Digital Development and the Digital Gender Gap

This rapid literature review collates findings from recently published papers on digital development and gender, highlighting some of the most commonly discussed discussions related to economic, social and political development. As the scope of this query is very large, this review provides an illustration of some of the commonly identified issues in the literature. The digital inclusion agenda seeks to close the gaps in access to, and adoption of, fast evolving information and communication technology (ICT) services, particularly mobile phones and the internet. It is an important aspect of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as both an end and a means to the cross-cutting policy aim of ‘leaving no one behind’. The potential gains from digital technologies are high, however they often remain unrealised, especially for women and girls (World Bank, 2016). There is a large and growing amount of recently published policy relevant literature on this broad ranging subject particularly in policy/practitioner papers and in academia

Lessons from Environmental Peacebuilding Programming

This rapid literature review collates lessons from conflict resolution/peacebuilding programmes that include land, resource management, and/or environmental issues. Environmental peacebuilding includes a wide range of environmental and natural resource activities, e.g. including activities in the areas of: climate change mitigation and preparation; agriculture and farming; natural resource exploitation; access, use and ownership of land; rewilding; and nature conservation; etc. This query draws on a range of examples from these areas, and from different countries, and provides lessons for the key issues most mentioned in that literature. There is a large and disparate literature base that could be considered to provide lessons on the broad remit of environmental peacebuilding. This is partly due to the broad spectrum of issues that the environment can be considered to cover (as above). The literature which provides high-level lessons on this is mainly produced by practitioners (especially the UN agencies), and there are a number of academic articles that provide micro-level case studies. While there is a lot of literature providing overall principles, guidance, and lessons, there is less literature that specifically evaluates programmes in this area. This literature has increased significantly in recent years as the environment has moved up as a political priority for many donor

Conflict Analysis of Bangladesh

This helpdesk report examines the root causes and dynamics of conflict and (in)stability in Bangladesh. The report finds that Bangladesh has a violent political culture, and has experienced widespread political violence, especially around elections – this is a feature of its increasingly authoritarian democracy. Bangladesh is generally heralded as an economic development success story, compared to most other South Asian economies. Its economic performance is ‘quite strong’ with growth of 6.3% per year since 2007. Social, ethnic and religious conflicts have flared when exploited for political purposes, but are mostly latent. Conflict and (in)stability causes and actors in Bangladesh include the following: social cleavages, environmental challenges, economic challenges and governance, political challenges – elections, political violence, and party politics, political settlement, justice and corruption, the Rohingya crisis, extremism, the Chittagong Hill Tracts conflict and the Bangladesh-India border

Development Characteristics of Small Island Developing States

This rapid literature review explores whether there are specific characteristics of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), or a subgroup of SIDS, which mean that income alone is an inaccurate measure of development. This review found some studies that explicitly state that income is an inadequate indicator for measuring development in SIDS (e.g. Bourne, et al., 2015, p.9). However, the literature on SIDS more commonly focuses on the SIDS’ specific needs and characteristics, rather than focussing on their income status. Despite the lack of focus in the literature, the conclusion that income is an inadequate indicator for measuring development in SIDS could be inferred from: the widespread identification of the SIDS as having specific development needs; the development of specific indexes to measure vulnerability; the political focus on raising attention to the SIDS’ needs; and the increased risks, and knowledge of the risks, from the climate crisis to SIDS

Conflict Analysis of the Philippines

This rapid literature review examines the main conflict and instability drivers in the Philippines. The conflict has been a longstanding feature of the Philippines, with two long-running insurgencies, and a number of other types of conflict and violence. In the current day the main types of violence and conflict include: violence by state actors against civilians; clan-related violence; political and armed conflicts by nationalist/separatist groups in Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago; a communist-inspired guerrilla campaign (mainly in western Mindanao); violent extremist and criminal groups; anti-drug vigilantes; other criminal violence; domestic and gender-based violence; protests; violence around elections; and local conflicts over resources and community rights. The Philippines has a long history of insurgent groups, three main armed insurgent groups are currently active, plus there are multiple violent extremist groups and factions. Militants move easily between violent extremism, insurgency and criminality. A number of groups align themselves to the so-called Islamic State (IS). Some see the new groups as representing a new strand of violent extremism, while others see them as having evolved from the previous struggles for secession and self-determination. There is a substantial amount of recent literature looking at the different issues that may drive conflict and instability in the Philippines. At the macro/country level, it is mostly from policy and practitioners. The literature tends to focus on: the recent violent extremist conflict acts ad actors; the peace process and the newly established Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM); and the human rights violations of Duterte’s war on drugs. The first two are discussed together, and the literature does not tend to separate out the drivers for the conflict relating to the older insurgent groups and the newer pro-IS insurgent factions. The majority of literature focuses on the Mindanao region, while the human rights/war-on-drugs literature covers the country more broadly

Lessons from Stabilisation, Statebuilding, and Development Programming in South Sudan

