A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-021-00392-2

Rural development is a political topic in which debate has been more focussed on externally identified needs than on demands or aspirations of the rural population and polarised between the attractions of urban income earning opportunities and the importance of rural farming communities for national food provision. The heterogeneity of local aspirations and their implications for development have barely

Megaprojects are returning to play a key role in the transformation of rural Africa, despite controversies over their outcome. While some view them as promising tools for a ‘big push’ of modernization, others criticize their multiple adverse effects and risk of failure. Against this backdrop, the paper revisits earlier concepts that have explained megaproject failures by referring to problems of managerial

This article examines how rural roads relate to differences in livelihood patterns, attitudes toward social change, and land disputes in Baringo, Kenya. Although their direct use is limited for many residents, roads have a highly differentiating impact. While some households orientate themselves toward roads, those relying more on (agro-)pastoralist livelihoods avoid their proximity. Our findings suggest

The Kilombero Valley, one of East Africa’s largest seasonal wetlands, is a high-potential agricultural development corridor area in Tanzania. This seasonally flooded wetland is mainly used by smallholder farmers who cultivate during the rainy season, although there are some community-based irrigation systems that reduce hydro-climatic risks. In this study, we aim to understand how farmers’ aspirations

This paper assesses the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the performance of exporting companies in Benin. It also identifies factors that explain the perceived effect of COVID-19 on the companies’ performance. To do this, we used a survey data covering 122 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and micro, small, and medium industry (MSMIs) in four communes in Benin. Firstly, we computed the

This paper analyses the capacity of the South–South cooperation model (SSC) to facilitate policy transfer between countries, as opposed to North–South cooperation modalities. To this end, the nature and evolution of SSC, and especially its horizontality, and the changes in the policy transfer (PT) actors, are analysed with reference to what is being transferred. It is assumed that the nature of developed

At present, no clear consensus exists on how to assess resilience interventions in the field. In this paper we propose to measure the impact of the ECOFISH project, the objective of which was to strengthen the resilience of local fishing communities affected by recurrent crises in Bangladesh. The evaluation was based on a difference-in-difference (DiD) framework. The DiD analysis indicates that households

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-021-00394-0

Despite the strategic use of music and sound in the marketing of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), analysis of representations of global poverty and development has focussed almost exclusively on images, video and text. Drawing on research in the fields of psychology, marketing and music theory, this article argues that analysis of representations of global poverty and development must include

The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals’ call to ‘leave no one behind’ has helped to highlight the importance of investing in inclusive services for persons with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Evidence on the experiences of young Ethiopians with disabilities remains weak. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from 2017 to 2018, this article explores the educational

This paper adds to the empirical research on empowerment drivers by analysing the empowerment of women and men at the community level. Using micro-data from four villages in rural Karnataka/India, our econometric estimations confirm several predictions of Sen’s capability approach on potential determinants of empowerment. Education, decent employment, other-regarding agency goals, political networks

Bureaucratic performance varies immensely even within low-capacity states. Politicians and bureaucrats create pockets or networks of effectiveness that allow some departments to perform more efficiently than others. How do these networks develop and how are politicized bureaucratic appointments used to influence performance? Drawing on qualitative fieldwork conducted in Punjab, Pakistan, this paper

This article examines the spatial distribution of income and education inequalities and their association in Mexico, focusing on the municipal level. We rely on a small area estimation methodology to construct measures of income inequality that are representative at the municipal level. We also construct variables accounting for education inequality. Based on these variables and on an exploratory spatial

There is a growing literature on the impact of Covid-19 on commercial and labour conditions at suppliers in apparel global value chains (GVCs). Yet much less is known about the implications for suppliers operating in regional value chains (RVCs) in the global South. In this article, we focus on Eswatini, which has grown to become the largest African manufacturer and exporter of apparel to the region

International efforts have taken place to alleviate poverty by adopting several obligations within the international society; one of these obligations is the provision of safe access to water and sanitation. The MDGs helped people around the world to gain improved water sources and better sanitation. Although the sectoral aid increased from 20% between 1990 and 1992 (only 4.9% distributed for water

In this study we investigate in how far firms in special economic zones (SEZs) have the potential to generate indirect benefits and knowledge spill-overs in the local economy through the creation of backward linkages with local suppliers. For this purpose, we map the linkages between SEZ firms and suppliers in the host economy in seven SEZs around the world, namely in Colombia, Ethiopia, Malaysia,

