Abstract: The urban poor frequently live in the most hazardous physical environments – at risk from diseases, floods, fires and landslides and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Both the scale and extent of urban poverty and the exposure of the urban poor to disasters and climate change have increased rapidly in recent years, leading to increased vulnerability to changes in mean climate and to extreme events. However, the concentration of people and hazards in urban areas also provides distinct opportunities for reducing vulnerability and improving the quality of life of urban residents.

Abstract: In 2006, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Mohammed Yunus and the Grameen Bank for their roles in developing microfinance as an ‘ever more important instrument in the fight against poverty’ (Norwegian Nobel Committee 2006). The following year, the award was given to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), for their roles in educating the world about the unprecedented global challenge of climate change. In making these unusual and even controversial awards, the Nobel Committee recognised the remarkable fact that, in the space of just three decades, microfinance and climate change science have generated broad social movements grounded in the belief that these processes have the capacity to radically transform life around the world.

Abstract: Previously viewed as a somewhat defeatist response to climate change, adaptation is now seen as an essential component of any climate policy (Pielke et al. 2007). There are three main reasons for this increase in interest. First, that the impacts of climate change are already being observed and, because of lags in the natural system, more impacts are inevitable (Burton et al. 2002). Second, that mitigation responses have been slow and inadequate, making adaptation all the more necessary (Reid and Huq 2007). And third, aware that they are likely to bear the greatest physical impacts from climate change, governments in developing countries are increasingly demanding greater attention to adaptation on the international stage.

Abstract: In the context of climate change, the poorest people are commonly seen as having the least capacity to adapt. However, to date, there has been a limited examination of the dynamic and differentiated nature of poverty. Through bringing together both the chronic poverty and adaptation literature, this article presents a new pro-poor adaptation research agenda underpinned by a more nuanced understanding of poverty. Whilst recognising that poverty reduction efforts are threatened by climate change, this article investigates ways in which proactive adaptation could offer opportunities to create pathways out of chronic poverty through targeted vulnerability reduction and adaptation efforts.

Abstract: This paper provides a fresh look at informal employment, a phenomenon of renewed interest to policy makers and researchers alike. It finds that informal employment is likely to stay, is sometimes a voluntary choice, can offer better working conditions than formal employment and is very heterogeneous and diverse. Reasons for these puzzling facts and trends are discussed by focussing on incentives and constraints determining labour market outcomes. “Reloading” informal employment argues for a re-thinking of the current policy agenda and maps out important further directions for research.

Abstract: This paper focuses on the environmental knowledge of farming communities in Africa. How can the researcher investigate such knowledge? How can it be used in the rural development process? The scope and limitations of farmers' knowledge concerning agricultural pests is illustrated in a case study. The process of knowledge formation is a consequence of the kinds of observation the farmer is able to make. Inaccuracies may stem from observational limitations. On the other hand the farmer's own point of view reflects dimensions of experience of which the researcher or extension agent may be unaware. These dimensions may be vital to the success or failure of rural development schemes and should be systematically incorporated into the ‘research and development’ process. This in itself implies new approaches to eliciting information which hand over the initiative in interviews to the respondent. Repertory grid analysis is discussed as an example of a relevant methodology. The paper finally discusses how an improved capacity to research and monitor development problems at the village level might help redress the imbalance which results from technocratic control of planning decision making.

Abstract: This article examines how concepts of women’s ‘agency’ have been appropriated and transformed by neoliberal discourses. Within this framework, the exercise of agency is sought in women’s strategies for survival rather than struggles for transformation, and at the level of the individual rather than the collective. Post-modern preoccupations with the subject and the recognition of ‘difference’ have been incorporated alongside liberal definitions of the ‘rational individual exercising free will’ to pursue and legitimise neoliberal economic policies involving intensified exploitation of poor women’s labour in the name of ‘women’s empowerment’.

