Opinion

Opinion

Community resilience in conflict zones: a distraction, a solution, or both? A personal perspective from Yemen

In the wake of nearly a decade of protracted conflict in Yemen, I found myself returning – mentally and emotionally – to a question that continues to haunt the development and humanitarian fields: can localised governance and community-driven strategies truly build resilience in fragile,...

Mamoon Al Absi

13 May 2025

Opinion

War in the time of right-wing populism and divisive media

India and Pakistan went to war last week. I was in India on 22 April when the tragic terrorist attack in Pahalgam (in India-controlled Kashmir) happened, and in Pakistan as India was contemplating an attack on Pakistan in response to its alleged involvement in Pahalgam, and when the attacks were...

Shandana Khan Mohmand

13 May 2025

Opinion

Mother or student? Why I stopped trying to choose

Akinyi Ochieng, currently studying MA Gender & Development at IDS, is a Chevening scholar and a mother of two. In this blog post, Akinyi shares the emotional reality of balancing motherhood with full-time study—reflecting on the overwhelming guilt of being away from her children for the first...

Akinyi Ochieng, MA Gender & Development, Class of 2024-25

13 May 2025

Opinion

Commercialising agriculture drives ‘success’ in Mvurwi’s land reform areas in Zimbabwe

Mvurwi is a thriving high potential agricultural area, where commercialisation of tobacco and horticultural products are at the centre of success in the A1 land reform areas. We conducted two success rankings – in Hariana (12 men and 7 women) and Ruia (32 men and 23 women) farms – which...

Ian Scoones

12 May 2025

Opinion

Fifty years post war, Vietnam’s future for economic success

The busy streets of Hanoi are full of Vietnamese flags and many people dressed in military attire to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of Vietnam War (or the American War as it is sometimes called in Vietnam). With celebrations across the country, an estimated 13,000 people attended the...

Ayako Ebata

9 May 2025

Opinion

The Indian government’s weaponisation of gender in Operation Sindoor

The Indian government’s military response to the Pahalgam terror attack which killed 26 civilians in Indian occupied Kashmir was disguised as a ‘military retaliation’ - a war for peace. In the early hours of May 7, 2025, the Indian army launched Operation Sindoor in Pakistan and...

Jigyasa Agarwal

9 May 2025

Opinion

Familiar territory: Coming back to IDS after 35 years

Dr Sepali Kottegoda - Director Programmes, Gender and Political Economy at Women and Media Collective, Sri Lanka and IDS alum (MPhil class of 1984 and DPhil class of 1990) - recently came back to IDS to deliver a guest lecture on exploring unpaid care in Sri Lanka. While she was with us, we...

Dr Sepali Kottegoda, Director Programmes, Gender and Political Economy, Women and Media Collective

8 May 2025

Opinion

Climate under threat: A call for more action

Shortly after his inauguration, President Donald Trump announced a series of climate measures with major ramifications: he passed an order to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and dismantled a host of federal government climate action measures. Other like-minded leaders are poised to take...

Seife Ayele

6 May 2025

Opinion

Global challenges need collective action: Why bright spots matter

Anxiety and uncertainty are core features of global development cooperation at the moment. Previous opinion pieces have highlighted the colossal fall-out of the termination of USAID, against a backdrop of declining ODA contributions. The news since the start of 2025 has felt unrelentingly bleak....

Peter Taylor

6 May 2025

Opinion

Success in a livestock-based economy: the case of land reform sites in Matobo district, Zimbabwe

What does success mean in a livestock-based economy? How has land reform influenced what success is possible in a dryland, marginal area? To explore these questions, we carried out success rankings in our two A1 sites in Matobo district. In one village 6 women and 5 men attended, while in the...

Ian Scoones

6 May 2025

Opinion

What does solidarity mean in practice?

I was coming out of a lecture that I was giving to IDS masters’ students on struggles against anti-gender backlash by women’s groups when I saw the news: 15 Palestinian medical workers brutally killed and buried in a mass grave by Israel. My blood boiled, and I wished that I could do...

Deepta Chopra

30 April 2025

Opinion

What is ‘success’ in Zimbabwe’s land reform areas?

What constitutes ‘success’ if you have land in the A1 land reform areas in Zimbabwe? This is the question we have been asking of local residents across our study sites in Mazowe, Gutu, Masvingo and Matobo districts. We have held 11 workshops in different sites, involving around 208 people...

Ian Scoones

28 April 2025

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Showing 1–12 of 2242 results

Community resilience in conflict zones: a distraction, a solution, or both? A personal perspective from Yemen

War in the time of right-wing populism and divisive media

Mother or student? Why I stopped trying to choose

Commercialising agriculture drives ‘success’ in Mvurwi’s land reform areas in Zimbabwe

Fifty years post war, Vietnam’s future for economic success

The Indian government’s weaponisation of gender in Operation Sindoor

Familiar territory: Coming back to IDS after 35 years

Climate under threat: A call for more action

Global challenges need collective action: Why bright spots matter

Success in a livestock-based economy: the case of land reform sites in Matobo district, Zimbabwe

What does solidarity mean in practice?

What is ‘success’ in Zimbabwe’s land reform areas?

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