What do the new global politics mean for climate action? Why isn’t the needle shifting in the politics of countries experiencing climate emergencies? What drives domestic politics and how does this affect what happens at the international level?

We’ll be discussing these questions and setting out key political economy concepts and an analytical framework to better understand how to take effective action on climate change in our Political Economy Analysis for Climate Action online course. The course will consist of eight, 2-hour online sessions from 19 May to 19 June 2025.

See our course flyer for further information and to apply. Email training@thepolicypractice.com if you have questions about this course, or if you are interested in another course or mentoring on “thinking and working politically” tailored to your organisation’s needs.

This Policy and Practice brief from TPP Director Gareth Williams discusses Issues-Based Programming (IBP), a development approach which mobilises stakeholders to drive change around locally defined issues. This paper examines its application in several countries through case studies of UK-funded projects and assesses IBP's effectiveness, highlighting successes and failures.

It identifies nine success factors for IBP:

1. identifying tangible, tractable and feasible issues,
2. clustering and building on issues,
3. having a vision for transformational change,
4. linking analysis to action,
5. facilitating locally led and self-motivated stakeholder engagement,
6. mobilising the right combination of skills,
7. ensuring effective programme leadership,
8. using grants sparingly and strategically, and
9. enabling flexible and adaptive programming.

Gareth argues that while IBP presents challenges, it has already demonstrated positive results including in difficult political contexts. The approach warrants further investment linked to experimentation, research and evaluation.

Read the full Policy and Practice Brief here.

Our new work in the Francophone Sahel

The Sahel is one of the poorest and most conflict-affected regions in the world. Jihadists have taken control of large swathes of territories from weak governments, legitimising military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger which have worsened cycles of community violence, farmer-herder disputes, civilian massacres and forced displacements. While The Policy Practice has a long track-record in Anglophone countries bordering the Sahel, such as Nigeria, we are developing new expertise in Francophone countries.   

TPP Director, Laure-Hélène Piron, facilitated political economy workshops for the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) office in Mali, which brought together its regional partners to design a new phase of support to sub-national authorities. She also delivered a conflict analysis to contribute to the preparation of SDC’s new country programme in Burkina Faso.

Senegal has been a regional bright spot, with a peaceful transfer of power to a popular government, backed by youth and promising clean politics and independent justice. Laure-Hélène led a political economy analysis to identify democratic governance opportunities in Senegal for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office. These studies benefited from close collaboration with political scientists Cheickna Yaranangoré and Babacar Ndiaye, with TPP offering analytical rigour and the translation of findings into operational recommendations for development partners.    

Political Economy of Disaster Management and Climate Change Adaptation

Natural disasters directly affected 685 million people, caused 254 million deaths, and inflicted at least $1 trillion in damages between 2020 and 2024. As climate change accelerates and the frequency and intensity of storms, floods and droughts increase, these numbers are expected to worsen, with adaptation measures likely offering only partial mitigation.

A political economy perspective can offer valuable insights into these challenges and help generate more realistic recommendations for national and international policies and programmes. It is based on the realisation that while technical and capacity constraints play a key role, governance quality and institutional failures are often the deciding factors in how well countries adapt to climate change, prevent disasters, mitigate their impacts, and save lives.

In collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, The Policy Practice has launched a new project to explore the political economy dimensions of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. It will develop an analytical framework to be pilot tested in two countries, which will help policymakers and aid practitioners to design and implement more effective disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. Additionally, The Policy Practice is supporting the Australian Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade to assess the strengths and weaknesses of Indonesia’s disaster management system to inform its future programming.