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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 145–156 of 15397 results

Opinion

Making spaces inclusive: what restroom signs reveal

I identify as a woman. So, when I read the sign below, I thought: this is wrong. And I was right. Obviously. The irony of this moment made me angry, and suddenly, restroom signs were things I couldn’t un-see. Everywhere I went, they followed me. Despite trying to ignore them, the rage grew and...

Riya Behl, MA Power, Participation & Social Change, Class of 2024-25

16 April 2025

Opinion

Bringing India’s skilling and education closer

Frequently, while proposing solutions for India’s vast skilling gap, we tend to miss the forest for the trees. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)- India’s largest skilling initiative is often chastised inter-alia for its deficient placements, compromised training lengths, and...

Ayush Punia, MA Poverty & Development, Class of 2024-25

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Argentina

Countering Rollback Country Brief

The rollback of women’s rights and of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and more (LGBT+) rights in Argentina has escalated since the election of President Javier Milei in 2023. The response to these rollbacks, however, has been limited, particularly considering Argentina’s history of mass...

16 April 2025

Opinion

Exploring our positionalities to navigate design choices

This is the second blog in our reflective series. In our first blog we introduced the Full Spectrum Coalition (FSC) evidence and learning group, the challenge it responds to and the need to move beyond the performative dance that gets in the way of meaningful evaluation design. Here, we reflect...

Marina Apgar
Marina Apgar & 2 others

16 April 2025

News

MEPCCC closing reflections: strategies for preserving heritage

On 25 February 2025, the University of Duhok hosted a conference titled ‘Preserving Cultural Heritage in Kurdistan - Iraq’. This event, organised in collaboration with the Institute of Development Studies, marked the end of the Middle East People’s Culture Conservation Collective (MEPCCC)...

15 April 2025

Opinion

The evil eye and the needle: preserving cultural heritage

Deq (Arabic: دەق) or xal (Kurdish: خاڵ) are the Arabic and Kurdish words for tattoo respectively. Traditional Deq (tattoo) or Xal has long been a part of cultural heritage in Kurdistan and Iraq, it is shared by multiple ethnic and religious groups in Kurdistan, such as Yazidis, Shabaks,...

Harzhin Mohammed Saadi (Student, University of University of Duhok)

Hussein Jameel Ahmed (Student, University of University of Duhok)

15 April 2025

Opinion

Ghana’s e-levy: 3 lessons from the abolished mobile money tax

The first budget speech of Ghana’s new government on 11 March painted a picture of an economy in crisis, facing high debt and fiscal mismanagement. The finance minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, acknowledged that key International Monetary Fund performance targets would be missed and announced...

Max Gallien
Max Gallien & 2 others

15 April 2025

Opinion

Anti-caste commitments in UK higher education: A call to action

Research on and in the Indian subcontinent has historically been embroiled in the same caste power dynamics of the environments that scholars attempt to study. Development, both as a practice and as a field of knowledge, including within UK Higher Education (HE), remains dominated by...

Aarti Rajput
Aarti Rajput & 3 others

14 April 2025

Opinion

The mirage of a sole appropriate evaluation design

How might evaluation research respond to the complex and emergent nature of holistic community-led development? What does an equitable living partnership between evaluators and researchers, funders and programme implementers look and feel like? What are the highs and lows of navigating...

Marina Apgar
Marina Apgar & 2 others

14 April 2025

Opinion

Humanitarian crisis in Myanmar after the earthquake: Challenges under the military junta

On 28 March 2025, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit central Myanmar, a country going through a civil war and an already worsening humanitarian crisis under the military junta. The earthquake was the most powerful earthquake to hit Myanmar in decades, causing widespread devastation across...

Anonymous, former IDS student from Myanmar

14 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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