Monthly Corner
IDH Publication, 2026
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is not just a social issue, it’s a systemic challenge that undermines agricultural value chains.
In rural and isolated areas, GBV threatens women’s safety, limits their economic participation, and weakens food security. When women cannot work safely, entire communities lose resilience, and businesses lose productivity. Climate resilience strategies that overlook gendered risks leave communities exposed and women vulnerable.
Ending GBV is essential for building equitable, sustainable, and climate-resilient agri-food systems; and it’s not only a human rights imperative, but also central to climate adaptation and economic stability.
The good news? Solutions work. Programs like the Women’s Safety Accelerator Fund (WSAF) demonstrate that addressing GBV can enhance productivity and strengthen workforce morale and brand reputation. Safe, inclusive workplaces aren’t just good ethics, they’re smart business.
Gurmeet Kaur Articles
Luc Barriere-Constantin Article
This article draws on the experience gained by The Constellation over the past 20 years. It is also a proposal for a new M&E and Learning framework to be adopted and adapted in future projects of all community-focused organisations.
Devaka K.C. Article
Sudeshna Sengupta Chapter in the book "Dialogues on Development edited by Prof Arash Faizli and Prof Amitabh Kundu."
Events
Vacancies
- We’re Hiring: National Evaluation Consultant – Bangladesh
UN Women is recruiting a National Evaluation Consultant (Bangladesh) to support the interim evaluation of the Joint Regional EmPower Programme (Phase II).
This is a great opportunity to work closely with the Evaluation Team Leader and contribute to generating credible, gender-responsive evidence that informs decision-making and strengthens programme impact.
📍 Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh (home-based with travel to project locations)
📅 Apply by: 24 February 2026, 5:00 PM
🔗 Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gar4ciRr
If you are passionate about feminist evaluation, gender equality, and rigorous evidence that drives change (or know someone who is) please apply or share within your networks.
- Seeking Senior Analyst - IPE Global
About the job
IPE Global Ltd. is a multi-disciplinary development sector consulting firm offering a range of integrated, innovative and high-quality services across several sectors and practices. We offer end-to-end consulting and project implementation services in the areas of Social and Economic Empowerment, Education and Skill Development, Public Health, Nutrition, WASH, Urban and Infrastructure Development, Private Sector Development, among others.
Over the last 26 years, IPE Global has successfully implemented over 1,200 projects in more than 100 countries. The group is headquartered in New Delhi, India with five international offices in United Kingdom, Kenya, Ethiopia, Philippines and Bangladesh. We partner with multilateral, bilateral, governments, corporates and not-for-profit entities in anchoring development agenda for sustained and equitable growth. We strive to create an enabling environment for path-breaking social and policy reforms that contribute to sustainable development.
Role Overview
IPE Global is seeking a motivated Senior Analyst – Low Carbon Pathways to strengthen and grow its Climate Change and Sustainability practice. The role will contribute to business development, program management, research, and technical delivery across climate mitigation, carbon markets, and energy transition. This position provides exceptional exposure to global climate policy, finance, and technology, working with a team of high-performing professionals and in collaboration with donors, foundations, research institutions, and public agencies.
The World Bank's World Development Report 2015: A Justice-based Critique
http://http://www.comminit.com/job_vacancies/content/world-banks-wo...
Justice is about fairness and equity. It is also about equitable distribution of power, resources, and outcomes in society. It requires expanding rights of the marginalized and ceilings on the privileged.
Does the World Bank’s World Development Report [WDR] measure up to justice? The title of this Report, Mind, Society, and Behavior, captures the essence of the report. It says development actors need to pay attention to how humans think (the processes of mind), how history and context shape thinking (the influence of society), and how design and implementation of development policies and interventions should target human choice and action (behavior). It distinguishes between three ways of thinking: automatic thinking, social thinking (shaped by norms which people collectively uphold), and thinking with mental models. On the positive side, the WDR 2015 places issue of individual and social thinking, cognitive maps, and behavior at the center of development debates. The report flags racism and casteism as negative social ways of racist thinking. It shows how to intervene with the marginalized using this "Mind, Society, and Behavior" lens in sectors of poverty, health, education, climate change, etc.
