Susana Araujo is a Research Officer at IDS working on projects related to governance, gender, and politics. She is currently doing her PhD on the politics of backlash and the dynamics of movements and countermovements around gender equality in Peru. Previously, she has worked as a technical adviser for UN Women and as a projects officer for the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation. Susana is a governance and gender specialist with over 16 years’ experience in Latin America within the international development sector, working with multi and bilateral agencies as well as civil society organisations.
Abu Conteh is currently the urban health research lead at the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre and is studying for a PhD at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. His interests include health strengthening through governance, accountability, and intersectional lenses.
Ayako Ebata is an agricultural economist and works at IDS. Her current research aims at understanding how value chain development affects intensification of livestock production and trade, and related impacts on One Health. She investigates how perceptions of risks influence supply chain actors’ social and economic behaviours and bottom‑up innovations that contribute to public health. Moreover, her research investigates what interventions can mitigate the negative effects of value chain development as well as the methods to evaluate the impacts of such interventions. Her work focuses on South and Southeast Asia as well as Latin America.
Adrian Fitzgerald is the Chargé d‘Affaires and Head of Development Cooperation (Embassy of Ireland, Dar es Salaam). Previously, he was Climate Change Policy Lead at Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). He has also served as a member of the Least Developed Countries Expert Group under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change; Head of Development Cooperation at the Embassy of Ireland, Malawi; Lead Development Specialist for Civil Society Funding, DFAT; and Regional Director for Central America for the Irish Agency for Personal Service Overseas. He has over 40 years’ experience in development in the Middle East, Africa, and Central and South America.
Stuart Gillespie is a Senior Research Fellow with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) with 36 years’ experience in nutrition and development. He has led research programme consortia on nutrition, including Transform Nutrition and the policy flagship of the Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) programme. Prior to joining IFPRI in 1999, he worked with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Food Programme (WFP), among other organisations. He has a PhD in Human Nutrition (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)) and has published over 160 publications, including nine books.
Aiman Haque is a research associate in the Research and Data Vertical at the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) Bharat. Her responsibilities include researching the lives and livelihoods of women in the informal sector with a primary focus on women-owned social enterprises within SEWA and more recently, on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on female informal workers. She has also been involved in the training of grass-roots teams in data collection and the setting up of a grass-roots research social enterprise in SEWA.
Mary Sirah Kamara is a graduate from Njala University with a BA in Environment and Development and a master’s in Environmental Management and Quality Control. She worked previously with Restless Development as a facilitator in Sexual Reproductive Health.
Maryam Kanwer is a human rights activist. Her work focuses on the persecution of marginalised groups based on their ethnic or religious backgrounds. She has worked on youth development through community resilience, peace-building messaging, and conflict resolution. Maryam has been working extensively in human development for over ten years and currently is affiliated with the Al-Khoei Foundation. She is also an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) Alumnus 2015 on countering violent extremism (CVE) and an executive member of a global campaign called Women against Extremism (WaE).
Shandana Khan Mohmand is a social scientist and Research Fellow in the Governance Cluster, IDS. Her main area of research is the political economy of public policy and service delivery, focused on empirical analyses of democratisation, local politics, and informal institutions. She has contributed to both policy and social science research, using varied methodological strategies to investigate these issues in South Asia, the Western Balkans, and sub-Saharan Africa. Her research has increasingly focused on the relationship between political participation, inequality, and accountability, including in her book Crafty Oligarchs, Savvy Voters: Democracy Under Inequality in Rural Pakistan (2019, Cambridge University Press).
Joseph Kimani is a trained community organiser and holds a master’s degree in Community Economic Development from the Open University of Tanzania. Joseph has worked with civil society organisations for the last 16 years, first in the human rights sector where he trained community human rights defenders, conducted peace trainings, and was involved with theatre for development. He later joined the development sector, working with various organisations on projects in informal settlements. Since 2015, he has worked with Slum Dwellers International (SDI) Kenya as a programme manager where he is currently overseeing the implementation of projects and programmes at the community level.
Melissa Leach is Director of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and an anthropologist with interests in health, sustainability, and science-policy issues. She is currently working on Covid-19 and its implications as Co-Principal Investigator (PI) of the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP), PI of a collaborative grant on Pandemic Preparedness in Africa, and as part of the World Health Organization (WHO) research and development (R&D) Roadmap Social Science Expert Group.
