Our Work

The IPC-IG has lead the promotion and development of knowledge management in the provision of innovative research outputs, policy prescriptions and presentations, as a facilitator of South-South and inter-regional learning. The Rural and Sustainable Development Team (RSD Team) has played a key role in promoting inter-regional learning between SIDS, Brazil, India and South Africa and between Brazil and Africa. Through its research outputs, seminars and presentations, the RSD Team continues to serve as a facilitator of South-South exchange on critical issues of Rural and Sustainable Development.

Through the establishment of cohesive links among global, regional and country programmes, the RSD team’s research and dialogue have identified key gaps in development processes and innovative approaches and policies to bridge them. These are important contributions, particularly as inclusive green growth requires structural transformation, the efficient and effective capture of extremely large investiture of capital into green funds, and creative use of internal and external development finance in a time when Official Development Assistance (financed primarily by Global North Donor Countries) seems to be slowly evaporating. The body of innovative research produced by the department serves these functions well, whilst bringing global knowledge and learning to the country level, and promoting country realities in global discourse via case studies and policy showcases.

The following sections highlight some of the recent work accomplished by the RSD Team:

Contributions to the Global Programme

• The RSD Team continues to explore the issues of inequality, poverty, gender, and climate change through its unique multi-disciplinary examination of inclusive growth. The multi-tiered, plurality of concept and issue exploration has allowed for a broad interpretation of the IPC-IG mandate, and has enabled the department to take on the exploration of macro and micro issues equally with success.
• Input to UNDP’s corporate agenda
• The RSD Department participates in the UNDP corporate integrated strategy for stabilization and recovery, combining access to justice, security and sustainable livelihoods. Accordingly, in 2012 a number of outputs were directly linked to the Annual Business Plan of the Bureau for Development Policy of UNDP in the following thematic areas:
• Pursuit and promotion of the MDGs
• Institutional frameworks or arrangements that tackle disaster risk reduction (DRR) and integrating climate change concerns, focused on LDCs/LICs and other priority countries
• Advocacy and actions at global, regional and country levels regarding Rio+20 and new environmental finance mechanisms, organized around the nexus between climate change, DRR, poverty reduction and gender equality
• Post-2015 development agenda of inclusion, equity, resilience, and sustainability

2012 Flagship Activities

• Rio +20
• Civil Society and Knowledge Community: Dialogues around Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD) (Official IPC-IG Rio +20 Side Event - June 2012) : The convening of diverse voices under this theme allowed for areas of research and advocacy to engage in the broader discussions of one of the two signature themes for Rio +20, and to specifically engage with civil society and the knowledge community. The results of the Rio +20 Side Event discussions have informed a draft theme paper on the topic of the event and a report of the event itself is available. The outcome of this dialogue will continue to contribute to the civil society and media capacity building activities undertaken by IPC-IG, as well as contribute to the multi-disciplinary knowledge activities undertaken by TERI. This work also serves to expand a growing collaboration with the BDP Democratic Governance Group (DGG) which now encompasses three teams (Access to Justice, Parliamentary Development and the latest -the Anti-corruption Team). A Policy Brief on Bridging Anti-corruption and Social Accountability – The role of Civil Society in Sustainable Development (forthcoming), and possibly merge into a Guidance Document which would also lead to capacity building efforts.
• The RSD Team participates in the UNDP Rio+20 Task Force and in the UNDP Rio Delegation, thus making a direct contribution to an important component of the Global Programme. The RSD Department’s contributions were multi-fold. The IPC-IG Rural and Sustainable Development Department’s specialist role exploring the socio-environmental nexus of policy, theory and practical discussions of development is expected to also contribute to the post-Rio Agenda, having already contributed to a pitch sheet delineating specific areas for UNDP to prioritise.
• Seminar on the Role of South-South Cooperation in African Agriculture
• Held in May 2012, this two-day seminar bought together policymakers, researchers, civil society representatives and entrepreneurs from four continents to discuss emerging issues surrounding Brazil-Africa cooperation, such as through policy and research in the fields of food security, inclusive green growth, agricultural growth and sustainable rural development. It was a collaborative effort between IPC-IG, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, the Overseas Development Institute and the Institute for Development Studies with financial support from the Department for International Development of the UK (DFID-UK). The seminar, in combination with the Rio +20 side-event, has resulted in an emerging partnership with Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) and Earth System Governance to collaborate on capacity building and enhanced knowledge for policy action on climate-smart agriculture in Africa.
• IPC-IG’s collaboration with the BDG Democratic Governance Group continues in 2012 with:
• Participation in the Anticorruption Community of Practice in Brasilia from November 5 th-6 th (Leisa Perch will be co-chairing a group session on Accountability in the Natural Resource Sector).
• Involvement in the Mini-Forum on Environment and Legal Empowerment, part of the Global South-South Expo in Vienna at the end of November 2012(Leisa Perch will be presenting the findings of research on Legal Empowerment of the Poor and Environmental Justice in Latin America and the Caribbean).