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Impact Case Study: Fostering Inclusivity and Equitable Access to Essential Services Through the Household Address Initiative in Kiamutisya Settlement, Nairobi
No full textIn informal settlements like Kiamutisya (Nairobi, Kenya), where fires, flooding, and disease outbreaks frequently occur, accurately identifying affected households is crucial for rapid and effective response efforts. Cholera outbreaks, for example, are best contained and controlled by swiftly locating affected areas. The absence of a reliable identification system poses significant challenges for Community Health Promoters (CHPs) tasked with maintaining records of affected households.1 Consequently, during relief operations, there’s a risk of aid being distributed inequitably, potentially overlooking those most in need. Routine community health promotion services also require accurate information to enable effective targeting and inclusive coverage.The introduction of household addresses in Kiamutisya village in the Mathare informal settlement near Mlango Kubwa Village, Nairobi has had far-reaching benefits for those living in these settlements. This community information is vital for planning and effectively mobilising resources and services at the grassroots level. It makes the invisible visible, providing a basis for negotiations between the community and local authorities for city-wide initiatives to improve the current settlement conditions. Find out more in our case study.</p
Trade Inclusivity
No full textThe review begins with discussing a popular theoretical trade impact model (the Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson) model which suggests that trade openness has an impact on microeconomic factors, i.e., brings about changes in the consumption, production and income patterns at the household level. At this level, the model suggests that trade openness can increase the price households sell goods at, reduce the consumption price of households, and increase the income of households, thereby, reducing poverty and inequality. At the macroeconomic level, literature suggests that growth and productivity are required for reductions in poverty. Governments play an important role in collecting and using taxes from trade agreements, a change in tax revenue can affect the decisions made at the institutional/state level. In practice, however, the impact of trade and trade barriers and the consequent impact on trade inclusive measures vary significantly across different regions and groups,</p
Was There a Famine in Gaza in 2024?
No full textThe blockade that Israel imposed on the Gaza Strip, after the attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023, drastically reduced commercial and humanitarian deliveries of food. Together with heavy bombing that damaged more than half the farmland in Gaza, all sources of access to food were systematically undermined, and the population was exposed to several months of catastrophic food insecurity. Three assessments by the international community concluded that there was ‘a risk of famine’ in December 2023, that a famine was ‘imminent’ in March 2024, but that this threat had receded by June 2024 as restrictions on humanitarian relief were eased. Nonetheless, other sources including the World Food Programme assert that a famine did occur in northern Gaza in April–May 2024. This paper reviews the evidence and concludes that, whether or not a ‘technical’ famine occurred, Israel’s use of food as a weapon of war against civilians in Gaza caused avoidable hunger and starvation deaths, and almost certainly constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity.</p
Approaches to Institutionalising Locally-Led Development
No full textThis rapid evidence review surveys the literature on approaches to institutionalising locally-led development. The review notes that there is no tried-and-tested approach or universal set of reforms, policies, or programmes that an organisation can follow to achieve locally-led development, but a range of approaches and actions have been recommended as contributing towards locally-led development. There is a lack of guidance in the literature as to the most effective sequencing of these actions, although one set of tentative findings suggests beginning with foundational policies and institutional arrangements, followed by strengthening financing and partnership mechanisms, adapting management processes and delivery practices, and finally introducing approaches to measure progress.</p
Social Protection in Conflict and Conflict-Related Displacement Crises
No full textIn recent years, efforts to encourage the use of social protection in response to conflict and displacement have increased. Yet many of the lessons from social protection and shock-responsive programmes emerged in response to climate shocks and other disasters and are not necessarily transferable to conflict and displacement settings. Ultimately, the concern must be how to sustain support to the poorest and most vulnerable populations during conflict. This shifts the focus away from simply maintaining the functions and delivery capacities of state‑directed social protection towards how to harmonise multiple channels and providers of social assistance. State‑directed social protection may not be the most appropriate channel to address the needs of conflict-affected and displaced populations. This article considers the challenges to introducing, extending, and sustaining social protection in crises characterised by conflict and displacement.</p
Directrizes sobre a Protecção Social e a Sensibilidade ao Conflito para Moçambique
