In this second blog, Sam Bickersteth, climate change expert at The Policy Practice, reflects on what has been achieved at the 27th UN conference on climate change, and the political economy barriers to saving our planet by reducing emissions.  

The annual UN conference of the Parties to the Climate Convention has kicked off in Egypt and it is getting attention like never before. When the UN Secretary General tells us that we are close to irreversible tipping points and “climate hell” then we should be sitting up and listening. 

But what can we hear through the hubbub of statements from Heads of State, multiple side events, news reports and pre COP blogs? What will hold our attention and that of our leaders preoccupied with recession, food and energy price hikes, the war in Ukraine and the impending northern hemisphere winter?

Read the first blog by TPP Principal, Sam Bickersteth.

We spent the summer reading ... and have now added the best documents published in recent years on political economy analysis and 'thinking and working politically'.

The American University of Beirut, the Natural Resource Governance Institute and The Policy Practice have collaborated on a documentary and policy brief on the challenges facing solar power development in Lebanon, drawing lessons from Jordan and Yemen.

Link to the documentary here.

In this blog formerly published on USAID's blog page, David Jabobstein examines gaps between how donors understand their contributions to spur change, versus how change actually happens. If we don't get clearer on the actual work of change, it limits our ability to collaborate toward change with proper accountability.

A new paper by Gareth Williams, The Policy Practice Director, and the Thinking and Working Politically Community of Practice, reflects on the political economy and governance factors that have affected health systems resilience during COVID-19.

We are delighted to welcome Alina Rocha Menocal to The Policy Practice family as our newest Principal. Originally from Mexico, Alina joins us after a long career at ODI, where she was Principal Research Fellow in the Politics and Governance Programme and where she remains affiliated as a Senior Research Associate. Alina is Director of the global Thinking and Working Community of Practice.
 

Laure-Hélène Piron, The Policy Practice Director, is leading a review of the UK aid's approach to democracy and human rights since 2015 on behalf of the UK Independent Commission for Aid Impact.

The review examines the relevance, coherence and effectiveness of UK approach and includes case studies of UK aid for democracy and human rights in Pakistan, Serbia and Tanzania; centrally-managed programmes; a policy review; a literature review; and consultations with citizens affected by UK aid. 

In recent years, dozens of countries have been rocked by riots, often associated with popular demand for fuel.  A paper, published today in World Development, by The Policy Practice Director Neil McCulloch (and co-authors Davide Natalini, Noami Hossain and Patricia Justino) uses a new international dataset on fuel riots to explore the effects of fuel prices and price regimes on fuel riots.