About IDRC
A Crown corporation, we support leading thinkers who advance knowledge and solve practical development problems. We provide the resources, advice, and training they need to implement and share their solutions with those who need them most. In short, IDRC increases opportunities—and makes a real difference in people’s lives.
Working with our development partners, we multiply the impact of our investment and bring innovations to more people in more countries around the world. We offer fellowships and awards to nurture a new generation of development leaders.
What we do
IDRC funds research in developing countries to create lasting change on a large scale.
To make knowledge a tool for addressing pressing challenges, we
- provide developing-country researchers financial resources, advice, and training to help them find solutions to local problems.
- encourage knowledge sharing with policymakers, researchers, and communities around the world.
- foster new talent by offering fellowships and awards.
- strive to get new knowledge into the hands of those who can use it.
In doing so, we contribute to Canada’s foreign policy, complementing the work of Global Affairs Canada, and other government departments and agencies.
Resources
Displaying 111 - 115 of 324Women, land and customary law
The objective is to record current living customary law and ways in which it is moving in progressive directions so that this information can be used towards justice, as evidence in court cases, and in policy development and political engagement from local to national levels.
Owning land a path out of poverty in Pakistan
For decades, efforts to distribute agricultural land more equitably consistently excluded women. Then, a groundbreaking research project made women part of the discussion. It set the stage for a provincial campaign that for the first time in Pakistan’s history transferred land to poor women.
Inter-American Institute (IAI) newsletter, issue 2, 2011
IAI projects funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and Canada's IDRC included support of research in the La Plata Basin, which has experienced extensive land use changes. Projects examine the effects of hydrological and climate change on agriculture, as well as how land use feeds back into effects on regional hydrology and climate, both economically and socially. Several articles in this newsletter present results of these interactions, such as an economic analysis of flooding, effects on soil carbon stocks, and drivers of land use change.
Local solutions gain ground in East Africa
In Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya, a decentralized approach to land administration promises more accessible dispute resolution and a better deal for women. Among the challenges however, are old social attitudes that pre-empt discussion about women’s right to control land. In Lira district, for example, in-laws and land-grabbers routinely chase widows off land. A “viciously vibrant land market” often means that women are swindled in Bugunda district.