No full textMoçambique enfrenta elevados níveis de pobreza e é afectado por eventos e emergências climáticas. A região norte de Moçambique é relativamente mais pobre e, desde 2017, tem sido afectada por um grupo armado não pertencente ao Estado moçambicano (NSAG, sigla em Inglês), resultando em deslocações massivas de pessoas e numa crise humanitária. Moçambique conta com cinco programas de protecção social que não exigem contribuições prévias, que visam apoiar agregados familiares e indivíduos vulneráveis na satisfação das suas necessidades básicas. Nos últimos anos, alguns programas de protecção social foram adaptados para expandir a sua cobertura a grupos populacionais afectados por catástrofes naturais. Embora este seja um avanço significativo, ele influenciou debates sobre a protecção social sensível aos conflitos, focando-se mais na identificação e alcance dos beneficiários em áreas afectadas pelo NSAG. No entanto, é igualmente importante adoptar medidas para prevenir tensões e dinâmicas de conflito resultantes das intervenções de protecção social, que podem ocorrer em qualquer parte do país, e não apenas na região norte. Apenas a componente “Subsídio para Crianças” do Programa de Subsídio Social Básico (PSSB) implementado nas zonas afectadas pelos NSAG adaptou a sua implementação para abordar preocupações relacionadas com conflitos e segurança. Por outro lado, a concepção do Projecto de Recuperação da Crise no Norte de Moçambique, do Banco Mundial foi baseada numa Avaliação de Risco e Resiliência. Os programas de protecção social não acompanham as preocupações relacionadas com conflitos nem a eficácia das medidas sensíveis aos mesmos, o que dificulta o aprendizado sobre as melhores abordagens. Os conhecimentos técnicos em abordagens sensíveis aos conflitos estão dispersos entre as organizações e não estão organizados de forma centralizada nos fóruns existentes relacionados à protecção social.Este relatório apresenta uma visão geral das principais preocupações relacionadas a sensibilidade aos conflitos para os programas de protecção social e as suas modalidades de implementação em Moçambique, a nível regional, local e de programação. As principais preocupações incluem questões relacionadas com: (1) o direccionamento, registo e pagamento devido a erros e atrasos, bem como a falta de compreensão dos critérios de elegibilidade e da dinâmica entre as comunidades acolhedoras e deslocadas; (2) mecanismos inadequados de denúncias e reclamações; (3) coordenação limitada entre os intervenientes na execução; (4) insegurança gerada pelo NSAG; (5) medo e trauma reportados pelos colaboradores e beneficiários; e (6) potenciais dinâmicas de violência sexual baseada no género associadas aos pagamentos por carteiras móveis. Será necessária mais investigação no terreno, especialmente nos diversos programas. O relatório apresenta um conjunto de recomendações para fomentar um debate político inclusivo sobre a importância da protecção social sensível aos conflitos em todo o país, e não apenas na região norte. Além disso, apresenta recomendações para fortalecer a coordenação, a gestão do conhecimento, os recursos humanos e as capacidades institucionais. O Grupo de Trabalho de Protecção Social Adaptativa pode desempenhar um papel fundamental na manutenção, mobilização e desenvolvimento de conhecimentos técnicos sobre a sensibilidade ao conflito entre as partes interessadas em protecção social.</p
The International Tax Regime Complex: Understanding Change in Global Tax Governance
No full textFollowing a landmark vote in the UN General Assembly in December 2023, negotiations are taking place that will lead to a new framework convention on tax. While the UN is not new to international tax cooperation, ambitions for the convention extend beyond the remit of its current expert committee into policy areas where the OECD – in particular – already has a body of work. This creates risks of duplication, competition and incoherence that will depend on how the convention develops, how other organisations react, and how states engage with them. In this paper we draw three main insights from international relations scholarship to help understand and mitigate these risks.First, duplication is not new in global tax governance, which is already a ‘regime complex’ comprising multiple overlapping institutions. Policy issues with global implications can be governed coherently with multiple organisations coexisting in different ways, but this is more challenging if, as in international tax, states disagree on the content of substantive underlying norms.Second, the demand for a new institution stems from a legitimacy deficit across the whole regime complex that has input, throughput and output dimensions. As more constituencies become involved in an increasingly politicised domain, ‘input’ legitimacy no longer merely concerns which countries are at the table, but also who is represented, and thus requires a globally inclusive body at political level. In turn, this requires greater attention to throughput legitimacy – procedural fairness and transparency.Third, given the path dependence of international tax institutions, radical and comprehensive institutional reform is unlikely to happen overnight, and change is instead likely to be incremental. Literature suggests that processes through which one set of rules is ‘displaced’ by another can happen slowly in a regime complex characterised by competition between institutions.</p
African Cities in the Wake of Covid-19: Tracing Multiple Inequalities, Official Responses and Grassroots Strategies in Harare, Kampala, Lilongwe and Nairobi
No full textCovid-19’s acute phase has now subsided, but its lasting socioeconomic, health and political consequences remain poorly understood, especially in African cities. This paper discusses the pandemic’s impacts and grassroots responses in Harare,
Kampala, Lilongwe and Nairobi. In these four cities, affiliates of Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI) led our action research examining household- and community-level impacts of Covid-19 (from 2021 to 2023). We also analysed a range of grassroots
responses and emerging collaborations with government actors. Finally, we explored SDI’s organisational tactics and efforts to revitalise grassroots savings groups, as these schemes are integral to SDI’s bottom-up model of change in informal settlements.
