A Day in the Life of a Working Child in Kathmandu, Nepal: A Synthesis of 20 Stories about Children’s Days

This synthesis paper summarises patterns in the lived experience of 20 children in Kathmandu who went about a typical day in their lives. Combining use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, a survey children completed via a mobile phone app, and ethnographic observations, children and adult researchers recorded locations, times of day, activities, and feelings. This paper brings into view the challenges that children in worst forms of child labour navigate before, after, and between work. The findings illustrate how children struggle to combine work and school. It surfaces the fears that the children have getting to and from work. The paper shows how they navigate both stigma and harassment. The children work long hours into the night in unsafe locations, for low wages, which makes it difficult to survive. They work through sickness, and their work makes them sick. They have to work with men who are drunk and, in some venues, are required to drink alcohol themselves. On commission-based earning structures, the children’s survival depends on it. Aside from the immediate and long-term effects of alcohol consumption, children struggle to navigate the dangers at work and in their neighbourhoods under its influence. Some of the actions that government actors, non-governmental organisations, businesses, and the children themselves could take to improve safety and wellbeing in workplaces and on journeys to and from work are discussed.Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO

Real Exchange Rate and Export Surge Episodes: What Sectors Take Advantage of the Real Exchange Rate Stimulus?

What are the main characteristics of sectors that take advantage of the real exchange rate stimulus after a large and long-lasting devaluation? We aim to answer this question by analyzing the development of export sectors in Argentina during 2003–2008, after the crisis and large devaluation of 2002. This six-year period shows the highest number of sectors with export surge episodes from 1980 to 2015. We find, first, that the probability of export surge episodes increased 2.5% by each standard deviation of the higher labor intensity index during the large and long-lasting devaluation period because non-tradable costs prevail in their production function. Second, we show that export surges are more likely to occur in sectors related to already competitive sectors (mainly upstream sectors). Finally, the new export volumes in those sectors show persistent dynamics despite the end of the period of currency competitiveness, a signal of trade hysteresis

Neglected Second and Third Generation Challenges of Urban Sanitation: A Review of the Marginality and Exclusion Dimensions of Safely Managed Sanitation

Sanitation is fundamental for health and wellbeing yet cities, especially in the global South, face challenges in providing safely managed sanitation systems. Global and national sanitation campaigns tend to focus on the visible aspects of being ‘on grid’ in terms of toilet construction and connections but rarely address the dangerous, invisible aspects of being ‘off grid’ such as poor or unsafe excreta disposal and inadequate faecal sludge management (often considered to be second or third generation sanitation challenges). These, however, tend to disproportionately affect poor and marginalised people in off-grid locations in rapidly urbanising areas. This review paper engages critically with the growing literature on the challenges of faecal sludge management and circular economy solutions. Through the lens of exclusion and marginality, we review debates regarding access to safely managed sanitation, the burden of sanitation workers and safely recovering value from shit. We argue that sanitation systems often reproduce and exacerbate existing societal hierarchies and discriminations in terms of unequal access to safely managed sanitation and the burden of maintaining sanitation infrastructures. It is thus important for future research on faecal sludge management and resource recovery from shit to focus on issues of marginality and exclusion

Building Fiscal Capacity with Traditional Political Institutions: Experimental and Qualitative Evidence from Sierra Leone

How can weak states build fiscal capacity? I argue that governments in weak states can build fiscal capacity by collaborating with non-state, traditional political institutions (TPIs). Using a mix of experimental and qualitative evidence, I show that this collaboration increases citizens’ compliance because TPIs possess legitimacy and coercive capacity. Collaborating with the local government in Kono District, Sierra Leone, I embedded an experiment in their campaign to collect property taxes. Potential taxpayers were shown awareness videos that varied in their content, particularly in terms of whether and how their local paramount chief characterised his involvement in tax collection. I find that state collaboration with TPIs increases a preregistered proxy of citizens’ compliance with a newly introduced property tax and that TPIs’ authority stems from both their legitimacy and coercive capacity. Qualitative evidence from 300 semi-structured interviews adds a richer description of legitimacy and coercive capacity in my context. I argue, based on qualitative evidence, that legitimacy and coercion are complementary mechanisms of TPIs’ authority enabling them to effectively coordinate collective action to produce local public goods in the absence of the state

Humanitarian Diplomacy Definitions and Approaches

This rapid evidence review explores humanitarian diplomacy, acknowledging its varied definitions and approaches amidst a growing literature. It reveals the complexity of assessing success across different contexts and delineates the challenges faced by humanitarian actors, often acting from positions of relative weakness compared to states. Key findings include the importance of negotiation practices, challenges in working with non-state armed groups, and the effectiveness of invoking humanitarian principles. While evidence points to some success in promoting humanitarian norms, coordination mechanisms face obstacles. The review underscores the need for further research to understand the nuances of humanitarian diplomacy across diverse contexts

