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.
Amid the very real devastations of already-vulnerable lives and livelihoods caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a tsunami of commentary. Academic and policy experts of every stripe are already asserting the lessons and proposing competing agendas that the crisis seems to...
Graduation model programmes represent a relatively new but well-established type of anti-poverty programming. First designed and implemented in Bangladesh, they are now operational in more than 40 countries across the globe (Arévalo, Kaffenberger, and de Montesquiou 2018). A comprehensive and...
Graduation model programmes represent a relatively new but well-established type of anti-poverty programming. First designed and implemented in Bangladesh, they are now operational in more than 40 countries across the globe (Arévalo, Kaffenberger, and de Montesquiou 2018). A comprehensive and...
As a continuation of a series on new partnerships for health systems – on 29 July, a panel of health systems innovators and senior policymakers will share experiences and discuss the mechanisms for engagement with public-private health partnerships during and beyond the COVID-19...
COVID-19 as a challenge of complex interdependency
COVID-19 is a global challenge that demands researchers, policymakers, and governments to address multiple dimensions that go far beyond the implications of this pandemic for health and wellbeing. Just as the UN Sustainable Development Goals...
Covid-19 has meant that the people who can, are physically distancing, and many schools are closed. The result is that young people are expected to socialise and do their schooling online. Services, social and sexual lives are moving further online. Popular influencers say they are getting more...
Inclusive Futures, a consortium of 16 global partner organisations advocating for disability inclusion, which IDS is part of, is launching its new website on 24 July.
The website (www.inclusivefutures.org) is a hub of information for the global disability and development communities on learning...
This paper provides an overview of the key issues drawn from the literature reviewed and suggests established and potential mitigation strategies that could improve ethical practices when involving children with disabilities in evidence generation activities (for a summary, see Appendix...
The coronavirus pandemic has meant that many of us will be spending the vacation at home this year. But thankfully, there are a myriad of fantastic books and articles to occupy our time! So, whatever your interest is in international development, here are some of our top picks.
IDS...
What, if anything, is special about youth with respect to engagement in food systems? This question is important, owing to the size of the current demographic cohort of youth, globally but especially in the majority world, as well as the large stake, and strong influence, that today's youth will...
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).