Abstract: security coverage at all. In many least developed countries, more than nine out of ten workers live and work without any type of safety net ... The need for the expansion of social security coverage is greater than ever before. The gap in social protection, really in human protection, is just one dimension of a world full of imbalances. (Juan Somavia, Director General, International Labour Organisation)

Abstract: The rapid pace at which the climate change agenda is permeating wide-ranging arenas of established development practice and theory leaves little space and time for reflection on the implications this has for learning across agendas and literatures. 'Adaptation' is a term that is increasingly reserved for processes that build the resilience of households, communities and sectors to changes in the climate. But, 'adaptation' always has, and arguably always should, refer to more than just responses to climate change. Reflections here make the case for climate change enthusiasts to engage with a broader agenda concerning how to enable poor and vulnerable people to move out of poverty and vulnerability. We focus on livelihood diversification as one possible adaptation strategy, and whether diversification as a climate adaptation option looks different from a poverty reduction option. © Institute of Development Studies.

Abstract: Security is a contested concept, which means very different things to different people. It bears the heavy historical imprint of the existing state system and of global capitalism. However this IDS Bulletin contends that it is essential that the development community understands and engages with security issues, for violent conflict and insecurity can no longer be treated as exogenous shocks disturbing the smooth course of development; but rather they should be seen as intrinsic to development itself. In the twenty-first century, the dominant state-based narratives of security are no longer credible and need to be rethought, especially from the perspective of the poor, vulnerable and dispossessed. This article and this IDS Bulletin as a whole are an attempt to sketch out a multilevel framework for the governance of (in)security, taking human and citizen security as its starting point, and addressing the gender, class, ethnic, religious, etc. inequalities built into the dominant narratives of security.

Abstract: This article reports on the use of participatory video as a research tool for working in violent contexts. The research asked how people living in poor areas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil can build a bridge between violence and citizenship through participatory social action. Working in violent favelas and housing estates, the process involved creating participatory discussion groups drawn from different segments of the community. Participatory video was one of several tools used in the research process. The main contribution of participatory video was not in generating empirical findings, but in challenging patterns of power and control.

Abstract: With rapid economic growth and little progress in banishing undernutrition, India is an economic powerhouse and a nutritional weakling. This article surveys the others in this collection and concludes that such a situation represents a failure of governance at many levels. The article suggests a number of ways in which the state and civil society in India can strengthen the governance of nutrition in terms of capability, responsiveness and accountability. It also calls for more frequent data collection on nutrition service delivery and nutrition outcomes so that the state and civil society can sustain pressure on the need to improve nutrition. Finally, the outlines of a new research focus are described.

Abstract: All research on violence is informed by silences. In practical terms, an immediate reading of silence may be that it presents an obstacle for the researcher who is dependent on people who are willing to speak out. Another interpretation of silence is that its presence is central to what we know about violence. Silence and the invisibility of gender in mainstream analyses of violence are closely connected. This article reflects on research in El Salvador, arguing that a critical analysis of violence should directly confront the effects of silence and silencing, particularly as they concern violence against women, which is often separated from ‘real’ violence. It discusses the excuses and localised rationales that work to silence women's experiences of abuse.

Abstract: This article argues that concern with technical knowledge which is indigenous to disadvantaged rural groups must go beyond an interest in extracting fragments of it to make marginal improvements to existing types of R and D project The main issue must be the extent to which such groups are involved in, and have influence upon, the technical change which affects their lives The range of potential uses for indigenous technical knowledge is therefore far wider than those involved in R and D, and the central concern must be with augmenting the whole spectrum of indigenous capabilities to create, transform and use technical knowledge This implies there must be a shift from the dominant approach to rural technical change which merely seeks to introduce into rural society techniques conceived and developed outside it Rather, one must seek the technological development of rural society which enables it more effectively to pursue and control its own path of technical change

Abstract: 1 Understanding poverty is central to living in a changing climate Climate change is receiving significant levels of attention across the world. The findings of the world’s top scientists under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are informing calls for radical limits to atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations responsible for human-induced climate change (IPCC 2007). Achieving an international agreement, particularly under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), on emissions targets, burden sharing, trading mechanisms and technological and financial assistance remains a high priority concern for the ‘mitigation’ of climate change.

