Resource library: Promoting legal and policy changes
Welcome to our comprehensive resource collection dedicated to promoting legal and policy changes.
Here, you'll find a diverse range of resources aimed at supporting the design and implementation of inclusive legal and policy reforms that promote the rights and safety of all individuals. Laws and policies have a wide-ranging impact on people’s individual and collective lives, including their quality of life, ability to exercise their rights, and their access to services. Unfortunately, legal frameworks can mirror and perpetuate patterns of discrimination that exist in everyday life, limiting the people and groups who already experience discrimination. For instance, LGBT+ individuals and couples, people with disabilities, survivors of sexual violence, widows or divorced women, or girls who leave school early due to pregnancy, are likely to encounter social and economic exclusion due to restrictive policies or legislation based on their background or identity.
Efforts to challenge discriminatory policies and legislation, whether undertaken individually or collectively, can be fraught with risks, especially for reformers already experiencing discrimination. This includes women human rights defenders and LGBT+ organisations, among others.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 43 resources
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- Evidence/literature review
This resource sets out the evidence base on technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), an assessment of evidence gaps, and emerging research priorities. It also sets out some of the key methodological and ethical challenges in accessing…
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- Report
This resource examines the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex (LGBTQI+) people as important but underrepresented within atrocities research and atrocity prevention policy and practice. The resource…
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- Report
This resource sets out the ‘next steps’ for governments that establish anti- lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) hate crime laws to support them in ensuring that those laws are applied fairly and robustly. It provides a framework that…
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- Policy paper, Strategy
This resource highlights the Global Innovation Fund’s climate strategy, covering context, resilience and adaptation, and how the Fund will support climate adaptation in alignment with the Paris Agreement. According to this resource, the Global…
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- Guidance document
This resource provides an analysis of the existing barriers to funding women peacebuilders, as experienced by donors and local women peacebuilding organisations dedicated to building peace, promoting rights, and preventing or countering violent…
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- Report
This resource provides an analysis of the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities and their families in Official Development Assistance and an analysis on funder compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons…
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- Fact sheet , Guidance document
This resource is guidance developed for country offices in the UK Government’s former Department for International Development (DFID) to support them with efforts to prevent and address violence against women (VAW) and violence, abuse and…
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- Report
This report from the Work and Opportunities for Women helpdesk (WOW helpdesk) provides guidance on how the climate change impacts women, what is needed for gender inclusive climate action and how to create gender inclusive opportunities in the green…
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- Evidence digest
This paper examines the gender dimensions of taxation, particularly in lower-income contexts, and explores how tax policy and administration impact women's economic participation and care responsibilities. It reviews existing literature, identifies…
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- Guidance document
This practical guidance supports project developers in integrating gender equity into carbon credit initiatives, moving beyond a ‘Do No Harm’ approach to ensure benefits for all genders. Developed under the Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW)…
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- Guidance document
This resource provides advice on how to design a national disability-inclusive social protection system. It is aimed at policy makers and practitioners, offering examples from work of the governments and development organisations in different…
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- Fact sheet
This short resource from the Disability Inclusion Helpdesk (DI HD) sets out evidence to show that infrastructure is vital for societal development and economic progress, however the benefits are often not distributed equally. It provides…
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- Evidence/literature review, Report
This report sets out the prevalence of stigma and discrimination faced by persons with disabilities and their families in Malawi. It shares findings from a research study on the potential of Para sport for addressing disability stigma and provides a…
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- Policy paper
This policy paper presents findings from Young Lives research on skills development and the gender employment gap across four study countries. It highlights key barriers to women’s participation in the workforce and provides policy recommendations…
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- Report
This resource explains how feminist foreign policies (FFP), feminist development policies (FDP) and international gender strategies impact incidents of violence against women and girls (VAWG). It summarises the commitments on VAWG from a selection…
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- Policy paper
This policy brief examines the impact of flexible work arrangements on female labour force participation and gender norms in West Bengal, India. Through a field experiment with 1,670 households, the study finds that job flexibility significantly…
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- Lessons from a programme, Policy paper
This policy paper provides top policy lessons on empowering adolescent girls. With overlapping crises such as climate change, the ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, regional conflicts and rising global food insecurity, adolescent girls are…
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- Evidence/literature review
This resource from the Work and Opportunities for Women helpdesk (WOW helpdesk) looks at how different international financial institutions (IFIs) frame and approach working on women’s economic empowerment, and the impact of this in practice. It…
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- Multimedia, Podcast
This podcast explores gender inequalities and exclusion faced by women in Africa, with particular focus on experiences of low-income urban residents. It examines how women are impacted by issues related to:economic opportunitiesurban development and…
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- Evidence/literature review
This resource from the Knowledge, evidence and learning for development (K4D) programme is a rapid literature review on lessons and promising practices from national-level experience with the development and implementation of legal and policy…
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- Tools and templates
This resource presents research and collation of good practice and tips in designing perception surveys in order to understand gender equality issues, including recommendations on safeguarding, meaningful participation and inclusion. The paper…