New FCDO Political Economy Analysis Guidance published
Laure-Hélène Piron and Alina Rocha Menocal contributed to this Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) guide on applied political economy analysis (PEA) which updates the UK Department for International Development's 2009 original guidance.
This guide provides an overview of PEA and explains how analytical work should be planned and completed. Applied PEA is a set of concepts, questions and research techniques, developed over several decades. PEA provides a clearer picture of the country, region or sector in which development assistance is being provided. It does this by systematically exploring the underlying issues behind policy, and decisions, including those elements that are counter-intuitive. The PEA approach aims to identify a more realistic response which is politically feasible and technically sound.
This is a joint guide from the FCDO and the Thinking and Working Politically Community of Practice (TWP-CoP). The TWP-CoP is a global network of practitioners and researchers in development and global affairs committed to promoting more politically aware to approaches to how change happens and why. The TWP-CoP Secretariat has been hosted by the University of Birmingham with support from FCDO.
The guide also provides an introduction to techniques and concepts used by FCDO governance experts, when designing and implementing related UK aid programming. It aims to inform development professionals, and it summarises different approaches, from very light-touch to more in-depth.
Webinar on Neil McCulloch's new book - "Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies: the politics of saving the planet"
Neil McCulloch has kindly agreed to give a presentation of the main ideas in his new book "Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies: the politics of saving the planet" on Wednesday 12 April from 2pm-3.30pm BST (GMT+1). Dr. Mashekwa Maboshe, a researcher at the University of Zambia, has kindly agreed to provide some initial short comments, after which the floor will be open for questions and discussion. Please register by clicking below and we will send you the zoom invite.
Podcast: Ending Fossil Fuels Subsidies - the politics of saving the planet
In this episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast, IDS Fellow Lars Otto Naess interviews Dr Neil McCulloch about his new book: Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies: The politics of saving the planet.
ICAI democracy and human rights review
The UK Independent Commission on Aid Impact (ICAI) has published its review of UK aid's approach to democracy and human rights. TPP Director, Laure-Hélène Piron, was the team leader.
The review found that the UK’s democracy and human rights work has delivered useful results, often in difficult political contexts, but has been significantly affected by budget reductions since 2020 and the lack of a strategic framework. While it awarded an overall green/amber score, it found that future results were in doubt and that the UK no longer has the ability to respond to new challenges and deliver on the UK government’s high policy ambitions in this area.