Abstract: One of the widely‐predicted consequences of the global financial crisis is a shortage of trade finance that will exacerbate declines in trade volumes. Many commentators and policymakers have predicted such a shortage, and the G20 London Summit committed to substantial increases in trade finance. Should development practitioners be concerned about whether decreasing availability of trade credit will undermine export performance in sub‐Saharan Africa? Telephone interviews were conducted with a small number of exporting firms in the garment and horticulture sectors in sub‐Saharan Africa. These firms did not face problems with trade finance. These firms did, however, face problems with declining demand in export markets and pressures on margins because of exchange‐rate movements. There are also indications that trade finance restrictions are hitting other developing regions, particularly Latin America and the Caribbean, and that firms that do not have well‐established trading relationships are more vulnerable to shortages of trade finance.

Abstract: This article explores the differing health status of lower caste social groups in India, analyses the reasons for the differences and discusses some of the implications for policy. National Family Planning and Health Survey (NFH‐3) data shows that children belonging to lower castes have worse nutrition, health and mortality indicators and poorer access to health services and nutrition schemes than children from higher castes, even after other socioeconomic factors are considered. The article suggests that this points towards the possible role of discrimination and exclusion associated with caste and ‘untouchability’ and outlines some policy recommendations that are proactively inclusive, specifically in the nutrition domain.

Abstract: India's excellent economic growth in the last two decades has made little impact on the nutrition levels of its children. Its main intervention, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme, has not yet succeeded in reducing child malnutrition. The programme is reaching less than one‐third of all children. ICDS also faces substantial operational challenges, such as lack of monitoring. The article discusses the flaws in the design of ICDS, and suggests practical measures to improve its implementation. It argues that the basic nature of the ICDS scheme should be changed from centre‐based to outreach‐based, with a focus on children under two years old. The emphasis should be on the difficult tasks of changing child‐rearing practices, and the control and treatment of infectious diseases. The article argues against provision of packaged food, as this is unpopular with young children and has led to corruption.

Abstract: The body of knowledge, science and techniques used by rural people is well developed and can make an important contribution to development, but there is a conflict between it and modern knowledge. Modern knowledge is an instrument of power belonging to the technician. By emphasising the government agent's knowledge, development projects devalue traditional rural peoples' knowledge, and deny them creativity. We need new institutional ways of releasing the creative abilities of rural people in order to achieve a synthesis of traditional and modern knowledge.

Abstract: Accelerated Development in sub-Saharan Africa: an Agenda for Action [World Bank 198l) provides the first comprehensive example of the new post McNamarat World Bank thinking applied to a whole region rather than an individual country. If the Report is representative, concern for reduction of inequalities, provision for basic needs, and alleviation of absolute poverty appears to have fallen in the Bank's ranking of priorities. Equity and distribution concerns have been supplanted by a re-emphasis upon the growth of production, and upon the adoption of 'outwardoriented' policies as a means of adjustment in the face of structural balance of payments problems. This policy change has coincided with the expansion of general balance of payments lending by the Bank, in support of approved 'structural adjustment' programmes. The Accelerated Development Report is the strongest general statement to date of the policy change. It is also the most detailed public exposition of the kinds of programmes the Bank would be willing to support with structural adjustment lending. While this evolution in World Bank thinking

Abstract: This article discusses the methodological challenges of a service delivery survey in Khayelitsha, a township in Cape Town, South Africa. The survey aimed to gain a better understanding of the relationship between citizen participation and the environmental challenges facing residents in this urban area. Khayelitsha is a township prone to violence. Encountering violence during fieldwork can alter the way researchers execute research, yet this often remains unacknowledged in ‘objective social science’, especially in probability sampling. The article examines the effects of the risk felt by researchers on the research method employed in quantitative surveys. It shows that deliberating on this aspect of the research process is both necessary and useful, especially in terms of recognising the need to factor fear or uncertainty into the ways in which research processes unfold.

