Through multidisciplinary research and policy engagement we bring new understanding and action on critical issues around health and health systems, and how they overlap with other systems such as food, as well as nutrition, sanitation, epidemics and zoonotic diseases. Enhancing understanding of how to ensure healthy lives for all is a vital part of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030) and has been an integral focus of IDS’ work since its inception.
Our research and analysis on innovations in health services and systems – including work on identifying effective strategies to address the challenges of antimicrobial resistance – is accelerating progress towards achieving universal health coverage in Asia and Africa. Our work on nutrition spans the spectrum from dietary transition and globalisation of food systems, through to responding to the ways that marginalisation and inequity drive high child malnutrition rates. We bring vital social knowledge to aid effective preparedness and response on pandemics. We show how direct impacts on the spread of diseases such as Ebola can be achieved by bringing learning from research on social issues and contexts to the right people in the right organisations at the right time. Together with our global partners, we are generating and sharing new knowledge and evidence to identify the underlying causes of poor health and social inequalities, and the progressive policies and practices that can help bring about transformative change.
This report from the Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development (K4D) Programme sets out to map the different guidance documents available on how to work most effectively with civil society in the delivery of international aid in ways that deepen democracy and advance the rights of...
This Briefing Note from the Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development (K4D) Programme responds to key challenges articulated by Foreign, Commonwealth & Development (FCDO) staff in monitoring how, and the extent to which, programming, policy and humanitarian interventions in crisis...
Another new book from the ever-impressive Unit of Zimbabwe Studies at Rhodes University, led by Kirk Helliker, is now out. It is called Livelihoods of Ethnic Minorities in Rural Zimbabwe and is edited by Kirk Helliker, Patience Chadambuka and Joshua Matanzima with 11 excellent chapters based...
Very little is known about why taxpayers in sub-Saharan Africa pay their taxes. This article reports results from a nationwide randomized controlled trial in Eswatini, nudging more than 20,000 income tax payers with behaviorally-informed mailings, building on deterrence, facilitation, and trust...
Scholars have long debated formalizing the informal sector through taxation, but how do these processes affect gender inequalities? Our study in Nigerian markets contributes a gender framework to the equitable taxation literature on formalization.
The study draws on a survey of 451 traders in...
In this blog, Founder and Director of On Think Tanks, Enrique Mendizabal, reflects on a joint research project with IDS which seeks to take a new approach, exploring Knowledge Translation in the Global South.
Knowledge translation (KT) practice has evolved over the decades. Research on KT...
Renewable, decentralised mini-grids are a promising technology for electrifying remote communities in sub-Saharan Africa. However, most mini-grids struggle not only to obtain a profit, but also to recover costs.
Despite a rich cultural tradition of gender-fluidity, the transgender community in India have been stigmatised as a ‘criminal tribe’ through a colonial-era law. The community has struggled for their rights over decades, and only after significant engagement with the judiciary were they...
Pakistan is facing numerous socioeconomic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, including on food security. Food insecurity, which is a long-standing issue, has become more visible since the pandemic.
Covid-19 Responses for Equity (CORE) partner the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)...
After a summer-long Conservative leadership contest, the UK has a new Prime Minister. IDS Director, Professor Melissa Leach, highlights the international development policy areas she should be prioritising, and why.
The UK’s new Prime Minister (and former Foreign Secretary), Liz Truss, enters...
Despite a rich cultural tradition of gender-fluidity, the transgender community in India have been stigmatised as a ‘criminal tribe’ through a colonial-era law. The community has struggled for their rights over decades, and only after significant engagement with the judiciary were they...
During the Covid-19 pandemic, governments and development agencies across the world took steps to keep businesses afloat, including in the food sector. However, often inadvertently (and sometimes intentionally), this support was only accessible to some; notably the better connected, and formally...
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).