cash payments in DDR programmes
Cash payments to ex-combatants are a common feature of Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programmes, yet there is considerable debate in academic and donor circles about the benefits and risks of using them. Evidence on the impact of cash payments in DDR programmes is mixed, and experience has not been universally positive. Cash payments may take various ...» 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
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
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
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
Lessons From The Northern Ireland Peace Process
Key Findings One of the key lessons is that successful conflict resolution requires long-term and unwavering commitment from external actors. Peace processes should be inclusive, comprehensive and involve long- and short-term measures to bolster the commitment of all sides. In NI, various mechanisms (including a degree of textual ambiguity in the GFA) allowed difficult issues ...» more
Impact of Family Protection Programmes
Key Findings There are few studies that explicitly assess the impact of specific family protection programmes. A larger number of studies highlight a range of positive and negative impacts associated with national and international efforts to make security and judicial systems more responsive to family protection issues. A lack of data makes rigorous evaluation of the impact ...» more
Trust Funds in Fragile and Low Capacity States
A ‘Trust Fund’ or ‘Multi Donor Trust Fund’ (MDTF) is a multi-agency funding mechanism, designed to receive contributions from more than one donor (and often also the recipient government), that is held in trust by an appointed administrative agent. There are many different types of trust fund, operating at a sector-wide, national, regional and global level. This query will ...» more
Climate Change, Empowerment and Accountability
This helpdesk research looks at how climate change policies and programmes (particularly for adaptation) can best respond to the needs of the most vulnerable. The general consensus appears to be that this requires a combination of greater investment in community-based adaptation, more decentralised planning and stronger mechanisms to link community-level decision-making with ...» more
Global Drivers of Conflict and Instability
The security-development discourse combines a concern with poverty and economic growth with that of national, regional and global security. It incorporates country-level analyses within a broader framework of transnational issues that impact on conflict dynamics. Issues of poverty and inequality reflect power relations framed by international forces. It is generally thought ...» more
Donor Experience Working with Traditional and Religious Institutions
Donor experience with traditional and religious institutions is poorly documented. Donors generally seem reluctant to engage directly with religious institutions, with the notable exception of USAID. Where donors do work with traditional and religious institutions this tends to be through local or international NGOs. When working on women’s issues in an Islamic context this is ...» more
Access to Economic Opportunities and Changes in Power Relations
The range of interventions relevant to this question is extremely broad, and this review therefore presents a limited number of examples in the following areas: microfinance, cash transfers, technology and skills development, labour market interventions, and land and inheritance rights. Research into the impacts of interventions aimed at increasing access to economic ...» more
