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Shaping policy for development

An overview of Lagoro IDP camp in Kitgum District, northern Uganda, 20 May 2007. Manoocher Deghati/IRIN
Thu, 07/25/2013 - 17:52 -- Anonymous (not verified)
Lifting women out of poverty
Lifting women out of poverty

Community members in a local slum participate in discussions after watching video documentaries screened by the Self Employed Women's Association of India. (Gujarat, India, 2010)
License: Creative Commons
Credit: Gates Foundation
Source: Flickr

Development Progress - exploring what works and why

July 2011 to July 2015
Details
Outputs
Details
Leaders: 
Susan Nicolai
Team: 
Jakob Engel, Katy Harris, Maria Bernardez, Emma Samman, Jonathan Glennie, Dirk Willem te Velde, Andrew Rogerson, Kate Bird, Chris Little and Gail Wilson
Status: 
Active

More information about Development Progress can be found online at www.developmentprogress.org

Despite global and domestic challenges such as the food crisis and the threat of climate change, as well as barriers to accessing health, education and employment opportunities, significant and inspiring development progress has been accomplished all over the world. ODI's Development Progress project aims to measure, understand and communicate where and how progress in development has happened.

What are the latest methods we deploy to measure progress and why do they matter? What are the social, economic and political contexts that have facilitated and enabled progress in different countries? How do domestic and foreign resources contribute to financing progress?

Building on phase one of this research - Development Progress: a library of stories - this four-year project explores these and other questions, with an aim to provide evidence for what’s worked and why over the past two decades.

Through a series of publications, online content, social media, events and other outreach, Development Progress will explore contemporary debates in development. Our aim is to generate evidence and analysis to further understand:

  • innovative methodologies for the measurement of progress
  • the social, political and economic environments that facilitate progress
  • how domestic and foreign resources contribute to the financing of progress
  • how to better incorporate poor people's perspectives on progress into development funding decisions
  • the role of global institutions and trade in facilitating progress 
Outputs

Exploring the impact, effectiveness and future of Aid for Trade - key messages

Publication - Research reports and studies - 5 July 2013
Overseas Development Institute, European Centre for Development Policy Management, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik
This note summarises ODI research examining Aid for Trade (AfT) and suggests how the AfT initiative can improve development outcomes.
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Katy Harris

Animations: my step-by-step guide

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 4 July 2013
'It is still far too early to judge the success of this animation, and whether we can claim victory in appealing to a particular type of audience whilst not limiting our ability to appear credible to another. But the response from teams across ODI and beyond has been really encouraging. I have a hunch this won’t be the last animation you’ll see from us.'
Read and comment
Katy Harris

IF only: a wish-list for development campaigns

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 12 June 2013
'Most in the development community agreed there was both a moral and practical imperative to act on the findings: a quarter million marched in 2005, but engagement rates had been in decline ever since...'
Read and comment
Susan Nicolai

Education goals: third time’s the charm?

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 30 April 2013
'As the world’s third set of education goals emerges for post-2015, education actors would do well to move quickly from the ‘what’ onto broader elements of ‘how’ any new goals can be achieved.'
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Jonathan Tanner

Progress for everyone? Measuring inequality and why it matters

Opinion - Articles and blogs,Podcasts and audio - 24 April 2013

'By looking at averages when measuring progress, we are looking at a biased view of what we have been able to achieve. Only by looking at inequitable distributions of our progress, can we really understand whether or not we are achieving progress.'

Inequality doesn’t just hurt the poorest people – it hurts whole societies, leading many to argue that tackling inequality should be at the centre of the next development framework – not on the periphery.

Read and comment
Susan Nicolai

Human Development Report: a glass half full

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 14 March 2013
'Today’s report is another reminder that the world isn’t changing – it has already changed, and in many places for the better... more than 40 developing countries have outpaced expected gains in human development in recent decades.'
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Laura Rodriguez Takeuchi

It’s not only about the goals

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 6 February 2013
'Although in some areas there are still considerable gaps, overall the availability of data and, more importantly, the awareness that these data need to be used, have grown. It is important to use this potential this time around to get the metrics right.'
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Containers in Zanzibar port
Containers in Zanzibar port

Containers near the port of Zanzibar, Tanzania
License: Creative Commons
Credit: twocentsworth
Source: Flickr

Policy dialogue on aid for trade

Event - Conference - 16 - 17 January 2013

This conference will discuss how Aid for Trade can remain relevant for its purpose by delivering and managing aid for trade and development results; easing the binding constraints to trade expansion; promoting regional aid for trade programmes; reducing the thickness of borders; linking to value chains; and engaging the private sector.

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Dialogue on the future of aid for trade

Event - Workshop - 23 November 2012 10:00 - 19:00 (GMT+01 (BST))

The goal of this event is to bring together Geneva-based negotiators and officials, international trade experts, representatives from donor agencies, and key actors from beneficiary countries so that they can review where the Aid for Trade initiative currently stands. This exchange of experiences will help inform discussions being held in the lead-up to the next Aid for Trade Global Review in 2013. Jodie Keane and Jakob Engel will present findings from the ODI Working Paper 'Increasing the effectiveness of Aid for Trade: the circumstances under which it works best'.

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Measuring well-being - different approaches, their implications and an illustration

Publication - Research reports and studies - 31 October 2012
Emma Samman
This Development Progress Project Note examines three methods of measuring progress that allow us to compare the performance of different countries. It argues that the methods we employ to measure progress matter, illustrating the diverse results that are generated in a comparison of performance in East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The note summarises how the findings inform the measurement component of ODI’s Development Progress Project.
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Andrew Shepherd

Poorest people, poorest education

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 19 October 2012
'The message for post-2015 policy makers is clear: beware the simplifying and distorting effects of setting such targets. They may be politically very attractive but will likely exclude significant populations who need a range of services to benefit from education.'
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Using case studies to untangle complexity and learn from progress

Publication - Research reports and studies - 11 October 2012
Jakob Engel and Susan Nicolai
This Project Note examines what case studies can and cannot tell us about why improvements in well-being happen. It lays out methodological considerations for the use of case studies, including how they have been used by other development policy research projects, and how this has informed case study research in Development Progress.
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Sustainable energy for all: a balance of objectives

Publication - Research reports and studies - 11 October 2012
Andrew Scott
This briefing paper summarises the state of the debate on progress in energy for sustainable development and outlines key challenges for policy in the future, particularly in relation to the three objectives of the United Nations Secretary General’s Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Initiative.
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