However, the message of WDR 2015 falls short of using a justice lens.
Are the economically poor deep thinkers or not capable of analysis?
The WDR 2015 seems to argue that the marginalized engage more in automatic thinking than deliberative thinking (after analysis) when compared to the better off. It says:
"Individuals who must exert a great deal of mental energy every day just to ensure access to necessities such as food and clean water are left with less energy for careful deliberation than those who, simply by virtue of living in an area with good infrastructure and good institutions, can instead focus on investing in a business or going to school committee meetings. Poor people may thus be forced to rely even more heavily on automatic decision making than those who are not poor." (World Bank, 2015: 13).
The reality is that the poor think ahead and, given their meager power and resources, deliberate how best their household can survive, as well as how their land and common property resources can be sustained for the future - including in the context of climate change.
Redistribution vs. conditional cooperation
When referring to social thinking, the WDR 2015 observes that people are conditional cooperators - that is, individuals who prefer to cooperate as long as others are cooperating. It argues that institutions and interventions should support such cooperative behavior. However, society is constituted of various institutions: household, local government, traditional council, religious organisations, local markets, bureaucracy, etc. In these institutions, some people have more resources and power than others. Conditional cooperation often couches cooperative conflicts that Sen (1990) referred to - with some getting more of the intervention resources than others. To give an example, a seed growers' society in Tamil Nadu, India, entered into an agreement with a private seed company. The leaders were from privileged groups, and the others followed them. However, payment was delayed, and, finally, the intervention had to be shut down. The people most affected were mainly women - landless labourers, who had worked and for whom wages meant a difference between survival and death. Wages were a high proportion of total expenses.
Benefits vs. rights & ceilings
The WDR 2015 refers to various interventions which have been tested and could be used with respect to poverty, health, education, climate change, etc. For example, the WDR, 2015 cites that:
"Small nonfinancial incentives and prizes - like lentils and metal dinner plates - were combined with a reliable immunization provider within the community in India.... Among children aged 1-3, rates of full immunization were 39% with the lentils incentives compared to 18% in the group with only the reliable immunization provision." (World Bank, 2015: 13).
However, in rural India, nutrition is closely linked to the right to cultivable land. Land distribution is skewed, other than in few states where land reform was implemented. Dalits-untouchables constitute a significant proportion of the landless. Less than 12.5% of agricultural land is owned by women, according to a study carried out by UN Women in select states in India (Sircar, A. and D. Fletschner, 2014). That is, interventions should strengthen means of production/livelihood in addition to addressing symptoms. Further, international migration to developed countries with vast tracks of land need to be eased for a more equitable distribution of global resources.
Just corporateship or corporate social responsibility
The WDR 2015 mentions the concept of 'red teaming' or inviting outside groups to give an outsiders view about plans, procedures, systems, etc. This idea is taken from the private sector and military. If outside groups include the corporate sector or the military, it could be detrimental to the interests of marginalized groups. To give an example, the Indian government is, in some areas, acquiring common property resources (e.g., those with water bodies, medicinal plants) and giving them to multinational companies. In some cases, this has happened without the approval of local government. The resulting employment generated for local youth is small (Thervoy Youth, Women and People's Struggle Committee, 2011). Rather than involving them, it is important to regulate the private sector, so that ILO [International Labour Organization] standards are adopted. Engaging groups working on human rights and justice is most welcome.
It is time the World Bank moved from an ‘'incremental' to a ‘justice based’ development approach. Otherwise, there is a danger that the poor may reduce in number, simply by not being able to survive!
References
Sen, Amartya. 1990. “Gender and Cooperative Conflicts,” in Irene Tinker (ed.) Persistent Inequalities: Women and World Development, pp. 123–149. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sircar, A and D Fletschner, 2014, The Right to Inherit Isn’t Working for Indian Women, Says U.N. Study, The Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2014.
Thervoy Youth, Women and People's Struggle Committee, 2011, Tale Of...l, Countercurrents, 14, July, 2011.
The World Bank, 2015, World Development Report: 2015-Mind, Society and Behaviour, The World Bank, Washington.
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