Jeremy Lind is a Research Fellow in the Resource Politics and Environmental Change Cluster, IDS and Co-Research Director of the Better Assistance in Crises (BASIC) research programme for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). He is a human geographer of the Horn of Africa, focusing on livelihoods and social protection in relation to conflict, particularly in pastoralist areas. Jeremy has worked closely with governments in the Horn, as well as various national and international organisations and funders. Since 2012, he has led qualitative research for evaluations of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP).
Joseph Mustapha Macarthy is a lecturer in the Institute of Geography and Development Studies at Njala University in Sierra Leone and Director of the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre. He is a well-established scholar in urban development with a background in urban management and climate change adaptation. He holds a PhD from Newcastle University, UK.
Hayley MacGregor co-leads the Health and Nutrition Research Cluster, IDS and is a clinically trained medical anthropologist. She works on infectious disease and epidemics with a focus on Africa, and co-leads the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP). She is a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) research and development (R&D) Roadmap Social Science Expert Group on Covid-19.
Jack Makau is director of SDI Kenya, the support non‑governmental organisation (NGO) to Muungano wa Wanavijiji, the Kenyan Slum Dwellers Federation, affiliated globally to Slum Dwellers International (SDI). Jack has been involved in informal settlement enumeration and mapping processes that have registered more than 300,000 households in more than 140 settlements. He has also taken part in baseline surveys in over 400 informal settlements in cities across nine African countries. Jack’s involvement in these processes has variously included research design, tool development, training, research implementation and coordination, analysis and reporting.
Mary McCarthy is currently Nutrition Lead in the Development Cooperation and Africa Division of Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), previously leading the Research and Learning portfolio. With 18 years’ experience as a specialist in education and global citizenship policy and practice, in Ireland and overseas, she was Director of WorldWise Global Schools (2013–17), and a member of the Advisory Board for Ireland’s National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development. Having been a teacher and teacher trainer in Rwanda (2005–07), she worked with Suas Educational Development and Léargas on formal and non-formal global education programmes, and as a freelance facilitator and trainer.
Hiwot Mebrate is currently working as Senior Social Protection Programme Manager, Embassy of Ireland, Ethiopia. She is a social development and social science specialist with a master’s in Public Policy and Management (School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)) and a BA in Management and Public Administration (Addis Ababa University). Hiwot has 18 years’ experience working in the development sector, particularly in the areas of safety nets, humanitarian assistance, social services, citizen engagement, capacity development, food security, and integrated development projects. Her biggest accomplishment has been her technical and leadership contributions towards influencing government policies and programmes on social protection and food security.
Jessica Meeker is a public health nutritionist with research interests in malnutrition in all its forms and nutrition-sensitive approaches. She is a member of the Health and Nutrition Research Cluster, IDS, working on research projects in nutrition and agriculture and most recently the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)‑funded Covid Collective.
Jaffer Abbas Mirza is a researcher. In 2016, he was awarded the Chevening scholarship and pursued a master’s programme in Religion in Global Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), UK. He has been writing and working on countering violent extremism (CVE) and freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). He focuses on civil society engagement and the political economy of violence against religious minorities in Pakistan.
Kim Mwamelo is the Reproductive Health and Nutrition Programme Manager at the Embassy of Ireland, Dar es Salaam. She has seven years’ experience working in public health in developing contexts. Previously, she worked at ICAP at Columbia University in Tanzania as a Technical Advisor for Key and Vulnerable Populations; at the National Institute for Medical Research in Tanzania as a Research Coordinator; and at the Ifakara Health Institute as a Clinical and Research Officer.
Sohela Nazneen is a feminist political economist, leading IDS’ work on gender, politics, and governance, particularly focusing on backlash against women’s rights. Her research focuses on coalitional politics, feminist movements, women’s empowerment and leadership, and violence against women in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Sohela has worked as a consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) among others. Her recent publications include Negotiating Gender Equity in the Global South: The Politics of Domestic Violence Policy (2019, Routledge).
Nicholas Nisbett is a Research Fellow and co-leader of the Health and Nutrition Research Cluster at IDS. His work currently focuses on the political economy of nutrition policy and programming at national and community levels and more generally on bringing critical social theory into the study of nutrition. Trained as an anthropologist and geographer, his doctoral and postdoctoral work focused on the anthropology of internet use and IT-based employment in India. Before coming to IDS, Nicholas worked for the British government, where he led policy teams and projects on agricultural trade reform and food security.
