Assignment Reports
Over the last three decades, Nepal has experienced a demographic shift with declining total fertility rates, population growth, and improvements in life expectancy. Despite these positive shifts, the Nepalese people remain vulnerable to natural disasters, health problems, and economic shocks—45 percent of households in Nepal earn less than $2 a day. A robust social protection… Read more
The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) has contracted OPM to carry out a scoping study and literature review of gender-sensitive public works. This involves collecting good practices and examples from across the globe, as well as identifying potential areas for intervention (and piloting) in Mozambique. The terms of reference (TOR) for this study required… Read more
The aim of this review was to present the recent evidence on the period poverty (lack of access to sanitary products, WASH facilities, dignity, and information about menstruation) impact on the economic empowerment of women. Improving menstrual health management (MHM, also known as ‘period poverty’) can substantially improve girls’ education, health and wellbeing. The literature,… Read more
In 2017 the Canadian IDRC concluded a six-year programme supporting research organisations in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lebanon, Peru and Vietnam in the development and testing of solutions to strengthen health systems through information technology. The programme under the title ‘Strengthening Equity through Applied Research Capacity building in eHealth’ (SEARCH) set out four objectives:… Read more
The aim of this review was to present the recent evidence on the effectiveness of inclusive and special education approaches in improving learning and behavioural outcomes, with a focus on developing countries, particularly Ethiopia. One of the key difficulties surrounding inclusive education in developing countries is the lack of research about education in these countries…. Read more
Kenya has some of the highest rates of maternal and neonatal mortality in the world at 360/100,000 and 22/1,000 live births respectively. Translated into numbers – this equates to about 7000 maternal deaths and 29,000 neonatal deaths per year in Kenya. The DFID-funded Reducing Maternal and Neonatal Death in Kenya programme aims to reduce mortality… Read more
To access the full report, click the green download button above. To download the static map (Excel), please click here. To access the interactive map, please click here. The Asia Pacific region has the highest numbers of both slavery and child labour victims in the world. Although there is a growing body of research and… Read more
In Nepal, the Local Governance and Community Development Programme (LGCDP) was implemented in two phases, the first from 2008 to 2013 and the second from 2013 to 2017. The overarching goal of the first phase of the programme (LGCDP I) was to ‘contribute towards poverty reduction through inclusive, responsive and accountable local governance and participatory… Read more
This report focuses on the specific challenges and opportunities of states that are making two challenging concurrent transitions, away from both extreme poverty and from conflict. First, they are ‘countries where the longer term prospects of the poor to escape poverty are overall good, but not necessarily secure or sustainable, and at risk of development… Read more
This annual review assesses the outputs of the Increasing sustainable access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) programme, and how they contribute to expected outcomes and their sustainability. The review also includes updated recommendations for improving integration of gender into WASH programming and assesses the implementation of the… Read more
Literature on cultural practices for burial and care for the sick among individual ethnic groups in South Sudan was very limited. However, it clearly points to the importance of proper burials among all ethnic groups: these typically entail washing the body of the deceased; it can take several days before burial takes place; and graves… Read more