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of the agricultural land in Georgia was fragmented into small pieces, affecting agricultural production and rural development. However, the cooperative movement is changing this phenomenon, and has attracted the attention of national government and international donors to support the re-establishment of new farmers’ groups. Using cross-sectional data collected

The article revisits two classical approaches to development and trade, and offers an alternative account of the emergence of global value chains (GVCs) involving business services (BS), to trade-in-tasks theory. Based on this account, we propose what we call the Hirschman–Linder hypothesis (HLH), which predicts the need for an adequate ‘representative domestic’ (intermediate) demand for BS for countries

Bean is a key staple crop in Rwanda; it is produced by nearly all rural households and consumed most days, making bean an important source of calorie, protein, and micronutrient. Consequently, substantial investment has been devoted to the development and promotion of improved bean varieties to enhance food security via increased productivity. The study evaluates the impact of improved bean variety

We present results on the drivers and impacts of household adoption of irrigated agriculture technologies on welfare in Southern Ghana. Using a panel data and a doubly robust estimator to account for selection bias, the estimates show statistically significant positive impacts on income, consumption, and proportions of in-transfers, out-transfers and savings with financial institutions. The impacts

The article examines the institutions governing relations between grant using national NGOs and grant giving international donors in three regions of Ghana (Upper West, Northern and Greater Accra Region). Formal procedural rules and professional norms can be viewed as necessary to minimise opportunities for informal patronage, rent-seeking and corruption made possible by the unequal access to resources

In development cooperation, the ideas of material support and instructive teaching have increasingly given way to those of reciprocal collaboration and non-material support. In this research, we explore the potential of rhythmanalysis as an approach to studying complex knowledge creation processes in an international development cooperation project. The Zan-SDI project aimed to enhance the geospatial

In this paper we identify two missing dimensions of the Human Capabilities Approach (HCA)—the collective and the productive—and in doing so we advance a ‘productionist’ perspective on development, centred around the idea of ‘collective productive capabilities’. Bringing production back to the core of the development agenda calls for an integration of the HCA and those contributions which have focused

This paper investigates household seasonal food expenditure inequality in the rural Lake Naivasha Basin, Kenya using the extended decomposition of Gini and primary data referred from February 2018 to January 2019. The new elements introduced by the paper are the disaggregation of the food expenditure by source of access (purchase, auto-consumption, and gifts); inclusion of traditional species in the

Adoption of improved groundnut production technologies is an important avenue for increasing productivity and improving the living standard of farmers. This study seeks to analyze technology adoption and output difference among groundnut farmers in Northern Ghana. The study used primary and cross-sectional data from 250 groundnut farmers. The Probit regression model and t test were used to analyze

Production was at the heart of economics from the days of Classical economics. However, with the rise of Neoclassical economics in the late 19th century, production has lost its status as the ultimate interest of economics. Several opportunities for fruitful integration of alternative streams of economics research—Evolutionary, Structuralist and Keynesian in particular—have been also missed. Even the

Climate change has taken an increasingly important space in the development agenda. However, whether most countries can meet the challenge of mitigating climate change while simultaneously ensuring growth and poverty reduction remains debatable. This research contributes to the growing literature at the intersection of environment sustainability and economic/industrial development by identifying three

This study analyzed the effects of climate change on rice farmers’ livelihoods vulnerability by using primary data elicited from 405 rice farming households in Can Tho, Dong Thap, and Tien Giang provinces in the Mekong Delta Region (MDR) of Vietnam. The Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) showed that Can Tho province was the most vulnerable to climate change, followed by Dong Thap and Tien Giang provinces

There is limited empirical evidence measuring productive capabilities and analysing their effect on firm-level export performance in Africa. This paper constructs novel indicators of productive capabilities and examines their effects on the export performance of African firms. Using recent firm-level data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey across 29 African countries, the paper builds new indicators

The development cooperation system is currently under pressure to change and demonstrate its usefulness for addressing more complex development challenges. Triangular Cooperation constitutes a modality of cooperation that can contribute to this change, opening space to more inclusive formulas of partnership. However, such results are neither guaranteed nor automatic, as TC can also contribute to reinforcing