Kilion Nyambuga is a Graduate Urban and Regional Planner (University of Nairobi). Since 2013, Kilion has been a Programme Officer in charge of Data Management and Planning for Slum Dwellers International (SDI) Kenya. He has supported the SDI network (including 17 countries in Africa) in its transition to digital data collection and management. Kilion has also supported peer-to-peer learning exchanges in 17 cities in Kenya and five SDI countries. Kilion has focused on ensuring access to accurate data on slums for planning. He is currently working with Nairobi City County and Mukuru Community members to help develop a Mukuru Integrated Development Plan.
Peter Nyella is currently the Health Programme Manager at the Embassy of Ireland, Dar es Salaam managing the health systems portfolio including the Health Basket Fund, a pooled fund to support Tanzania’s primary health care. He has over ten years’ experience as a public health specialist having also worked as a medical doctor for several years. Previously he worked at World Vision, as the Health, HIV/AIDS and Nutrition Advisor, Health Programme Manager, and the National Health Training Coordinator. He has also managed several community health programmes including on maternal and child health, malaria vector control, health governance, and HIV prevention.
Keetie Roelen is a Senior Research Fellow at IDS in the Rural Futures Cluster and Co‑Director of the Centre for Social Protection. She is a specialist in poverty, social protection, and anti-poverty interventions in relation to children, women, and psychosocial wellbeing. She has worked with many international organisations such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Save the Children, and Concern Worldwide, in Southern and Eastern Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Haiti. Her work has been extensively published in journals, book chapters, working papers, and policy‑oriented publications.
Rachel Sabates-Wheeler is a Development Economist with over 25 years’ experience working in areas of rural development, institutional analysis, and social protection. A Professorial Fellow at IDS since 2001, and a Co-Director of the Centre for Social Protection, she has published extensively and has worked in many countries (including nine in Africa). Rachel’s work explores understandings of risk and vulnerability both conceptually and empirically. She is currently the Co-Executive Director of the Better Assistance in Crises (BASIC) Research programme.
Samuel Saidu is a Research Assistant at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, University of Sierra Leone. He is currently studying for a PhD at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. He holds a master’s in Public Health from the James P. Grant School of Public Health, Bangladesh.
Megan Schmidt-Sane is a postdoctoral researcher at IDS and is trained in medical anthropology and global health. Her research focuses on the political economy of infectious disease in urban Uganda. She is currently working on the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP).
Paromita Sen set up and runs the Research and Data team at the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) Bharat. She conducts research on women micro-entrepreneurs, women‑run collective social enterprises, mobilising and organising by women in the informal sector, and community-led decentralised governance and advocacy. She draws on research and data from academics and practitioners globally, to support SEWA Bharat with organisational development and to plan mobilising and developmental work for the informal sector, with a strong focus on building grass-roots capacity for data and research.
Rosie Steege is a social scientist at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. She works alongside Kenyan partners on the Accountability and Responsiveness in Informal Settlements for Equity (ARISE) consortium which seeks to improve equity and accountability for those living and working in informal settlements. Her research utilises participatory and qualitative methods focused on health systems, community health, gender, equity, and intersectionality. Her doctoral work with community health workers sought to develop policies to hold governments accountable to gender-equitable approaches in community health service delivery.
Mariz Tadros is Professor of Politics and Development, IDS, and Director of the Coalition for Religious Equality and Inclusive Development (CREID), a UK‑funded programme which endeavours to integrate freedom of religion or belief in international development. Her books include Resistance, Revolt, and Gender Justice in Egypt (2016, Syracuse University Press), The Muslim Brotherhood in Contemporary Egypt: Democracy Redefined or Confined? (2012, Routledge), and Copts at the Crossroads: The Challenges of Building Inclusive Democracy in Egypt (2013, American University in Cairo Press). She also co-edited IDS Bulletin 51.2 ‘Collective Action for Accountability on Sexual Harassment: Global Perspectives’ with Jenny Edwards (2020).
Peter Taylor is Director of Research at IDS. Previously he worked at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, leading strategic planning processes, the Inclusive Economies Program Area, and the Think Tank Initiative, a ten-year programme strengthening policy research organisations in Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. Previously he worked at IDS as a Research Fellow; as Education Technical Advisor with Helvetas (Vietnam); and as Head of Agriculture in a rural secondary school (Botswana). He has interests in organisational development and capacity strengthening, evaluation and learning, and facilitation of participatory and social change processes.