Abstract: At the same time that the field of security moves away from traditional state-centred perspectives towards a human-centred understanding of security, contemporary states seem to be incapable of protecting people from increasingly complex forms of insecurity. Inadequate and inefficient public responses have contributed to the erosion of the idea of security as a public good, especially in contexts of chronic violence. In this article, we suggest that in these contexts ‘security from below’ could help analytically and in practice to humanise security provision by focusing attention on the lived experiences of insecurity, by encouraging participation in debates about the local and universal values that should inform state responses and by enabling people to demand a people-centred but publicly delivered form of security. Rethinking security from below is not a suggestion for replacing the state; it is instead an attempt to increase the capacity of communities and local level actors to articulate their demands for better security provision based on agreed norms and under democratic principles in which security must be at the heart of all struggles for equitable development and social justice.Article first published March 2009, IDSB40.2.

Abstract: Failure to invest in children's education is widely recognised as a key mechanism for the intergenerational transmission of poverty. At the same time, rising levels of education among different socioeconomic groups in countries like Bangladesh suggest that poverty on its own is not an adequate explanation for this failure. This article uses survey data on low-income households in urban Bangladesh to explore what differentiates parents who have managed to send their children to school from those who have not. One factor is education: parents with no education are more likely to have children of school-going age who are not at school. Different aspects of household vulnerability, as captured by asset deficits, reliance on casual labour and female headship, also play an important role in determining whether children go to school or not. In addition, the article argues that contextual factors have an important influence on how parents imagine their children's future and how children themselves regard education. The hazards of daily life in slum environments, the limited range of job opportunities available and the absence of decent educational facilities all serve to undermine parental commitment and children's motivation with regard to education. The article suggests that the state and civil society should collaborate to promote educational and livelihood interventions which are responsive to the needs of the more vulnerable sections of the poor and to reshape how parents and children envisage the future.

Abstract: Recognising that many indicators of vulnerability among children, such as malnutrition or poor educational performance, might reflect intergenerational problems has profound implications for the design and implementation of social protection programmes. Treating the symptoms of these problems is of course essential: a malnourished child needs immediate nutritional support and a child who is failing at school needs special attention. But the argument of this paper is that ‘taking the long view’ is imperative if the reasons why children are malnourished, or failing, are to be correctly identified and adequately addressed. Importantly, the analysis implies directing interventions not exclusively at the children who are at risk, but at others in society who are responsible for the care of children.

Abstract: This article explores the notion of troublesome' masculinities that characterise much of the policy discourse and programme thinking on problems of young men and gender. It critiques the dimorphism that shapes this view of young men's gender trouble, and the ‘culturalism’ that constrains the perception of the troubled times in which many young men live. The article argues that young men can be enlisted in the feminist struggle to transform ideologies and institutions of male power, but only by troubling both the notions of masculinity that underpin them as well as the structural inequalities within which they are enmeshed.

