Governance and Social Development Resource Centre
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Funded by the UK Department for International Development, the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (GSDRC) aims to help reduce poverty by informing policymaking and enhancing professional knowledge in relation to governance, conflict and social development.
Please note that the GSDRC no longer covers Aid Instruments & Effectiveness, HIV/AIDS or Security and Development. For information on HIV/AIDS, please visit the Health Resource Centre. For information on Security and Development, please visit the GFN-SSR.
Spotlight:
Our Rights, Our Information: Empowering People to Demand Rights through Knowledge
Why is the right to information important? How can it be used, and how can it be effectively implemented by governments? This Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative report provides case studies to show that information can empower people to demand adherence to the whole range of their human rights. By establishing the right to information in domestic law and by setting up public information systems, governments can enhance citizens' participation in governance, advance equitable economic development, reduce poverty and fight corruption.
Latest Document Summaries
Developmental States, Effective States and Poverty Reduction: The Primacy of Politics
Author: Adrian Leftwich (2008)
Size:
15 pages
(150KB)
How can donors promote the emergence of states that facilitate poverty reduction? This paper from the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) highlights the importance of politics in state formation and poverty reduction. Political processes shape the effective and developmental states that nurture the institutions needed to deliver poverty reducing growth and social welfare systems. Donors therefore need to support political processes and collaboration among local political players to help them create these institutions and effective states.
Collective Report on Business and Human Rights
Author: Lillian Manzella, Nicholas Lusiani (2008)
Size:
107 pages
(836KB)
How do businesses abuse human rights, and what must be done to prevent such abuses? This report from the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights draws on case studies from around the world. It concludes that direct or indirect violation of all types of human rights by companies is widespread and occurs across many different political systems and industries. Effective redress and accountability procedures at national, regional and international levels are needed to ensure that businesses, governments and the international community meet their obligations in this area.
Latest Helpdesk Reports
M&E of Participation in Governance: Please identify toolkits, methodologies and indicators for ...
Climate Change and State Fragility: Please provide a literature review on the theme of climate ...
Election-related Conflict: Please identify literature and lessons learned on election-related ...
Poverty Reduction Actors in the MENA Region: Please identify literature on actors in poverty ...
The Hawala System: Please identify literature on the Hawala system. In particular, how widely ...
Women in Business in the Pacific Islands: Please identify literature on the key issues relating ...
