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Inclusive Economies

Our work explores what characterises inclusive economies and how these can be achieved, particularly in a world where new technologies, rural to urban migration, and growing youth populations are disrupting and putting new pressures on people’s lives and livelihoods.

Our research looks at the impacts of business and markets on development and inequality and explores the potential for novel market-based solutions to work for the poorest and most marginalised based on gender, ethnicity and disability.  It explores alternatives that enable workers, consumers and communities to have a real voice.

It continues to revitalise debates on agriculture as a key pathway out of poverty and towards inclusion, particularly for young people. Our work is focused on identifying what opportunities exist in a period of agricultural commercialisation and rural transformation and how far different groups are able to access them.  It also understands how new technologies such as drones or blockchains pose risks, but can also be harnessed to improve the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people.  In a rapidly urbanising world where cities have become focal points for economic growth, jobs and innovation but also for poverty, inequality, vulnerability and conflict, our work explores what this means for both urban and rural people, and the opportunities and challenges they face in living safe and fulfilling lives.

People

Jodie Thorpe

Research Fellow

Philip Mader

Research Fellow

Richard Jolly

Emeritus Fellow and Research Associate

Ana Pueyo

Research Fellow

Carlos Fortin

Emeritus Fellow and Research Associate

Rachel Sabates-Wheeler

Research Fellow

Keetie Roelen

IDS Honorary Associate

Giel Ton

Research Fellow

Programmes and centres

Projects

Recent work

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Showing 133–144 of 15397 results

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Mexico

Countering Rollback Country Brief

In Mexico, significant progress has been made in promoting gender equality but, despite these advances, organisations operate in an environment that remains adverse for women and LGBTQI+ people.

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Kenya

Countering Rollback Country Brief

Kenya’s socio-political environment presents significant challenges for women’s and LGBTQI+ rights. Conservative social attitudes – deeply influenced by religious beliefs, political leaders, and traditional norms – exacerbate these challenges.

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Kazakhstan

Countering Rollback Country Brief

In Kazakhstan, social tensions between the Soviet legacy and the country’s identity as an independent nation perpetuate deep-seated homophobia. Despite the decriminalisation of consensual same-sex conduct in 1998, individuals who are LGBT+ continue to face fear and abuse, leading them to...

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Indonesia

Countering Rollback Country Brief

Indonesia is experiencing significant democratic backsliding, threatening the freedoms and rights of women and of LGBT+ communities. Civil society organisations, which have long been central to advancing democracy and human rights, are facing increasing restrictions under President Prabowo...

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: India

Countering Rollback Country Brief

Over the past decade, entrenched intersectional inequalities in India have been deepened by the shrinking space for civil society, the criminalisation of dissent and mass-incarceration of activists, state-sponsored violence against marginalised communities, the corporatisation of media, and the...

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Ghana

Countering Rollback Country Brief

In recent years, Ghana has faced significant pushback against LGBTQI+ rights, marked by stricter legal restrictions and widespread societal opposition. Similarly, progress on women’s rights has been slow, with inadequate policy implementation.

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Egypt

Countering Rollback Country Brief

Egypt has a rich history of feminist activism, but progress on LGBTQI+ rights and women’s rights ‘remains elusive, characterized by fits and starts along a non-linear trajectory’. Although Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, regularly pays lip service to women’s rights, his...

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Brazil

Countering Rollback Country Brief

The Brazilian government made significant strides in advancing rights for women and LGBTI+ people since 2000. However, in 2016, President Dilma Rousseff was impeached in a parliamentary coup and Michel Temer, her former vice-president and a centre-right politician, took over as president.

16 April 2025

Opinion

Making sense of the circular economy in an unequal world

The global transition towards the circular economy is often presented in an idealised and apolitical way, as the recirculation of matter and energy within a closed economic system that encompasses a homogeneous humanity and nature. This model promises resource and energy security, as well as a...

Emilio Bertrand Bunge Gonzalez, MA Development Studies, Class of 2024-25

16 April 2025

Opinion

Woman or Indigenous? How the UN human rights treaties simplify discrimination

The UN human rights treaties separate rights into categories, misrepresenting the reality of some cases of discrimination. There are cases where Indigenous people have sought justice for states violating their cultural rights through the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights...

Sofie Nielsen, MA Gender & Development, Class of 2024-25

16 April 2025

Opinion

What gets measured gets done: the change of metrics needed for our food system

Some of us live to eat, and most of us eat to live, but there are still two billion people who suffer from some form of hunger or malnutrition. Why do hunger and malnutrition persist even when the world produces enough calories for everyone? Why is the food system a victim to and a villain of...

Karan Shinghal, MSc Climate Change, Development and Policy, Class of 2024-25

16 April 2025

Why learn with us.

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).

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