This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies looks at how people engage with democracy. What has shifted us towards a more autocratic, rather than democratic, world? While there is nothing new about a politically divided citizenry, the current state of democracy strongly calls for an analysis of the diverse motivations of...

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies reviews queer and feminist organisations and social movements countering roll back in 14 countries. This rapid scoping review maps out the landscape of rollback politics across four key areas: sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI); sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR); gender-based violence...

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies looks at taxing smarter for equity, growth, and resilience. At a time of substantial uncertainty for global development, three things are clear. First, aid is retreating substantially, and probably permanently. Second, lower-income countries’ debt servicing costs are spiralling, and their ability to take on...

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies examines grass-roots innovations in food provisioning in five urban locations. This paper draws on an international research collaboration to examine grass-roots innovations in food provisioning in five urban locations. These include affordable food projects, comprising social supermarkets and a vegetable box delivery scheme, in...

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies reviews the three Cs for resisting the rollback of women’s rights and LGBTQI+ rights. This briefing is based on a rapid scoping review of anti-rollback actors and activities post-2015, in 14 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the...

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies looks at how much zakat we can estimate is being paid in Pakistan every year – and where the money is going. Every year, hundreds of millions of Muslims across the world pay a proportion of their wealth as zakat, one of the five...

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies highlights the significance of informality in understanding gendered tax burdens. Recent policy debates have increasingly focused on the gendered impacts of taxation, yet much of this work is rooted in high-income contexts, overlooking the realities of low- and middle-income countries where most individuals, particularly...

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies analyses the evolution of three community-led initiatives focused on food insecurity. This Working Paper analyses the emergence and evolution of three community-led initiatives focused on food insecurity, with the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and the ensuing cost-of-living crisis as the backdrop. These initiatives are located...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Development Studies provides a framing for an inclusive lens on AfT to enable more inclusive policy and programming. In a rapidly evolving global trade and development landscape, addressing trade-related challenges through aid for trade (AfT) remains highly relevant. The World Trade Organization–Organisation for Economic Co-operation and...

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies investigates the effects of India's termination from the US' GSP. This paper investigates the sudden 2019 termination by the United States Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) of trade with India as a quasi-natural experiment. Given the re-election of Donald Trump and global concerns about...