The study conducts a country-level examination of the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on sustainable development. Sustainable development is an agenda that global countries are determined to achieve. The ubiquitous nature of ICT and the benefits it accrues make it an inevitable choice to address the sustainable development agenda of nations. The literature on the influence

In Makueni County, Kenya, an area experiencing intensifying migration flows, we investigate the aspired futures of rural men and women using a novel methodology combining a narrative-based survey tool, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews. Our findings indicate that, in the absence of men and presence of norms restricting women's movement out of rural life, women are becoming increasingly

Using a change in EU food aid policy in 1996 as an instrument for EU food aid allocation, I investigate how other donors react to the EU’s food aid allocation. At that time, the EU suddenly divided by two the number of its food aid recipients. On average, other donors imitate the EU at both extensive and intensive margins. Donors’ reactions are heterogeneous: European countries and Canada herd the

This study explores the relationship between the uptake of credit and household vulnerability in rural Vietnam in terms of two main vulnerability indicators—vulnerability as expected poverty (VEP) and vulnerability to food poverty (VFP)—using data from the 2012 Vietnam Access to Resources Household Survey. VEP and VFP are examined under two decompositions, idiosyncratic vulnerability and covariate

In the limited research on farming aspirations, little attention has been paid to the narratives which frame and shape them, and the ways in which the aspirations of those who farm intersect with the goals of extension services. Drawing on multimethod research conducted in Meru County, Kenya, we demonstrate how aspirations are not only situated within a consideration of personal circumstances, but

The fact that many Indian rural dwellings lack toilets and that, therefore, a significant proportion of India’s rural population is forced to defecate in the open has, by facilitating the spread of bacterial infections, profound consequences for public health. Compounding this is the fact that open defecation means that people carry limited amounts of water with them and so, by default, post-defecation

In this research article, I emphasize the meaning of procedural rights for just transition to Green Economy. I argue that different justice arguments play a role in the context of Green Economy policies but can be traded-off against one another. Whereas intergenerational and international injustice can be diminished by zero-carbon policies, Green Economy transition processes can exacerbate already

Children’s diets can have major implications for a wide range of diseases and their development outcomes. In Africa, micronutrient deficiency remains a major challenge and affects the health and development of vulnerable populations, especially children. A major effort to combat micronutrient deficiency has targeted biofortification of staple foods, with greatest potential being registered in the enrichment

This paper explores how individuals—defined along lines of gender, age, life experience, financial capital and profession—experience and react in nuanced ways to the impacts of state-led COVID-19 measures, in Sierra Leone. The findings are based on ethnographic data collected from Makeni city and three rural communities in Bombali District, north Sierra Leone during the outbreak of COVID-19, between

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the capability approach can benefit from thinking in institutional economics. If the locus of the capability approach is moved from the individual to groups or communities, then it is imperative that institutions (conceived as formal and informal rules) be explicitly considered when applying the framework, particularly when social relations matter, as in microcredit

Many post-conflict states, despite large-scale development aid, continue to experience chronic underdevelopment. This research will use institutional economics and the example of Kosovo to examine the relationship between institutional structures and economic insecurity, as an indicator of development outcomes. This paper argues that while Kosovo’s parallel institutional structure is quite unique,

Gendered rice productivity gaps continue to be a major challenge to achieving food self-sufficiency and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. This study uses data of 900 rice plot managers from three regions in Northern Ghana. The Oaxaca–Blinder mean and quantile-based decomposition procedure were employed in each region separately to highlight the sources of gender differences in rice productivity

This study aims to examine the impact of (i) climate change and international market price volatility on cotton production in Cameroon, (ii) climate change and international market price volatility on the prices of cotton farmers, (iii) the purchase price of cotton farmers on cotton production, (iv) cotton production on the purchase price of cotton farmers. The statistics used mainly come from the

This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of digitalisation on product upgrading in Global Value Chains (GVCs). Analysis is done for a sample of Indian manufacturing GVC firms in the period 2001–2015 from the firm-level database Prowess, using the methodology of System Generalised Method of Moments. Product upgrading is captured by a novel sales-weighted average product sophistication indicator

