Publications

Powering Inclusive Irrigation in Bhutan

CEDCA Stories of Change 1

Reliable irrigation is out of reach for many farmers in Bhutan’s steep mountain landscapes. Only 3 per cent of land is suitable for agriculture and 80 per cent of that lacks year-round irrigation, limiting productivity, food security, and rural livelihoods, especially for women...

Digital Backlash: Manifestations and Resistance

Countering Backlash Working Paper 15

The backlash against the gains won by feminist and LGBTQIA+ movements are manifesting in digital spaces through a complex array of socio-technical-political mechanisms involving political actors, technology companies, and new affordances for harm. Digital systems increasingly entrench and...

Becky Faith & 2 others

Taxing Smarter: Advancing Reform Through Research and Partnership

A new phase in global development has begun. Aid is retreating, and is unlikely to return to previous levels. Debt servicing costs have risen sharply, absorbing a growing share of public budgets and making additional borrowing difficult. At the same time, spending needs are increasing – from...

What Have We Learned About Access?

The Humanitarian Access Initiative (HAI) has been promoting community-led humanitarian action across southern Somalia since late 2024. Now, it is time to assess what the project has learned about access. Our experience has shown that humanitarian agencies gain the greatest access when...

From Projects to Partnership: Transforming African Innovation Systems through Local Investment and Learning

ATIP Learning Deep Dive 1

This Learning Deep Dive brings together insights from the FCDO African Technology and Innovation Partnership Programme (ATIP) shared by delivery partners and grantees as well as wider stakeholders during a final learning event facilitated by the Institute of Development Studies in the...

Patriarchal Backlash against Gender Equality in Kenya: A Mixed Methods Study

Countering Backlash Working Paper 13

Gender equality has been a pivotal focus in development agendas globally since the 1980s. Despite significant progress having been made thus far, patriarchal backlash remains a critical challenge in many regions across the globe, including Kenya. This study conducted in Kenya by Advocates for...

Climate Resilience and Poverty Reduction

IDS Bulletin 57.2

East and Southern Africa face a disproportionately high burden from climate change, which is posing a growing threat to poverty reduction in these regions. Given the dependence of poor and vulnerable rural populations on agricultural livelihoods, support programmes and policies urgently need to...

‘A Ship of Theseus Moment’: Funding Law Backlash and Feminist Movement Abeyance in India

Countering Backlash Working Paper 14

Drawing on qualitative research with women’s and trans rights organisations across India, this paper examines a period of democratic regression that has reshaped not only formal institutions, but the everyday conditions under which dissent, rights-based advocacy, and feminist organising take...

Sudarsana Kundu & 2 others

‘The Constitution is our only Weapon’: Resisting and Countering the Assault on the Citizenship Rights of Muslim Women in India and Uttar Pradesh

Countering Backlash Working Paper 12

This research documents and analyses what assaults on the Muslim community in India over the last several years mean for the citizenship rights of Muslim women. Based on the findings of primary and secondary research carried out in collaboration with a feminist network in Uttar Pradesh (UP)...

Shraddha Chigateri

Governing the Exchange of Tax Data in Digital Public Infrastructure: Law, Rights, and the Protection of Citizens in Data-Driven Systems

ICTD Policy Brief 23

Digital public infrastructure (DPI) can transform tax administration by enabling governments to identify taxpayers, link records, and exchange and analyse tax-relevant data across institutions at scale. DPI is better understood as a way of designing, governing, and using shared digital...

Daisy Ogembo

Hannelore Niesten

BASIC Research Global Review: Widening Social Protection Approaches and Practice to Achieve Crisis-Resilient Social Protection

BASIC Research Working Paper 65

This working paper reviews research about how social protection systems and programmes can be made more resilient in crisis situations, especially conflict settings. It draws on country case studies from Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Sudan, and on interviews and document...

Sustaining Social Protection in Conflict Settings

BASIC Research Working Paper 64

This working paper examines if and how social protection systems and programmes can be sustained in conflict-affected contexts, with a particular focus on findings from the Better Assistance in Crises (BASIC) Research programme’s work in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

Rachel Slater

Alexandrine Dupras