Opinion

Côte d’Ivoire election violence highlights flaws of resilient political system

Côte d’Ivoire is once again making headlines in the global news but for all the wrong reasons. Following the announcement of the current president Alassane Dramane Ouattara to run again for the presidential elections, headlines depict a country being plunged back into political turmoil at the...

Jeremy Allouche

Innovation in the pandemic: an update from Zimbabwe

Ian Scoones

Civil servants can develop ‘deep expertise’, but need the right learning environment

DFID’s robust and credible evidence, research and learning standards offer a powerful model that the FCDO and other government departments can follow, so that unbiased, independent evidence and interdisciplinary learning informs and shapes policies. The Prime Minister’s Chief Advisor,...

Peter Taylor

Paul Knipe

Making use of big data to inform policy: Lebanon case study

Lebanon, crippled by the continuing financial crisis; soaring poverty; a refugee crisis; deteriorating public services; deep political instability; the Covid-19 pandemic; and the last straw a month ago, the devastating 4 August blast and the tumultuous string of events that followed, is a...

Rajith Lakshman & 3 others

When global capital met pastoralism: learning from a decade of large-scale investment in dryland Africa

Jeremy Lind & 2 others

Enabling young people to shape Ethiopia’s national policy

A winning research collaboration supported by the IDS-backed Impact Initiative has succeeded not only in getting young people’s voices heard by senior decision makers in Ethiopia but has also fed into the design of the country’s next national youth policy. Read Annual Review This new...

Alice Webb

Our input pushes cash transfers up the European Union development agenda

IDS analysis of evidence on the use of cash transfers has been helping to influence thinking and shape the development agenda of the European Union (EU). Our input builds on IDS’ extensive, long-term research and influencing work on social protection, not least several evidence and policy...

Keetie Roelen

Jobs for the boys (and girls)?

The promise of plentiful jobs for locals is often made when companies describe their plans for industrial or infrastructure development on the lands of marginalized and indigenous peoples. The same promise is invariably flagged up in environmental and social impact reports that describe in...

Saneha’s story: Why I care, and why you should too

She was on her way to Church. Saneha Kinza Iqbal, a 16-year-old girl, was abducted last month in Pakistan by a man helped by two accomplices. She was raised a Christian, he is Muslim. He is almost twice her age, married with 4 children. The police, immediately asked for assistance by the...

Iraq: Covid-19 deepens pre-existing health disparities for minorities

The majority of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Iraq come from Ezidi, Christian, Kaka’i and other religious minorities. Recently, these IDPs have been deprived of their livelihoods as well as emergency assistance due to the COVID-19 crisis. Additionally, minimal health services are...

Evidence-handling skills improve policymaking in Zanzibar

In much of our work, it takes time to discover if we have achieved the impacts hoped for. Just occasionally, that feedback comes more swiftly – as in the case of our capacity-building activities on evidence use in Zanzibar, where the impacts on policymaking appear to be almost immediate. Read...

Alan Stanley

Knowledge brokering must accompany research from the start

Impact support services that try to build the capacity of researchers and broker knowledge between academia, policy and practice need to be built into programmes from the start. This is one of the key messages coming out of a new review commissioned by the UKRI. Over the past decade we have...

James Georgalakis