This article presents the results of the first ex-post sustainability study among 93 development interventions implemented between 1990 and 2008 in Kenya, India, South Africa, and Ghana. The interventions were undertaken by 42 different local organisations with support from an equal number of Dutch small-scale, voluntary development organisations. We find that a large number of interventions still

This article explores the role of education in marginalised young people’s aspirations for aage badhna (forward movement). Drawing on ethnographic research in rural Chhattisgarh, central India, we show how young people’s orientations toward a desired future remain anchored in education, even when possibilities for education-related forward movement become unattainable. The way in which aspirations

While there is a consensus that rural poverty has to be reduced, there are two opposing views on the role that agriculture can play in this regard: a “farm-based” and an “off-farm led” development paradigm where the respective other sector is merely a complementary income source during a transition period. The latter paradigm is supported by studies finding that rural youth in sub-Saharan Africa are

All over the world, urban communities take initiative in order to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. This study conducts a literature review and an international exploratory study in order to identify pathways within which Community Resilience Initiatives (CRIs) emerge within different governance contexts. The CRIs target vulnerable communities, which are hard to reach. Our study results identify four

Aside the direct effect on GDP at the macro level, the microeconomic impacts of undernutrition are also manifested in lower educational outcomes, reduced productivity and reduced lifetime earnings. This study sought to examine the effect of child malnutrition on learning outcomes by exploiting a nationally representative panel data which allow us to control for child-level unobserved heterogeneity

Using a survey of enterprises in Myanmar, we examine demand for formal credit and the extent to which firms are self-constrained by not applying for credit or if they apply and are constrained by bank’s rejections. We have information about firm managers’ managerial capacity and risk attitude. We use this to test if the allocation of loanable funds is systematically associated with the attributes.

The new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has paralysed many sectors of human life, including economic, social-cultural and political processes. In the political arena, several countries have postponed elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other countries, including Malawi, went ahead with their planned elections. Malawi held a presidential election at a time when the number of COVID-19 cases was increasing

Zimbabwe’s land reform from 2000 radically transformed the agrarian structure, and with this small towns in rural areas. This article explores three such towns—Mvurwi, Chatsworth and Maphisa—examining changes in population, housing, transport and business activity between 2000 and 2020. Case studies highlight the importance of networks and social relationships between rural and urban areas, linked

We improve upon the modelling of India’s pandemic vulnerability. Our model is multidisciplinary and recognises the nested levels of the epidemic. We create a model of the risk of severe COVID-19 and death, instead of a model of transmission. Our model allows for socio-demographic-group differentials in risk, obesity and underweight people, morbidity status and other conditioning regional and lifestyle

Studying the aspirations of young men, in Mathare, Nairobi, highlights their social becoming in contexts in which they incessantly risk social and physical death. Taking aspiration as a relational concept brings into view the temporal and spatial interactions between different aspirations and how these connect to emerging and future pathways of these young men. The ensuing relationalities at play are

What is COVID-19’s impact on development? What lessons can be drawn from development studies regarding the effects of and recovery from COVID-19? The unprecedented scale and scope of government interventions carry implications at all levels: global, national, and local. In this introduction, our team of Editors underline the importance of systematic substantive study to further knowledge acquisition

Across diverse contexts, emerging evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic is increasing levels of anxiety and stress. In calling for greater attention to people’s psychosocial and emotional well-being, global actors have paid insufficient attention to the realities of the pandemic in low- and middle-income countries, where millions of people are already exposed to intersecting vulnerabilities

Slum upgrading programmes are high on the international community’s agenda. Yet their impact evaluations remain few and far between, especially when the programmes include different components such as roads, water supply, electricity, and community facilities. In addition, employment is rarely considered as an outcome in the evaluation of slum upgrading programmes, although it is often one of the main

There is a rich body of scholarship recognizing the important role of women’s collective agency and mobilization for gender equality, inclusive development, and politics. In this paper, we interrogate the relationship between women’s collective agency on the one hand, and its contribution towards women’s equality outcomes on the other, drawing on empirical work undertaken during over 20 years’ fieldwork

In this editorial introduction to the Special Issue Youth, Aspirations and the Life Course: Development and the social production of aspirations in young people’s lives, we put the work presented in this collection in conversation with the wider literature on development, youth and aspirations. Aspiration we define as an orientation towards a desired future. We elaborate on our conceptualisation of