Institute of Development Studies

Projects and Outputs

The Vulnerability and Poverty Reduction team presents the following research projects and outputs organised by theme.

Social Protection

• A Study of Effective Referral Mechanisms to Strengthen Child and Social Protection in ESAR - (Ongoing)
• Accelerating Progress in Reducing Hunger and Undernutrition - This programme will focus on how agriculture can deliver better nutrition outcomes by developing evidence-based policy options and tools for businesses, governments, NGOs and donors. (Ongoing)
• Adaptive Social Protection - The ASP programme uses evidence to link climate change adaptation (CCA), disaster risk reduction (DRR) and social protection (SP). (Ongoing)
• Child Vulnerability Assessment, UNICEF Myanmar - IDS has been commissioned to analyse the most recent Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) data and write a report on child vulnerability, which can be utilized for evidence based programming and advocacy to improve children's status in Myanmar. (Ongoing)
• Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT) in Nigeria - Analytical study to assist with the design of a functional health and education conditioned cash transfer for the poor in Nigeria. (2005 - 2006)
• Development of a Social Protection Strategy for Pakistan - The objective of this work was to assist the GoP with developing a national social protection strategy, involving public and private initiatives that can contribute, both directly and indirectly, to growth, poverty reduction and human security in Pakistan. (2006 - 2006)
• Dowa Emergency Cash Transfers (DECT) - IDS were commissioned to carry out an external evaluation of the DECT programme. (Ongoing)
• Home Grown School Feeding programme - A new initiative that will support government action to deliver cost effective school feeding programmes sourced from local farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. (Ongoing)
• Imp-Act - Imp-Act is a global Consortium of organisations committed to making microfinance work for the poor and excluded. (Ongoing)
• Impact of the Economic Crisis on women and children in Zambia - The Government of Zambia has initiated a study to look at the affects of the financial crisis on women and children in Zambia. (Ongoing)
• Lessons from Social Protection Programme Implementation - Research from the Centre for Social Protection and UNICEF shows how successful social protection programmes are built (2008 - 2011)
• Lessons Learnt on Scaling Up Child Sensitive Social Protection Within Eastern and Southern Africa Programmes - IDS has been commissioned to document experiences and lessons learned from various child sensitive social protection programmes UNICEF is supporting within the Children and AIDS Regional Initiative (CARI) (2010 - 2011)
• Mainstreaming Social Protection in Uganda's Poverty Reduction Strategy - IDS assisted Uganda’s Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in their efforts to mainstream social protection concerns throughout Uganda’s revised Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP). (2002 - 2003)
• Making Cash Count - IDS conducted a study for UNICEF of cash transfer schemes in east and southern Africa, with a focus on supporting the most vulnerable children and households. (2005 - 2005)
• Malawi Safety Nets programme - IDS was commissioned in by the Department of International Development Malawi, to provide advice on the design phase of the Malawi National Safety Nets Programme. (1999 - 1999)
• National Programme of Action (NPA) Review - IDS were commissioned by UNICEF to carry out a review of 17 National Plan of Actions and supporting documents agreed to identify to what extent and in what forms social protection themes and issues are apparent. (2005 - 2005)
• Portability, Access and Reciprocity: Social Protection Regimes for Migrants - The aim of this research is to better understand the interactions between migration (internal and international) and social protection in order to inform initiatives that can create ‘mobile’ systems of social protection. (2004 - 2007)
• Productive Safety Net Programme, Ethiopia - (Ongoing)
• Researching the Links Between Social Protection and Children’s Care - The EveryChild Coalition on Children Without Parental Care, and the Centre of Social Protection at the Institute of Development Studies are planning joint research on the links between social protection and children's care. (Ongoing)
• Review of UN Country Teams Engagement - The purpose of this review is to assess how effective the involvement of United Nations agencies, collectively and individually, has been in the Poverty Reduction Strategy processes. (2007 - 2007)
• Social Protection in Asia (SPA) - SPA is a research, advocacy and network building programme which aims to overcome barriers to the extension of social protection to poor and marginalized groups in Asia. (2007 - 2010)
• Social Protection Strategies for Sugar Workers - The purpose of the study was to identify an appropriate programme of social protection measures, which could contribute to St. Kitts and Nevis' post-sugar Adaptation Strategy, to strengthen poverty and vulnerability reduction, within the Caribbean regional social protection framework (2005 - 2005)
• Study on Child Well-Being in Kazakhstan - In Kazakhstan UNICEF are embarking on new child well-being research to better understand the vulnerabilities that children experience in this country. UNICEF has partnered with the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and with the Institute of Development Studies to undertake this research. (Ongoing)
• Transformative Social Protection in Pakistan - IDS led a field-based scoping study to identify poor and vulnerable groups who have been excluded from the existing safety nets programmes in Pakistan. (2005 - 2005)
• Voices of the Vulnerable - IDS were commissioned by the UN to carry out background research to produce the UN Secretary-General's second report on the impacts of the ongoing economic crisis on vulnerable populations in developing countries. (2010 - 2010)

