Resources

Research highlights the provision of affordable housing, including for the lowest income groups, as an overlooked opportunity for developers and investors willing to think more creatively about the housing market. There are a number of areas where collaboration between private and community sector organisations could enable development of affordable housing, utilising the networks and resources established […]

There are growing opportunities to utilise digital solutions to solve urban service delivery challenges. Opportunities  include the potential to better plan services for citizens, improving the value for money of LGAs investments an leveraging private sector support. In 2017 the ICED programme developed a positioning paper ‘Urbanisation in a Digital World’, reviewed the potential for […]

In a new in-depth study, ICED outlines how community finance organisations can help to overcome barriers to private-sector involvement in the development of informal settlements. Community finance can harness human and organisational capacity within settlements to address the difficulties and associated risks that deter lending, capital investment and large-scale delivery of infrastructure programmes. This paper […]

Cities are a key driver of national prosperity, producing on average more than half of GDP, even in developing countries. They do this by concentrating activity, resources and knowledge to exploit agglomeration effects and economies of scale. These effects are not always present however and can be reduced where cities to not achieve the necessary […]

Cities are a key driver of national prosperity, producing on average more than half of GDP, even in developing countries. They do this by concentrating activity, resources and knowledge to exploit agglomeration effects and economies of scale. These effects are not always present however and can be reduced where cities to not achieve the necessary […]

When investing in power generation a series of trade-offs are made between Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions occurring during generation, and GHG emissions created along the energy value chain from extraction to consumption. With natural gas a key resource in many DFID-supported countries, ICED research investigated emissions trade-offs between locating a gas-fired power plant close to […]

The business case for large scale deployment of renewable energy technologies in developing countries is gaining momentum. There is growing awareness that renewable energy can play a key role in addressing climate change, creating new economic opportunities, and providing energy access to those living without modern energy services. This paper looks at some of the […]

This paper reviews the evidence for linkages between providing improved access to reliable and affordable power and economic growth outcomes. It sets out the potential transmission mechanisms (theory of change) for these growth effects, and assesses the strength of evidence and potential constraints to this narrative. The ability for improved access to reliable and affordable […]

In 2016 ICED undertook an extensive review of evidence available to support linkages between infrastructure delivery, support for improved urban productivity, and economic growth. The review was undertaken in order to provide a valuable resource for donors designing programmes or interventions. A series of papers then analysed this evidence presenting a theory of change from […]

DFID’s recent Inclusive Growth Diagnostics highlighted that in many DFID priority countries energy is a key constraint to economic growth. Energy reform is highly political, and any attempts to support sector reform without an understanding of the domestic and international political landscape are likely to fail. This case study seeks to draw out key success […]