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

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Showing 733–744 of 14837 results

Opinion

Phases of Zimbabwe’s land reform: a shifting political economy

When many people make grand proclamations about Zimbabwe’s land reform, there is often very little specificity – both of where and when they are talking about. For the post-2000 land reform is not an event, but a process – with both a prehistory going back to the colonial era and a future...

21 March 2023

News

Shaping Policy with Evidence: What’s new for April 2023?

There’s only one week left to go until applications close for our Shaping Policy with Evidence specialist course – and only a few spaces left! So here’s a final reminder of the impressive April 2023 guest speakers, course content and new organisational package. What is Shaping Policy with...

20 March 2023

Opinion

Decidim: why digital tools for democracy need to be developed democratically

New digital platforms for citizens' initiatives, such as Decidim, are becoming more popular. Adrian Smith and Pedro Prieto Martín argue that the technology itself should also be developed in a democratic way, thereby ensuring such instruments can establish themselves as tools for democracy in...

Adrian Smith

17 March 2023

Brief

Digital Merchant Payments as a Medium of Tax Compliance

ICTD Research in Brief; 87

Consumers in Africa increasingly pay for their purchases through mobile money, especially since the pandemic. These transactions are known as digital merchant payments. Rwandan consumers can choose between using standard mobile money services or a specific service only for digital merchant...

16 March 2023

News

Nepali children in the Worst Forms of Child Labour tell their own stories

From the loss of a parent to family financial problems and addiction - through participatory research children reveal what led them to harmful work in Kathmandu’s Adult Entertainment Sector. In the largest study of its kind, 400 children’s life stories were collected and then analysed by...

16 March 2023

News

The agony of the night: stories of neglect and stigma from scabies

Belsti, Merhatsedik and Hailemariam live in Gojjam, northwestern Ethiopia. They share a similar agony: at night, a constant itch that overwhelms them; in the day, widespread rashes and sores that lead them to be insulted and ignored by people around them.   Many people affected by scabies –...

15 March 2023

Opinion

Civic action in difficult settings: Taking a citizen-eye view

In early March, the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute released its seventh annual democracy report. The report updated the now repeated and discouraging litanies from previous reports. Democracy is backsliding. Closed autocracies outnumber liberal democracies, for the first time in more...

15 March 2023

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).