Rachel Tolhurst is a social scientist with a background in gender, development, and health. Her research interests and experience centre on qualitative and participatory research on gender and equity in health systems strengthening and the social determinants of health. Her research has included a focus on health areas including maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence, antimicrobial resistance, and communicable and chronic disease (including malaria, tuberculosis, lung disease, and HIV). Her research currently focuses particularly on urban informal settings. Rachel is the Research Director for the Accountability and Responsiveness in Informal Settlements for Equity (ARISE) Hub.
Jane Wairutu is a Programme Officer at Slum Dwellers International (SDI) Kenya. Previously she worked at the Pamoja Trust and Muungano Support Trust and has been involved in innovating and implementing tools for community-led advocacy to secure land tenure in informal settlements in Kenya through community-led data collection. She has led in training and conducting profiling and enumeration in over 70 settlements in Kenya and several SDI-affiliate countries, as well as supporting community development projects. Her current portfolio includes working with the Nairobi County Government on the Mukuru Integrated Development Plan by coordinating the Health Consortium and Development Sector Plan.
Annie Wilkinson is a Research Fellow at IDS. She is an anthropologist and health systems researcher. She conducts interdisciplinary, participatory, and applied research on health in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and has expertise in zoonotic disease; epidemic preparedness and control; drug resistance; and urban health. She co-founded the Ebola Response Anthropology Platform during the West African Ebola outbreak, and she co-leads the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP) which mobilises social science networks and evidence for emergency preparedness and response.
The article ‘Governance for Building Back Better’ draws on work from across the Governance Cluster at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). The following authors contributed significant material for the writing of this article.
Colin Anderson is a Research Officer at IDS. His work focuses on citizen–state relations, including as Research Officer for the Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) research programme, and the Learning with SPARK (Strengthening Public Accountability for Results and Knowledge) action research programme on civic action for more inclusive fiscal governance. He has particular interests in the development and use of social accountability approaches and their impacts on governance relationships, and the actions of international donors in these relationships. Colin has worked in youth and community development work, civil society advocacy, and public policy management in the UK and Cambodia.
Max Gallien is a political scientist specialising in the politics of informal and illegal economies, the political economy of development, and the modern politics of the Middle East and North Africa. He is a Research Fellow at IDS and the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) and a Senior Fellow with the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.
Tom Harrison is a Research Fellow in the Governance Cluster at IDS. He is a political scientist whose work focuses on the governance and politics of development. His research interests include the authority and capacity of the state, the politics of bureaucracy, development planning, the role of the centre of government, the politics of climate change mitigation, and non‑governmental organisation–state relations. Tom’s current research looks at how approaches to thinking and working politically and working adaptively can be applied to our understanding of the politics of bureaucracy.
Anuradha Joshi is a Senior Research Fellow in the Governance Cluster at IDS. She holds a PhD in Public Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her interests lie in understanding state–society relations, on collective action, accountability, and service delivery. She currently co-directs the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)-funded five‑year research programme focused on social and political action for empowerment and accountability in fragile, conflict-, and violence-affected settings (Action for Empowerment and Accountability – A4EA).
Miguel Loureiro is a Research Fellow and convenor of the MA Governance, Development and Public Policy at IDS. His research primarily focuses on state–citizen communication and state responsiveness. Miguel teaches, trains, and conducts research with and on bureaucrats across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Brazil.
Giulia Mascagni is Research Fellow at IDS and Research Director of the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD). Her research focuses on tax administration and tax policy in low‑income countries generally, and in particular on policy evaluation and empirical analysis. Giulia has worked mostly with African countries and has several years of experience in Ethiopia and Rwanda in particular. She is also Associate Fellow at the Bologna Institute for Policy Research, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Europe, and Research Associate at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Giovanni Occhiali is a Research Fellow at IDS and development economist for the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD). He works on various projects related to tax administration and compliance, tax and governance, and co-leads ICTD’s capacity-building programme. He holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham and prior to joining ICTD, he was a Researcher at Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and an Overseas Development Institute Fellow at the National Revenue Authority of Sierra Leone. His research focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, and outside of the field of taxation his main interests are energy economics and industrial policies.
Vanessa van den Boogaard is a Research Fellow at the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD), where she leads the research programmes on informality and tax and civil society and tax. She specialises in the politics of informal taxation and revenue generation, the political economy of development, and conflict and state-building. Vanessa is a Senior Research Associate at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and received her PhD from the University of Toronto.