This paper reviews emerging evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on governance and conflict, using a “governance and conflict first” approach in contrast to other research and synthesis on COVID-19 in the social sciences that tends to be structured through a public health lens. It largely focuses on evidence on low- and middle-income countries but also includes a number of ...» more
Water in Sustainable Agriculture Standards
Sustainable agricultural standards, hereafter standards, is a broad term encompassing certification schemes, tools, and programmes. The International Trade Centre’s Sustainability Standards Map includes 166 agricultural standards. However, there is a smaller number of prominent standards that are popularly used by major retailers or for particular commodities. Two studies ...» more
Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief
Freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) is a fundamental human right. However, the general global the trend in recent years is towards increased FoRB violations by both government and non-government actors. Notable exceptions are Sudan and Uzbekistan, which have shown significant improvement in promoting FoRB, while smaller-scale positive developments have been seen in a number ...» more
Trends in Conflict and Stability in the Indo-Pacific
This report looks at trends in conflict and instability in the Indo-Pacific region, focusing on climate change effects and a number of civil liberties. The Indo-Pacific region is both highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and already facing significant security risks and challenges, many of which will be exacerbated by the impact of climate change. There are ...» more
Gender, countering violent extremism and women, peace and security in Kenya
Kenya ranks 109 out of 153 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, with a score of 0.671. There are significant inequalities between males and females in education attainment, health outcomes, representation in parliament, and labour force participation. This Factsheet outlines some of the top-line information on gender, countering violent extremism and women, peace and ...» more
Border Disputes and Micro-Conflicts in South and Southeast Asia
This rapid literature review presents the key literature on border disputes and micro-conflicts in South and Southeast Asia. The focus is on recent ideas that are prevalent in literature from post2010. The literature review draws on both academic and grey literature. The report finds that conflicts have become more complex and protracted often linked to global challenges ...» more
Donor Support for Climate Change Initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa
Donors in the Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) climate and environment space include both bilateral donors such as France and Germany, multilateral development banks and multilateral climate funds. France and Germany are key bilateral donors to the region, supporting both single country and regional programmes. Many donors, including the EU, France, Germany, the ...» more
Gender and countering violent extremism (CVE) in the Kenya Mozambique region
This evidence synthesis drew on a mixture of academic and grey literature. While the literature on Kenyan women and Al-Shabaab was quite extensive (albeit with gaps, e.g. on returnees), nothing was found on women and Ansar al-Sunnah/violent extremist groups operating in northeastern Mozambique and the Mozambique-Tanzania cross-border region. This report should be read in ...» more
The Development Impact of Chinese Development Investments in Africa
This Emerging Issues report examines a number of popular narratives about the impacts of Chinese investment on economic development in Africa. Popular narratives include Chinese infrastructure investments that have weak links to growth, Chinese investment leads to limited job creation in host countries, and Chinese development projects lead to environmental degradation ...» more
Interventions in LICs and LMICs to improve air quality and/or mitigate its impacts
This rapid literature review summarises evidence on air quality interventions in LICs and LMICs to improve air quality and/or mitigate its impacts. The review found limited evidence derived from such countries and instead draws on evidence from reviews and compilations compiled by bodies such as Public Health England (PHE) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). In particular, ...» more
Monitoring Air Quality in Low- Income and Lower Middle-Income Countries
This rapid literature review surveys academic and grey literature on air quality monitoring in low-income (LICs) and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs). It draws heavily on three key sources of information. The World Bank (Awe et al., 2017) led report ‘Filling the Gaps: Improving Measurement of Ambient Air Quality in Low and Middle-Income Countries’, the Health Effects ...» more
Prevalence of health impacts related to exposure to poor air quality among children in Low and Lower Middle-Income Countries
This rapid review provides an assessment of the contemporary health impacts arising from the household (indoor) and ambient (outdoor) air pollution exposure in low income (LIC) and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs), with a specific focus upon children aged under 5 years. The review synthesises findings of key systematic reviews, as well as international and national ...» more
Risk of Capital Flight Due to a Better Understanding of Climate Change
The physical risks of climate change, including both gradual global warming and an increase in extreme weather events, are likely to cause increasing financial and economic losses. Lower and middle-income countries may be more vulnerable to physical risks due to their reliance on climate-sensitive economic sectors and their limited capacity to absorb economic losses. However, ...» more
