Our research on governance, power relations, participation and citizen engagement, informs change processes in pursuit of social justice and social change. With power and politics central to our analysis, we support the generation of new evidence that contributes to improved processes for good governance, citizen engagement, empowerment and accountability.
We pioneer new ways of working with governments, communities, activists and academics, to understand the complex relationships and processes that exist across states, markets, and citizens, and between formal and informal institutions, to tackle issues such as digital inequalities, women’s participation and empowerment, decentralisation and local governance, rapid urbanisation, migration, taxation and domestic resource mobilisation, food security and hunger and nutrition. These draw on our extensive expertise in complex approaches to how change happens. Through our research and policy partnerships we are also bringing new insights on the role that rising powers and emerging economies such as China and Brazil have in relation to global governance and tackling development challenges such as sustainability and poverty. Our world-renown participatory research has a particular emphasis on systematic social exclusion facing women, people living in extreme poverty, people with disabilities, slaves bonded labourers, indigenous peoples and others. We advance cutting edge methodological development in action research, participatory visual methods, participatory mapping, participatory statistics, participatory Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) amongst others.
In alignment with the ‘leave no one behind’ framing of the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development, the PMA programme is working with groups of people living in poverty and marginalisation to strengthen processes of citizen-led accountability.
The International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) provides research evidence that supports developing countries in raising domestic revenues equitably and sustainably, in a manner that is conducive to pro-poor economic growth and good governance.
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.
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This new...
An increasing number of countries around the world have been trialling a 'basic income' for their citizens, and the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for governments to reevalutate and strengthen social safety nets. The UN has called for a Temporary Basic Income, to provide a lifeline...
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...
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...
Droughts have severe direct impacts on the livelihoods of rural populations. Thus, the management of water for communal agriculture and water supply should be well coordinated to enhance drought resilience. Notwithstanding the interrelations among water management institutions in South Africa,...
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...
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...
In the second episode of the CREID Podcast, which gives a voice to those who work in some of the toughest areas of human rights and development, exploring how religion can impact the opportunities of some of the most vulnerable people in the world, Naumana Suleman, Pakistan Lead at Minority...
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.
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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...
This past year has seen IDS expand our wide portfolio of long-term research on the private sector through dedicated work for the German development agency GIZ. We provided evidence to assess and shape its programme on enterprise development in East Africa – and in the process, stimulated...
In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).