Practice Papers
IDS Practice Papers are academically rigorous pieces aimed at non-academic audiences, such as programme and policy managers. Pitched as information for those on the frontline of development they often have practitioners as co-authors. This series is a bridge between the considered reflection of Working Papers and the policy-oriented In Focus Policy Briefings; and aims for high quality engaged scholarship with the development community.
Digging in, Spreading out and Growing up: Introducing CLTS in Africa
Open defecation is the norm in rural and urban Africa – only about a third of the population uses improved sanitation facilities – and this contributes in various ways to a heavy disease burden. More details
Teaching and Learning Democracy: Collaborative Development of Courses on Citizenship
How can educators work together to enhance work on democracy and citizenship? More details
Bringing Together Pleasure and Politics: Sexuality Workshops in Rural India
What are the linkages between sexuality and violence against women - beyond sexual violence? Do poor rural women want to talk about sex? More details
Donor Schizophrenia and Aid Effectiveness: The Role of Global Funds
This paper looks at what donors, who are at the same time funders and critics of global funds, can do to increase the coherence of their own policies and actions. More details
Transforming Children's Lives Through Innovation in Quality Education: Implications for Policy and Practice
This report argues for an expansion of the understanding of quality basic education, to be education that empowers students and addresses the intergenerational transmission of inequality and poverty. More details
Going to Scale with Community-Led Total Sanitation: Reflections on Experience, Issues and Ways Forward
Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a revolutionary approach in which communities are facilitated to conduct their own appraisal and analysis of open defecation (OD) and take their own action to become ODF (open defecation-free). More details
A Partnership for Health in China: Reflections on the Partnership between the Government of China, the World Bank and DFID in the China Basic Health Services Project
This practice paper is one of a series, in which development practitioners reflect on their own experiences. Its aim is to contribute to efforts to understand China’s successful management of very rapid change and development. More details
Changing the World by Changing Ourselves: Reflections from a Bunch of BINGOs
This Practice Paper aims to contribute to ongoing reflections and debates taking place among aid practitioners about if, and how, big international NGOs (BINGOs) can be more effective agents of ‘progressive social change'. More details