Abstract: Summary This article examines some of the main trends in the evolution of development thinking over the last 25 years or so, from three main perspectives: the nature of the political economies that constitute the object of development thought since 1950, and their international context; the nature of the economic thought prevailing when development became a fundamental issue in the early 1950s; and the ways in which development thinking has evolved in reaction to actual development processes, problems and policies. ResumeLe developpement de la conception du developpement Cet article examine quelques-unes des principales tendances dans l'evolution de la conception du developpement au cours des quelque vingt-cinq dernieres annees, a partir de trois points de vue: la nature des economies politiques qui constituant l'objet de la conception de developpement depuis 1950, et leur contexte international; la nature de la pensee economique predominante au moment ou le developpement devint une question fondamentale au debut des annees cinquante; et l'evolution de la conception du developpement face aux reels processus, problemes et politiques de developpement. ResumenEl Desarrollo del Pensamiento sobre el Desarrollo Este articulo examina algunos de las principales tendencias en la evolucion del pensamiento sobre desarrollo en los ultimos 25 anos aproximadamente. Dicha evolucion se enfoca desde tres perspectivas principales : la naturaleza de las economias y sociedades que constituian el “objeto” del pensamiento sobre desarrollo alrededor de 1950, y su contexto internacional; la naturaleza del pensamiento economico disponible cuando el problema del desarrollo economico se convirtio en el topico central de la politica economica a comienzos de la decada de 1950; y la forma en la cual evoluciono y cambio el pensamiento sobre el desarrollo en respuesta a los problemas que enfrento la politica de desarrollo en las ultimas decadas.

Abstract: Although inter‐cropping (IC) is widely practised in rainfed tropical small‐scale agriculture, agricultural research scientists have not systematically explored the rationale for it and have rarely attempted to improve it. instead, they have concentrated on planting crops in pure stands and extension advice has been to replace IC with pure stands. This has reduced the impact of research and extension activities. A review of East African experience from the 1930s considers reasons for the research concentration on pure stand planting and reveals two phases when formal experiments on IC were carried out. Despite generally favourable results, neither of these led to including IC in extension advice to farmers. IC can contribute to one or more of five common objectives of small‐scale farmers, but the standard design of agronomic experiments at best takes account of only one of these, so that benefits are underestimated and erroneous policy conclusions drawn. The paper advocates, inter alia , multidisciplinary research for small‐scale agriculture and active participation by farmers themselves.

Abstract: SUMMARY IDS research has thrown a good deal of light on issues not adequately treated in an earlier attempt to diagnose The Diploma Disease [Dore 1976]. The distinction between vocationally relevant credentials and the use of achievement tests in general education for ability screening is an important one: it is the latter which gives rise to the most serious problems. The presence or absence of centralised national examination systems, and the degree of bureaucratisation of employment are two of the features which greatly affect the use of diplomas. Finally, there is a good deal to be learned from the Chinese experiment in ‘delinking’ certificates and jobs. RESUMENContinuacion del tema sobre la enfermedad de los diplomasa La investigacion de IDS ha iluminado considerablemente los temas que no se han tratado de manera adecuada en tentativas anteriores para diagnosticar La enfermedad por conseguir diplomas [Dore, 1976]. Tiene importancia distinguir entre las credenciales adaptadas a la vocacion y la utilizacion de pruebas para medir el exito en la educion general para la clasificacion en cuanto a la habilidad; este ultimo aspecto es el que ha planteado los problemas mas graves. La presencia o ausencia de sistemas de examenes nacionales centralizados y el grado de burocratizacion del empleo son dos de las caracteristicas que influyen mucho en la utilizacion de diplomas. Por ultimo, se puede aprender mucho del experimento chino mediante el cual se ha tratado de separar los certificados de los puestos de empleo. RESUMERetour a la maladie des diplomes Les recherches de l'IDS ont jete la lumiere sur des questions qui avaient ete traitees de maniere insuffisante dans un precedent effort pour diagnostiquer la maladie des diplomes [Dore, 1976]. La distinction entre des references utiles du point de vue professionnel et le recours a des examens sur des sujets d'enseignement general pour selectionner les talents est une distinction importante: les problemes les plus serieux decoulent de ces derniers. La presence ou l'absence d'un systeme d'examen national centralise et le degre de bureaucratisation de l'emploi sont deux des points qui affectent grandement l'utilisation des diplomes. Enfin, il y a beaucoup a apprendre de l'experience chinoise consistant a dissocier les certificats et les emplois.