Development is not working — at least not at the scale or pace needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This is the central, fact-based premise behind calls and movements to do development differently from host-country recipients of aid, international organizations, donors, and implementing partners. Such calls emphasize adaptive, locally-owned, problem-solving approaches to tackle chronic development challenges.…
Rwanda has made a clear commitment to progress in the justice sector, but key challenges with legal aid provision, law implementation, and public understanding of the justice system remain. To overcome these challenges, USAID’s Duteze Imbere Ubutabera activity improves the quality and effectiveness of Abunzi, the community-based reconciliation system, to resolve local disputes. The activity…
Bill Clay is a political and civil society organizer with more than twenty years of experience managing complex national and international development projects focused on parliamentary capacity building, media, and elections. He is currently the team leader for the Gole-Kaab (Support to Four State Assemblies) project based in Mogadishu, Somalia. Previously, he served as a…
In the wake of protests and the removal of its president in 2014, Ukraine faces many divisive social, economic, and political pressures that challenge national unity. Eastern Ukraine particularly feels the weight of these pressures. Although the new government established a plan for key reform initiatives, these reforms have not occurred as quickly as citizens…
Check out our countdown to the most popular posts from 2018:* 10. Making Development Dollars Go Further By Spencer Parsons and Gabriel Gonzalez-Kreisberg It will require an extra $2.5 trillion to achieve the SDGs. Can the development community find creative ways to fill that gap? 9. How Can Countries Pay for Their Health Systems? Supply Chains Might…
When designing a new project, how often do we set out to strengthen a particular actor’s or institution’s ability to “hold government to account?” What does that mean exactly? Maybe the better question to ask is: what is the most effective way to strengthen accountability in our development work? And then, what does it look…
The Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement (SACE) project was a five-year program funded by USAID and Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND). Implemented by Chemonics International with partner Root Change, SACE strengthened civil society’s ability to work with the government to influence the development and implementation of democratic reforms that improve transparency, accountability, and…
In Peru, communities who rely on coca cultivation for their livelihoods are often wrought with insecurity and poverty. Data shows that coca cultivation only exacerbates these conditions. In recent years, to limit drug trafficking, Peruvian anti-drug institutions have eradicated coca cultivation fields, while other Peruvian institutions have provided alternative livelihoods to alleviate poverty and take…
Myanmar’s legal tradition is a unique combination of family customary law, codified English common law, and recent Myanmar legislation. In the five years since it embarked on its political transition, following the military government takeover and reorganization of courts, Myanmar continues to face a breadth of development challenges. Some of these include widespread poverty, an…
What do forest and species loss have to do with politics? A great deal, in fact. Conserving and protecting natural resources involves a complex set of power dynamics, interests, and economies — licit and illicit — that affect how a program can operate within an existing local system. Biodiversity programming must embrace a Thinking and…
Initially slated as a three-year project working under three objectives, SSG was modified in 2017, when USAID issued an RFP and subsequent contract modification that provided a one-year extension for project activities under Objective 1: Improved legislative, oversight, and representational functions of Somalia’s deliberative bodies. The two other objectives included improving the representational functions of…