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.
With the results of the US presidential election looming, there is a collective sense of waiting with bated breath for the outcome. There can be no doubt it comes at a crucial juncture for international development, with only ten years to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals deadline and...
90 per cent of all COVID-19 cases globally occur in urban areas. However, the ecology of risk, that is, the direct and indirect impacts of the disease, as well as the long-term implications of responses to the pandemic, go well beyond city limits. The pandemic has called into question the very...
The Sanitation Learning Hub is a side event and will be presenting during the plenary along with CARE Peru. This session leverages the experience from community-based adaptation (CBA) in CARE Peru’s Glaciares program, and CBA research from the Sanitation Learning Hub and University of...
President of Costa Rica to call for environmental sustainability and inclusion in Covid-19 response at IDS Annual Lecture, with special guest Farhana Yamin.
The IDS Annual Lecture 2020 will be given by former IDS student, His Excellency the President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado Quesada. The...
This webinar, part of the China and Global Development Seminar Series, is delivered by the IDS China Hub, the Centre for Rising Powers, and the China Global Development Knowledge Network, in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council. This webinar is part of a webinar/seminar...
Less than two weeks before Myanmar’s national elections, May Sabe Phyu, Director of the Gender Equality Network (GEN), describes how violence against women in Myanmar continues unabated in this latest CREID Podcast. Sexual violence including rape against women from ethnic and religious...
Sexual grooming is a highly complex and understudied phenomenon. It connotes a very particular type of power relationship. While poor young girls and women globally are disproportionately vulnerable to all forms of sexual violence, we are particularly concerned about the oversight of...
Today, IDS Director Melissa Leach will join a high-level panel to discuss the future of international development cooperation.
The impacts of Covid-19 have thrown global development governance into sharp focus. Many new questions and challenges are emerging. The need for effective development...
We are pleased to invite you to a webinar Designing for Impact: South-South Trade and Investment - A Tool for Revitalizing the Global Economy Post COVID-19.
In March 2019, for the first time ever, the United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation (BAPA+40) recognized trade and...
As countries across the world grapple with the effects of COVID-19 and look towards ‘post-pandemic’ transformations, and as we enter the final decade of the UN Global Goals, fresh thinking and action in trade, investment and development have never been more welcome. In this, there are many...
This paper investigates the long-term impact of economic shocks on populism, by exploiting a natural experiment created by the trade liberalisation process implemented in Brazil between 1990 and 1995.
This high impact and low duration event generated a profound shock to the economy with, we...
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).