Inclusive Economies

Our work explores what characterises inclusive economies and how these can be achieved, particularly in a world where new technologies, rural to urban migration, and growing youth populations are disrupting and putting new pressures on people’s lives and livelihoods.

Our research looks at the impacts of business and markets on development and inequality and explores the potential for novel market-based solutions to work for the poorest and most marginalised based on gender, ethnicity and disability.  It explores alternatives that enable workers, consumers and communities to have a real voice.

It continues to revitalise debates on agriculture as a key pathway out of poverty and towards inclusion, particularly for young people. Our work is focused on identifying what opportunities exist in a period of agricultural commercialisation and rural transformation and how far different groups are able to access them.  It also understands how new technologies such as drones or blockchains pose risks, but can also be harnessed to improve the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people.  In a rapidly urbanising world where cities have become focal points for economic growth, jobs and innovation but also for poverty, inequality, vulnerability and conflict, our work explores what this means for both urban and rural people, and the opportunities and challenges they face in living safe and fulfilling lives.

People

Jodie Thorpe

Research Fellow

Philip Mader

Research Fellow

Richard Jolly

Research Associate

Ana Pueyo

Research Fellow

Carlos Fortin

Research Associate

Rachel Sabates-Wheeler

Research Fellow

Keetie Roelen

IDS Honorary Associate

Giel Ton

Research Fellow

Programmes and centres

Projects

Recent work

Filter results by

Showing 145–156 of 14829 results

Opinion

Our collective path: the Inclusive Rigour Co-Lab story

In 2021, as the world was facing COVID lockdowns, anxieties and isolation, a group of us from varied learning and evaluation backgrounds—academics, practitioners, peacebuilders—connected with each other. Our lives and work spanned different corners of the globe: Mali, South Sudan, Colombia,...

Marina Apgar
Marina Apgar & 10 others

7 May 2024

Opinion

India elections: The gendered and sexual politics of national development

At an election rally in Rajasthan on 22 April 2024, India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, called for people not to vote for the chief opposition party, known as the Congress, claiming that they would distribute the nation’s wealth amongst “infiltrators'' - the ones “who have too many...

2 May 2024

Report

The Lion, The Leopard, The Hyena and The Fox

This second report from the XCEPT action research project, Promoting Peaceful Pastoralism, outlines what the pastoralist researchers on the Uganda/Kenya border have learned since the first report was published in October 2023. As with the first report, it presents the pastoralist communities’...

2 May 2024

Past Event

Digital disinformation in Africa: Hashtag activism and state propaganda

In an era of hashtag campaigns and online organising, politicians and corporations are spending billions to disrupt dialogue and drown-out dissent online across Africa. Join this event to discuss these issues and more, explored in the new book Digital Disinformation in Africa: Hashtag Politics,...

30 April 2024

Opinion

Moving towards responsible gold mining in Geita, Tanzania

The Geita region in Tanzania is rich in gold deposits, which have attracted a lot of small-scale (and a few large) mining companies. In the past, the relationship between mining companies and local communities was negative due to allegations of irresponsible and unethical actions by these...

26 April 2024

Why learn with us.

In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).