ODI [to 21 March 2015]
http://www.odi.org/media

Research Reports and Studies
Ghana, the rising star: progress in political voice, health and education
Research reports and studies, March 2015
Amanda Lenhardt, Alina Rocha Menocal and Jakob Engel
Ghana has achieved remarkable progress in human development over the past 20 years while undergoing one of the most successful transitions to multi-party democracy in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper explores the factors that have contributed to progress in both the provision of basic services (notably in health and education) and greater political voice for citizens.

Service characteristics and engagement with citizens
Research reports and studies, March 2015
Richard Batley and Joseph Wales
Despite significant progress in a range of public services over the past two decades, in many developing countries the average citizen continues to suffer from gaps in provision and poor performance of even the most basic services. This briefing note aims to provide some practical guidance on how different services can offer differing opportunities and challenges for improving service performance through increased accountability and, especially, citizen engagement.

Patterns of progress on the MDGs and implications for target setting post-2015
Research reports and studies, March 2015
Laura Rodriguez Takeuchi and Emma Samman, with Liesbet Steer
A range of analysis shows that progress towards development goals is rarely linear. This paper seeks to examine the true patterns of progress on the MDGs, exploring seven indicators – one representing each of the first seven MDGs. The resulting analysis asks how targets can be set in a non-linear world with countries at different stages of development, with a view towards target setting post-2015 and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Intra-household inequalities in child rights and wellbeing: a barrier to progress?
Research reports and studies, March 2015
Laura Rodriguez Takeuchi
This paper attempts to measure the extent of inequality between boys and girls within households and its contribution to overall levels of inequality in child wellbeing. It proposes a new methodology to measure inequality among boys and girls within households, attempting to correct the lack of analysis of the distribution of inequality within households.

Security progress in post-conflict contexts: between liberal peacebuilding and elite interests
Research reports and studies, March 2015
Craig Valters, Erwin Van Veen and Lisa Denney
This report synthesises findings from two country case studies on how security improvements have been achieved in the challenging post-conflict contexts of Liberia and Timor-Leste. It also draws on wider literatures on liberal peacebuilding and the role of elites, which have polarised debates over how countries achieve peace.

The surprising fall in oil prices since mid-2014. What does it mean for food and agriculture?
Food price updates, March 2015
Steve Wiggins and Sharada Keats
ODI’s Food Price Updates focus on tracking international prices of key staple cereals maize, rice, and wheat, and provide commentary on events in markets that affect these prices. They also follow international food and commodity price indices. This update focuses on the effect of falling in oil prices on food prices and food security.

Unlocking the triple dividend of resilience – why investing in DRM pays off
Research reports and studies, March 2015
Thomas Tanner and Jun Rentschler
This paper finds that investing in disaster risk management (DRM) yields real benefits in both the short and long term, enabling forward-looking planning, long-term capital investments, and entrepreneurship. DRM investments generate co-benefits in addition to avoided loss and damage, when a disaster strikes.

Manufacturing progress? Employment creation in Sri Lanka
Research reports and studies, March 2015
Bruce Byiers, Florian Krätke, Priyanka Jayawardena, Laura Rodríguez Takeuchi and Anushka Wijesinha
This study, written in collaboration with ECDPM, aims to explain the employment progress achieved in Sri Lanka from 1990 to 2010. This period has seen a drastic reduction in unemployment, and improved working conditions, particularly for women, accompanied by structural transformation away from agriculture towards manufacturing and services. The drivers of employment progress in quality, quantity and access are examined in terms of policies affecting demand for and supply of labour.

Work in progress: productive employment and transformation in Uganda
Research reports and studies, March 2015
Bruce Byiers, Laura Rodríguez Takeuchi and Anna Rosengren with Dr Moses Muhwezi, Dickson Turyareeba, Joyce Abaliwano, Bernard Wabukala and Ramathan Ggoobi
Since the 1990s Uganda, a small, landlocked country, has experienced the initial phases of economic transformation, accompanied by important employment progress. The country has seen a significant expansion in the share of wage employment, particularly during the 2000s, with private, non-agricultural wage employment experiencing one of the fastest growth rates in Africa. Overall labour productivity has more than doubled from 1990 to 2010. This study, written in collaboration with ECDPM, aims to explain this progress.

Working for economic transformation
Research reports and studies, March 2015
Bruce Byiers, Tom Berliner, Francesca Guadagno and Laura Rodríguez Takeuchi
A key challenge for developing countries is to generate more and better job opportunities for all parts of the population. What does this mean in practice, in the context of economic structural transformation?