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.
Despite much of humanity being faced with one of its worst pandemics for over a century, Covid-19 has not been a great equaliser. Pre-existing vulnerabilities have been exposed and social, economic, gender and religious inequalities have been exacerbated. If we do not address these inequalities...
Children end up in child labour as a result of many, often unknown or hidden, interactions between multiple actors and multiple factors within households, communities, and labour systems, leading to unpredictable outcomes for children and other sector stakeholders and sometimes resulting in the...
This rapid review research provides the most comprehensive mapping and analysis of predictive analytic initiatives in humanitarian aid to date. It documents 49 projects including a variety of novel applications (see Appendix for details).
It provides a typology of predictive analytics in...
A cyclone is the last thing you need during the coronavirus pandemic! In May 2020, supercyclone Amphan - one of the severest cyclones originating in the Bay of Bengal for over a century - ripped through coastal Bangladesh and the eastern coast of India causing widespread damage and disruption....
Agroecology is increasingly recognized within mainstream development. Yet, this is controversial, due to disagreement over what it does and should mean.
The announcement that the UK Department for International Development (DFID) is to be merged with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), although not a complete surprise, arrived with very little forewarning or the anticipated consultation through the Integrated Review. Taking this decision...
A new online course introduces key debates and concepts about pastoralism, and explores the varying ways that pastoralists respond to uncertainty around the world.
Based on the work of the PASTRES programme, the course is aimed at students, practitioners and policy-makers. It is divided into 13...
This Emerging Evidence Report gathers and analyses evidence on informal labour intermediaries (ILIs) involved in facilitating the worst forms of child labour in three countries – Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar. More specifically, it attempts to identify who the ILIs are and how they work, and...
This paper considers whether the ‘Amount B’ proposal currently being negotiated in the Inclusive Framework, for the attribution of fixed remuneration for the ‘routine’ distribution and marketing activities of MNE affiliates, may offer a useful template for the re-working of the widely...
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).