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The HEART blog features views from the HEART team and guests on the latest issues in health, education, nutrition, social protection and water & sanitation.
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The UK Government has released a new aid strategy. That is, a government-wide strategy for aid, not a DFID strategy. The potential advantages and disadvantages of this have been raised elsewhere, as has the stress on “the national interest” throughout the document. However, here the focus is on what it means for a UK approach to… Read more
Many women have little power at home — and younger women even less. As the euphoria around September’s UN Sustainable Development Goal summit begins to fade, attention is fast turning towards how to start acting on the SDGs. Their ambition is laudable — as is the recognition that they are interrelated in myriad and complex… Read more
Recent studies have illustrated that higher education (HE) is distinctively positioned to make a positive contribution to national economies and societies in the context of the 21st Century global knowledge economy. It is now high on the post 2015 development agenda for national governments and the international development community alike. It is included in Sustainable… Read more
In November 2015, President Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia banned, effective immediately, the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the Gambia. This pronouncement was made as part of activities to mark the 16 days of Activism against Gender Based Violence for 2015. The ban follows over 30 years of efforts to end FGM in… Read more
I’ve been the prophet of doom for some time in education sector dialogue in Tanzania, pointing out that the fairly static school enrolment information, coupled with the rapidly expanding demographics (a fertility rate close to 5 children per woman), means that increasing volumes of children are either never enrolling, enrolling late or dropping out early… Read more
An estimated 50 million children live in conflict-affected countries or are refugees – an 8% increase from 2008 – and many more are affected by natural disasters such as earthquakes or flooding. In addition to this, it is estimated that 20 million adolescents in conflict countries are not in school, and over half of these… Read more
The past two decades have seen an unprecedented global increase in enrolment rates: although the MDG goal of universal primary education may not have been met universally, the rate of progress has been remarkable But in the last decade, we’ve also become very aware that learning levels of students in school are often very low… Read more
In a recent meeting between DFID advisers and Young Lives researchers, we asked the question: ‘Who is this research for?’ Although there was collective agreement on the value of evidence that can drive change and make a difference to children’s lives, it was also clear there were tensions between the drivers and approaches of the… Read more
The unanimity behind the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed recently by world leaders masks what has been a bruising battle over the past 15 years to put the parameters of ‘aid’ on a more mature footing, where rich and poor nations both have responsibility for the planet’s future. The glue that binds together these… Read more
Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities which aims to promote awareness and action around disability inclusion. This year the theme is ‘Inclusion matters’ and a recent GSDRC guide written for development and humanitarian professionals, highlights just how much inclusion matters. Or rather, how much lack of inclusion matters. Disability is not rare…. Read more
How do we inspire busy policy advisers to take time to absorb the latest research? And how do we ensure that, when they are using evidence, we can record the process and impact that this is having? At a meeting held at Oxford University in September 2015, DFID policy advisers had a unique opportunity to… Read more