Key Considerations: Effective Vaccine Rollout and Uptake in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone received its first shipment of 550,000 malaria vaccines in December 2023, marking a milestone for public health in a country that sees over two million hospital visits for malaria annually.1 Over the last 20 years, routine childhood vaccination in Sierra Leone has increased significantly; DTP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) coverage went from 64% in 2004 to 91% in 2022, while measles went from 60% in 2015 to 73% in 2022.2 Sierra Leone has also implemented emergency vaccination programmes, such as experimental Ebola vaccines and the more recent COVID-19 vaccines. However, major crises – such as the 1991-2002 civil war and the Ebola epidemic – have resulted in significant drops in vaccine coverage. This brief draws on evidence from academic and grey literature, proposing key considerations for ongoing vaccination efforts – including the hepatitis vaccine and the new malaria vaccine (RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S)). It offers insights on how best to address these considerations when planning equitable vaccine campaigns for new infections. This will enable UNICEF and health system stakeholders including the Expanded Program on Immunization, the Directorate of Primary Healthcare, and the District Health Management Teams to plan inclusive and equitable vaccine programming

Pathways into the Tax Net: Better Ways to Register African Taxpayers

Systems for registering taxpayers in sub-Saharan Africa are often poorly designed and managed. There are three characteristic problems: the process of registering new taxpayers is not sufficiently targeted on the people and businesses likely to be liable to pay tax; too many (nominal, unproductive) taxpayers are registered; and taxpayer identification (ID) details in the tax register are inaccurate. These problems interact perversely – each exacerbates the others. They will all to a large degree be solved, almost naturally, as a result of: (a) greater digitisation of tax administration generally, and (b) further interfacing between the digital systems of tax agencies and those of other (public sector) organisations, notably cross-government ID databases. But this takes time. There are significant shorter-term registration problems that need policy attention. In part they have not received it yet because these problems are rare in richer countries, which still exercise a huge influence on the tax reform agenda in Africa and other low-income regions. On the basis of recent experience in a range of African countries, we list some taxpayer registration practices that should be abandoned or used sparingly, and some that should be used more widely, to better target registration on those businesses and individuals who should be paying tax

Are Trade Rules Undermining Taxation of the Digital Economy in Africa?

African countries are currently considering provisions in the AfCFTA and at the WTO to liberalise digital trade. As they face mounting fiscal pressures, it is imperative that they beware the implications of digital trade provisions for their ability to tax their digital economy. In this paper, we develop a comprehensive framework for analysing the impact of trade rules on tax regimes in the digital economy, with a focus on Kenya, Rwanda, and South Africa. We explore how trade rules ostensibly shape tax policies and their implications for revenue generation. By examining rules regulating trade in services and the imposition of customs duties on electronic transmissions, we identify how these rules may directly impact tax policies and limit revenue generation possibilities. Moreover, digital trade rules, such as those related to data flows, localisation, and source code sharing, have the capacity to produce both indirect and administrative effects on tax measures. These rules can alter tax structures, taxation rights, data collection, and the capacity to monitor and implement tax measures. Our findings shed light on the complex interplay between trade rules and tax measures, highlighting potential challenges and opportunities for revenue generation from the digital economy in African countries

Not-So-Freeway: Informal Highway Taxation and Armed Groups in North-East India

What are the implications of non-state armed group taxation on the business environment and conflict dynamics? Various non-state armed groups collect ‘tax’ along arterial roads in north-east India – of different types and amounts, with varying degrees of coercion and systematisation. Based on extensive fieldwork, including 100 interviews with non-state armed groups, businesspeople and state actors, we use the lens of the transit economy in the Indian state of Manipur along the Indo-Myanmar border to identify the long-term effects of non-state armed group taxation

Cameroon’s Tax on Mobile Money: Implications for Agents’ Performance and Revenue Sustainability

Agents play a key role in making financial services more accessible, especially for those who are financially excluded. Agents act as intermediaries between mobile money account holders and mobile money service providers, helping them to register as new customers and to credit and take money out of their accounts. In this paper, we explore how introducing a 0.2 per cent tax on mobile money transactions in Cameroon in 2022 affected the performance and revenue of agents. We mainly analyse agents’ commission and transactions using the administrative databases of those responsible for daily management of agent networks (henceforth superagents). To complement our analysis, we conducted a survey of agents in the Centre Region, asking about their business strategies after introducing the tax on mobile money