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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 553–564 of 15402 results

Publication

Relationships Among Business Owners in the Formal and Informal Sectors

Bangladesh Action Research Group 5

The Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) programme uses Action Research (AR) to understand the dynamics which drive the worst forms of child labour (WFCL), and to generate participatory innovations which help to shift these underlying dynamics and...

13 August 2024

Publication

Relationship Between Formal and Informal Enterprises in the Leather Sector

Bangladesh Action Research Group 4

The Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) programme uses Action Research (AR) to understand the dynamics which drive the worst forms of child labour (WFCL), and to generate participatory innovations which help to shift these underlying dynamics and...

13 August 2024

Report

The Drivers and Dynamics of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Kathmandu’s Adult Entertainment Sector: A Synthesis of Five Years of Research by Children, Business Owners, NGOs, and Academics

CLARISSA Research and Evidence Paper 18

This paper synthesises what the CLARISSA programme learned about the worst forms of child labour in Kathmandu’s adult entertainment sector. It looks at children’s pathways into child labour, their lived experience of it, and the businesses in which they work.

Elizabeth Hacker & 17 others

13 August 2024

Publication

Inability to Bear Educational Costs

Bangladesh Action Research Group 3

The Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) programme uses Action Research (AR) to understand the dynamics which drive the worst forms of child labour (WFCL), and to generate participatory innovations which help to shift these underlying dynamics and...

13 August 2024

Publication

Life of Children in the Workplace

Bangladesh Action Research Group 1

The Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) programme uses Action Research (AR) to understand the dynamics which drive the worst forms of child labour (WFCL), and to generate participatory innovations which help to shift these underlying dynamics and...

13 August 2024

Publication

Reactivation of the Association of Massage Parlours and Spa Venues

Nepal Action Research Group 12

A CLARISSA Action Research Group was created with the business owners of massage parlours and spa venues in a tourist area in Kathmandu Valley, where the project's life story collection had gathered evidence that many children (girls) arrived from villages in Kathmandu in search of work.

12 August 2024

Student Opinion

IDS student shares tips for securing start-up funding

We are delighted to announce that MA Governance, Development & Public Policy student Abhishek Saini has been awarded the prestigious Elevate grant of £4,000 by the University of Sussex for his volunteering reward platform VolCard. Here Abhishek gives his advice for other students thinking of...

Abhishek Saini, IDS student

12 August 2024

Opinion

Bringing local voices into health planning in London borough

Through the Living Roots project, IDS has worked with a council in the west London borough of Ealing to explore how chronic health inequities could be addressed by involving local people more closely in health planning. The project, which ended in July 2023, was a multidisciplinary and...

10 August 2024

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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