Work and Vulnerability

• Fair Trade in the Mainstream - This project brought together researchers in Latin America, Africa, North America and Europe to analyse the developments and assess the implications for fair trade organisations and producers. (2004 - 2005)
• Impact Assessment of Fairtrade in the Banana Sector - The UK's Fairtrade Foundation has commissioned IDS to undertake an independent assessment of the impact of Fairtrade in the banana sector. (Ongoing)
• The Spectrum of Fairtrade - IDS was commissioned by Oxfam to carry out a literature review on the Spectrum of Fair Trade. (2008 - 2009)

Conflict

• Addressing and Mitigating Violence - This programme will generate practical policy options for states and citizens so they can better address and mitigate violence in both rural and urban settings. (Ongoing)
• Agency and Governance in Contexts of Civil Conflict - analysing how the relationship between populations living in contexts of violence and armed non-state actors controlling or contesting those areas results in forms of local governance and order, and how this affects people's livelihoods. (Ongoing)
• Changing Livelihoods in Darfur Since 2005 - Assessing current livelihood strategies and options available to vulnerable communities living in Darfur. (Ongoing)
• Households in Conflict Network - undertaking collaborative research into the causes and effects of violent conflict at the household level. (Ongoing)
• MICROCON - a five-year research programme, taking an innovative micro level, multidisciplinary approach to studying the conflict cycle. (Ongoing)
• Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Peace Building - (Ongoing)
• Tomorrow Today: Development Frontiers in an Insecure World: International Security and the Implications for Development - (Ongoing)
• Training and Mobility Network for the Economic Analysis of Conflict (TAMNEAC) - training a young generation of professionals and researchers in tackling the challenges associated with mass violent conflict in developing countries. (Ongoing)
• Women in Local Peacebuilding research - documenting the role of women in local peacebuilding, conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Sierra Leone and Liberia. (Ongoing)

Food and Agriculture

• Accelerating Progress in Reducing Hunger and Undernutrition - This programme will focus on how agriculture can deliver better nutrition outcomes by developing evidence-based policy options and tools for businesses, governments, NGOs and donors. (Ongoing)
• Changing Livelihoods in Darfur Since 2005 - Assessing current livelihood strategies and options available to vulnerable communities living in Darfur. (Ongoing)
• Ending Famine in the 21st Century - IDS is coordinating a programme of work based on the belief that global eradication of famine is achievable in the foreseeable future. The ultimate objective of this policy-oriented research is to contribute to a new policy agenda for famine prevention. (2001 - 2003)
• Home Grown School Feeding programme - A new initiative that will support government action to deliver cost effective school feeding programmes sourced from local farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. (Ongoing)
• Strengthen Emergency Needs Assessment Capacity (SENAC) - The SENAC Advisory Group provides guidance on the research being undertaken in key areas related to emergency needs assessments, and advises on coordination with related efforts elsewhere. (2005 - 2006)

Microfinance

• Baseline Social Performance Survey Afghanistan - CGAP has contracted the IDS to develop several simple indicators based on the Afghan context, that will report on what degree MFIs serve poor people and access to basic health care services. (2007 - 2007)
• Imp-Act - Imp-Act is a global Consortium of organisations committed to making microfinance work for the poor and excluded. (Ongoing)