Deq (Arabic: دەق) or xal (Kurdish: خاڵ) are the Arabic and Kurdish words for tattoo respectively. Traditional Deq (tattoo) or Xal has long been a part of cultural heritage in Kurdistan and Iraq, it is ...

On 25 February 2025, the University of Duhok hosted a conference titled ‘Preserving Cultural Heritage in Kurdistan – Iraq’. This event, organised in collaboration with the Institute of Development ...

How did the e-levy become so unpopular, and what will repealing it mean? Over three years, researchers from the IDS-based International Centre for Tax and Development worked with partners in Ghana to ...

Calls for action to acknowledge and address caste power dynamics and prejudice based on caste in Higher Education.

With limited assets and multiple constraints to access to land, accumulation by young people in our A1 land reform sites is challenging. This blog looks at the multiple pathways followed, highlighting ...

On 28 March 2025, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit central Myanmar, a country going through a civil war and an already worsening humanitarian crisis under the military junta. The earthquake was the most ...

In this first blog, we introduce the work of the Full Spectrum Coalition evidence and learning group and the challenge it responds to.

Dr. Ben Cislaghi is an international development scholar and practitioner specializing in gender norms, social justice, and community-led development. Ben has led and contributed to major research ...

The cuts to ODA budgets have severe consequences for climate change projects around the world, warns experts at IDS.

The changing geo-political landscape has shifted focus from generalised normative preferences in trade policy towards more realist goals that seek to create the best advantage for a country under ...

Our research partnerships examine how to tackle deeply entrenched inequalities that lead to social and economic injustices. Our work draws attention to the needs of people living in chronic poverty, ...