The Policy Development Facility Phase II is a flexible, rapid-response facility set up to support ‘champions of change’, to implement economic and social policies that lead to poverty reduction in Nigeria. This mid-term review provided qualitative ratings of government policies in priority areas. A political economy analysis examined the factors likely to affect the future success or otherwise of technical assistance embedded within Nigeria’s cabinet and National Assembly.

This study examined the factors strengthening or weakening the environment for private investment and inclusive growth in eleven middle-income countries. The Policy Practice managed the research and produced a synthesis paper. It undertook two of these studies directly, and identified nine other country experts.

The research findings have been summarised in the Policy Practice Brief NO.12.

The Policy Practice contributed to the final evaluation of DFID Nigeria's State Level Programmes (SLPs) by conducting a review of the political economy analysis conducted by SLPs and contributing to the assessment of the political economy context in the states where the programmes operated.

This programme is part of DFID Nigeria’s suite of public sector reform programmes, the Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL). PERL aims to promote public sector accountability and reduce corruption by ensuring more accountable, effective, and evidence informed policymaking, that prioritises the sustainable delivery of public goods and services that meet citizens’ needs. LEAP contributes to this goal by strengthening the demand for and use of evidence on public sector accountability and reform in Nigeria.

Andrew Barnett has been contracted to be a member of the Technical Advisory Group of this five-year research programme on energy and gender. The TAG provides advice to the managing organization about the quality, feasibility and context of research across five themes, including the political economy of subsidy reform, and energy access in Odisha, India.

The Policy Practice undertook a scoping study for DFID Nigeria to prepare for a new suite of public sector reform programmes. This included a review of lessons learned from existing public sector governance programmes, consultations with government officials and CSOs, and workshops with DFID Nigeria aimed at identifying programming options. DFID Nigeria developed the results of this study into a business case for the Public Sector Accountability and Governance Programme, a 5 year programme totaling £100 million.

The Policy Practice, in consortium with Oxford Policy Management, won a tender to conduct a series of political economy and institutional assessments for the World Bank Nigeria Office to support the preparation of new projects. Gareth Williams led an assessment of the Staple Crop Processing Zone project, which included finance for infrastructure development in support of a large agribusiness development in Kogi State.

Working with colleagues at OPM, Gareth Williams assisted in the research and drafting of am analytical paper reviewing the World Bank’s experience of supporting Public Financial Management Reforms at federal level in Nigeria, and identifying options for future programming.

Gareth Williams joined the Programme Development Group of the State Partnership for Accountability, Responsiveness and Capability (SPARC) in October 2014. He is responsible for leading analytical work on the political economy context and political developments in the 10 Nigerian states where the SPARC programme operates. He attends the quarterly meetings of the Programme Development Group, which is the main decision making body for the programme.

The report (in confidence to DFID) assesses the impact of the emerging ‘new’ politics of Lagos on the education system and the relative political importance of education. It assesses State Government attitudes towards the education system and in particular the private education market and explores what underpins these views (history, ideologies, incentives etc). The process included undertaking a stakeholder analysis to identify key institutional and individual players in Lagos in relation to the sector, and in particular private education.