This rapid literature review collates lessons from major evaluations and learning reviews from development, state-building and stabilisation programming in South Sudan since independence in 2011. Key findings include: a) Donors in South Sudan have had to transition from humanitarian to development aid and back and forth a number of times as conflict has broken out. Donors need options to cope with a nonlinear state-building process as South Sudan’s political settlement has been, and will remain, very challenging; b) The sustainability of programmes in South Sudan has been limited as typically funding will not continue beyond the project, and as there is a high turnover of donor staff due to the difficult and dangerous living and working conditions. This is a major challenge for donors; c) Many donor programmes are identified as being “relevant” to the context and needs. However, South Sudan’s security situation holds back the achievements of many programmes. This rapid literature review found a lot of evaluations and reviews of programming in South Sudan, with many focussed on humanitarian programming (not covered in this query), and development programming, and few focussed on stabilisation. This review has endeavoured to only include evaluations of programmes that occurred after 2011, however, where it does include papers that analyse the period before and after 2011, it attempts to separate off only the lessons relevant to the post-2011 period (e.g. it only includes a little bit of information on the Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Southern Sudan (MDTF-SS) as this closed in 2012) (Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies, 2013). The literature is mostly produced by practitioners, policy-makers, and think tanks

Aid and Non-state Armed Groups

This rapid literature review collates lessons related to aid (conditionality) and non-state armed groups (NSAGs). This is a companion paper to Herbert (2019) which looks more broadly at lessons from the use of aid conditionality in peace processes, that paper includes greater detail on what conditionality is. While the question posed sought to find information on where the following three issue areas collide: aid conditionality; influencing NSAGs; and the provision of basic services and governance by NSAGs. This rapid review did not find one article focussed on this specific question, nor did it find information on different combinations of just two of these issue areas. Due to this dearth of information, this query collates lessons on related issues, including: lessons from external actor-NSAG relations; aid conditionality used in fragile and conflict affected states (FCAS); and negotiations and cooperation between NSAGs and humanitarian actors. There may be various reasons for this lack of information. Firstly, as it is obviously very difficult for international actors to fund NSAGs, and even just dialogue is subject to increased scrutiny and controls. Second, as aid conditionality is most relevant when there is a high level of leverage over the actor, and this is typically very limited with NSAGs who do not directly receive much aid. Third, if they do receive or benefit from aid, much will likely be humanitarian, not development, aid. And the consensus is that it is not ethical, practical or legal to use conditionality with humanitarian aid. Aid is almost most likely to be given related to the achievement, or implementation, of peace agreements. Fourth, if (and when) aid is provided to NSAGs, it is unlikely to be documented in publicly available papers due to sensitivities. Fifth, this whole enquiry is complicated by the fact that most aid is conditional (to some degree), and the term and understanding of conditionality is not clear, and is often not used in the literature. Notably, the language of conditionality has become more unpopular as the international community has favoured principles of partnership, local ownership, and selectivity (Goodhand, 2006). This all complicates the search for literature for this paper, and the criteria for inclusion

Leaving No One Behind: Perspectives and Directions from DFID Multi-Cadre Conferences

This report is on two DFID multi-cadre conferences that explored how strengthening a development focus on leaving no one behind (LNB) improves the lives of people living in extreme poverty and marginalisation. The conferences brought together over 220 advisers from across the livelihoods, social development, infrastructure, and climate and environment cadres. The purpose of this report is to share the outcomes and process of the conferences with colleagues in DFID and partner organisations. The conferences provided an innovative and interdisciplinary space for peer learning and led to a shared understanding of how the LNB agenda could be progressed within DFID, with partners and within cadre groups. LNB is a core commitment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and a key priority for DFID, with the UK Government having been a very strong advocate for embedding this concept in the SDGs. The conferences explored the implications of LNB for economic development, building stability and increasing resilience, with attention to the crosscutting issues of gender, disability, digital access, and migration. They were innovative in the way they integrated collaborative facilitation processes and visual recording within an overall framework of scenario analysis. The design aimed to optimise peer-to-peer sharing and learning while working towards a collective understanding of how to accelerate progress on the LNB agenda. Central to the discussions was the concept of intersectionality, i.e. recognition that extreme poverty and marginalisation must be viewed from the intersection of multiple interacting social, political, and economic factors. In seeking solutions, it makes little sense to focus on one group or one form of exclusion without considering the wider context of interacting forms of exclusion

Digital inclusion – recent trends and messages

This annotated bibliography collates extracts from recently published flagship policy reports on digital inclusion in international development, highlighting the key messages, trends and issues. The digital inclusion agenda seeks to close the gaps in access to, and adoption of, fast evolving information and communication technology (ICTs) services, particularly mobile phones and the internet. It is an important aspect of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as both an end and a means to the cross-cutting policy aim of ‘leaving no one behind’. The potential gains from digital technologies are high, however they often remain unrealised