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 769–780 of 14837 results

Journal Article

The Great Green Wall in Senegal: Questioning the Idea of Acceleration Through the Conflicting Temporalities of Politics and Nature Among the Sahelian Populations

In January 2021, the Great Green Wall Accelerator was announced at the third One Planet Summit in Paris. Based on the notion of acceleration developed by Harmut Rosa and using the idea of conflicting temporalities in the study of social-ecological systems, this article analyzes how the political...

1 March 2023

Journal Article

Repertoires of Citizen Action in Hybrid Settings

In recent years, a growing literature has emerged analysing how organised citizen action can achieve more accountable and inclusive governance mostly focused on relatively open, democratic or more stable contexts, often in western democracies. Yet only a small proportion of the world’s...

28 February 2023

News

Call for applications for social science and humanitarian fellowship

The Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP) is launching the next phase of its Fellowship Programme to begin in May 2023. Funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Wellcome Trust, SSHAP is looking for future leaders in social science to be able apply...

27 February 2023

Opinion

The futures of the pastoralist systems of Southern Andean Peru

As part of our series from Latin America, Cecilia Turin explores how traditional herders continue their alpaca farming in parts of the Andes, and what the future might hold, with many challenges and some signs of hope. This piece draws on work carried out in collaboration with Pablo Manzano....

Cecilia Turin
Pablo Manzano

24 February 2023

Opinion

Countering online gender backlash in Uganda

This year, Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) is thrilled to join the Countering Backlash programme. WOUGNET’s emphasis will be to identify and explore the key drivers of gender backlash, particularly looking at the relationship between online and offline contributors to gender backlash in the...

Peace Oliver Amuge, WOUGNET & 2 others

23 February 2023

Opinion

In pictures: Household surveys and behavioural games in rural Mozambique

Over the past few months, we have been carrying out extensive research in Mozambique as part of the Inequality and governance in unstable democracies – the mediating role of trust project. The research aims to understand the long-term impacts of cotton concessions —a forced labour system...

23 February 2023

Opinion

Nigeria election: the youth and the Peter Obi option

Any keen observer of social media spaces ahead of Nigeria’s upcoming presidential election cannot be in any doubt about the power that young people have to dictate the direction of national political discourse. Thanks to social media savvy young people, what started as a two-horse race is now...

23 February 2023

News

Podcast: Why we should end fossil fuel subsidies

In this episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast, IDS Fellow Lars Otto Naess interviews Dr Neil McCulloch, Associate Fellow at IDS and Director of The Policy Practice about his new book: Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies: The politics of saving the planet. In the podcast, Neil argues...

23 February 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).