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.
To mark International Women’s Day 2024, colleagues from the Sustaining Power: Women’s struggles against contemporary backlash in South Asia (SuPWR) project, of which IDS is a partner, share their essential feminist reads.
Ranging from meditations and essay collections to academic...
Across the social protection landscape, there is a lot of discussion about improving capacity to design and deliver social protection or emergency assistance in protracted crises. However, there is limited analysis unpacking what this actually means. By introducing the ‘capacity cube’, this...
This briefing applies BASIC Research's new tool – the Capacity Cube – to better understand how to sustain capacity to deliver existing social programmes and systems in situations of climate and/or conflict crisis in Nigeria, Iraq, and Syria.
This research briefing introduces the Capacity Cube framework – a new tool for thinking about how capacity to deliver national social protection programmes and systems might be sustained in times of crisis.
There is no turning away from the harrowing images and videos coming out of Palestine each day. In one such video, not explicitly ‘brutal’ like the rest of them, an Israeli soldier shows a pair of high heels belonging to a Palestinian woman. He records himself saying how pretty they are, and...
An International Women’s Day film screening of 'This Stained Dawn', a documentary film about the build up to the 2020 Aurat March (women’s march) in Pakistan. The screening will be followed by a question and answer session with the globally acclaimed film director and producer Anam...
For the continent of Africa, seed's are integral to life. From deserts, river systems and forests, and for those growing a range of grains and vegetables, seed provides the mainstay for the continent’s 500 million small-scale farmers and is at the heart of rich and varied...
This is the third in a short blog series on Zimbabwe research published recently. The theme of belonging and identity in the post-land reform setting has attracted a lot of research attention recently. As a whole suite of papers published in 2022 showed, negotiating belonging in a complex,...
El estancamiento económico y las limitaciones para sostener un proceso de desarrollo sostenido en América Latina en las últimas décadas demandan un replanteo profundo y audaz de las políticas de desarrollo productivo y tecnológico.
Este replanteo requiere, en primer lugar,...
The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) has published a review of UK aid’s international climate finance commitments today. The aid watchdog warns that as resources are stretched, the UK’s £11.6 billion commitment is at risk of not being met.
The rapid review finds that the...
For the continent of Africa, seed’s are integral to life. From deserts, river systems and forests, and for those growing a range of grains and vegetables, seed provides the mainstay for the continent’s 500 million small-scale farmers and is at the heart of rich and varied cultures.
But...
Recent studies of the Covid-19 pandemic have found that millions in Bangladesh fell into poverty during this time, and they were unable to recover to their pre-pandemic economic position. This study draws on qualitative panel data collected from 39 new-poor households in Khulna, coping with...
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).