The aftershocks of Covid-19 are still reverberating and intersecting with other crises, and we found relatively few households that had made a robust recovery. Rising precarity was common in the four cities and often linked with exclusionary governance,
depleted assets and increased costs of living. Our small-scale surveys indicated that in late 2022, most informal workers were still unable to work in Lilongwe, Harare and Kampala. Compounding such challenges, we found multiple instances of state-led
evictions to “clean up” low-income residents, alongside market-led displacements, owing to the rising unaffordability of shelter or services. Early Covid-related water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions were rarely maintained over time, which
underscores the importance of sustaining political will and responsiveness to low-income citizens. We also uncovered promising efforts to promote community health systems and strengthen grassroots organisations. SDI affiliates have revived savings
groups and enhanced recognition for grassroots knowledge, including via creative media. All four SDI federations have developed a set of flexible, inclusive strategies, such as a communal food fund in Nairobi. We close with key recommendations for policymakers
From Data to Action: How Findings From an Interagency Rapid Qualitative Assessment are Stimulating Action to Support Drought-Affected Communities in Zambia
No full textThe Republic of Zambia is one of several countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa region that has been grappling with multiple concurrent emergencies that have affected the health and safety of the population. In February 2024, a national state of emergency was declared in Zambia due to a severe and prolonged drought affecting over half of the country. These emergencies have adversely affected women and children who are especially vulnerable to diseases, malnutrition and violence.In response, the Collective Service – an interagency partnership between UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – has been providing technical surge support on cholera and drought emergencies. This support has been to UNICEF Zambia and its partners from the Ministry of Health, Zambia National Public Health Institute, Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU), the University of Zambia School of Public Health, Public Private Dialogue Forum and the Zambia Red Cross Society. The support has been in collaboration with global partners, including UK Public Health Rapid Support Team, SSHAP and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct people-centred, rapid qualitative assessments (RQAs) to inform community engagement strategies and hold response actors accountable to affected populations.Since November 2023, the Collective Service has supported the coordination of the Zambia Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) cluster through strengthened community feedback mechanisms, operational social science training and support, and shared data intelligence and analysis. The Collective Service has also supported the implementation of RQAs to highlight important issues emerging in Zambia. Four RQAs, conducted in 2023 and 2024, focused on cholera; and two RQAs, conducted in 2024, focused on the impact of the drought across nutrition; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); and health and social protection. This brief summarises and shares information from the RQA, conducted from 28 May to 2 June 2024, of drought-related community perceptions and behaviours in Zambia.</p
Rapport du séminaire : Comment améliorer la préparation et la riposte contre les épidémies dans les régions frontalières de l’Afrique centrale et de l’Est ?
No full textLes épidémies touchent depuis longtemps les régions frontalières de l’Afrique centrale et de l’Est en raison d’une combinaison de conditions écologiques, sociales, économiques et politiques. Par exemple, les frontières poreuses et les réseaux économiques et sociaux transfrontaliers facilitent le déplacement des personnes – et des agents pathogènes – d’un pays à l’autre. Bien que les activités de préparation et de riposte contre les maladies épidémiques aient évolué au fil du temps, les risques demeurent, et de nombreuses vies continuent d’être perdues en raison de flambées épidémiques de maladies évitables. Les politiques et les pratiques peuvent s’appuyer sur les enseignements tirés de flambées épidémiques passées et en cours, ainsi que sur la recherche concernant la préparation et la riposte au sein des régions frontalières. Ces changements dans les politiques et les pratiques peuvent améliorer la résilience face aux flambées épidémiques de maladies infectieuses et leurs impacts multidimensionnels.Ce bref rapport présente des recommandations et réflechit aux discussions concernant la préparation et la riposte contre les épidémies dans les régions frontalières de l’Afrique centrale et de l’Est issues d’un séminaire auquel ont participé des spécialistes des sciences sociales, des responsables politiques ainsi que des professionnels de l’humanitaire et de la santé publique originaires de l’Ouganda, de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) et du Soudan du Sud. Le hub de la SSHAP pour l’Afrique centrale et de l’Est a organisé et animé le séminaire en août 2023 à Kampala, en Ouganda.Le rapport débute par une liste de recommandations qui ont été formulées à l’issue des discussions. Cette liste est suivie de contexte supplémentaire et de réflexions portant sur les contextes sociaux, économiques et politiques liés au risque de maladies et qui doivent être pris en considération afin d’améliorer l’efficacité d’une préparation et d’une riposte futures au sein de la région.</p