IDS Annual Review 2020-21

Abstract

This has been an extraordinary year for the Institute. The Covid-19 pandemic and its health, social, economic and political impacts have created massive disruptions, transforming how people live and organisations function throughout the world. The challenges it has brought to how we at IDS contribute to creating a more equitable and sustainable world, where people everywhere are free from poverty and injustice, have been compounded by the UK Government’s recent cuts to overseas aid. These have been imposed hastily and there can be no doubt that they will have drastic effects.

Our strategy drives the structure of this Annual Review, which highlights our progress towards each of our five strategic priorities. We share impact stories from across the Institute that demonstrate our work towards these priorities. Not surprisingly, many of our key impacts this year relate to the pandemic. These include the wide-reaching influence of the Sanitation Learning Hub’s Handwashing Compendium, the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform on Covid-19 response, and our work to provide rapid analysis and facilitated learning to the UK Government to support pandemic recovery.

Other stories highlight exciting impacts such as large-scale successes in pedagogical advancement in Africa through equitable partnerships, and addressing digital exclusion that is affecting the most marginalised communities in our home city, Brighton, in the UK. We also marked 50 years of collaborative research with pastoralists, whose insights are prompting some major, and timely, rethinking of approaches to land management and climate change.