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.
Following consultation with our equality, diversity and inclusion working group, the Institute of Development Studies is publishing its Anti-racism statement. The statement builds on commitments made in its equality, diversity and inclusion policy and sets out concrete actions for how these...
Ru-Yu Lin is a PhD researcher exploring local responses to environmental change in the Eastern Himalayas. In March her fieldwork was suddenly interrupted by Covid-19 and she had to rethink her approach. In this blog post, she shares her experiences and hope with others who are in a similar...
This research brief details the main ethical challenges
and corresponding mitigation strategies identified in
the literature with regard to the ethical involvement of
children with disabilities in evidence generation
activities.
Evidence generation activities are defined as
per the UNICEF...
The program applies a holistic approach to tackle issues of economic empowerment, gender-based discrimination, youth agency and enabling policy and normative environments
There is growing international attention on tax collection in low-income countries. This attention is only amplifying in light of the increased revenue pressures faced by governments around the world as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. While governments will be seeking new revenue sources in...
Never has the need for social protection been greater. In response to the economic and social fallout of Covid-19, almost every country in the world has introduced or expanded programmes that support those who are most vulnerable.
Informal and farm workers, migrants and people on the move, and...
Religious minorities around the world are being targeted and blamed for the spread of Covid-19. In this latest blog in our religious inequalities and the impact of Covid-19 series, Lasse Morthost shares reflections on how the contemporary crisis, caused by the spread of Covid-19, is both...
In the debate about demography in the context of sub-Saharan African countries, often the key messages focus on high expected population growth. Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is projected to at least double to around 2.5 billion by 2050, according to the United Nations World Population...
How we rebuild our economies after the Covid-19 crisis will depend on how societies change their relationship with finance.
Several decades of financialisation have given outsized power to financial markets and actors. Financial systems should serve the productive economy and be controlled...
Consequences from Covid-19 are set to have a colossal economic strain. Insights from a recent business impact survey confirm that the crisis has already affected small businesses more severely. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Global South are especially vulnerable, facing...
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).