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The report examines local content policies (LCPs) in the mining sector, specifically focusing on local procurement. It details how 'local' is defined through geography, value addition, and ownership, and outlines various demand-side and supply-side policy options. The document emphasizes that for these policies to succeed, they must be supported by pre-conditions such as capacity analysis, a conducive business climate, and strong monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.

The IEU report covers its operational progress between November 2019 and February 2020, highlighting the completion of evaluations on country ownership and environmental and social safeguards. It details the progress of the Learning-Oriented Real-Time Impact Assessment (LORTA) programme, the publication of evidence gap maps on forestry and adaptation, and the unit's 95% budget expenditure rate for 2019.

The policy brief argues that women are frequently excluded from contract farming agreements despite providing the majority of the labor, and that contracted crops often displace the subsistence crops women grow for household nutrition. To remedy this, the authors propose incorporating legal protections into contracts and national legislation, drawing on principles from consumer protection, franchising, and mortgage laws. Key recommendations include requiring spousal consent for contract validity, ensuring informed consent through plain-language summaries, and conferring third-party rights to women who perform substantial work but are not signatories to the contract.

The report details how developing countries approach investment treaty negotiations, highlighting a trend toward renegotiating outdated agreements and the use of model treaties. It identifies the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and investment authorities as the primary leads in negotiations and provides a detailed mapping of ratification processes across various nations.

The policy brief examines how women are often excluded from contract farming agreements despite providing the majority of the labor, and how contract crops often displace the subsistence crops women manage. It suggests adapting legal principles from consumer protection, franchising, and mortgage laws to ensure women's consent, informed participation, and direct access to benefits within agricultural contracts.

The report details a series of Swedish-led dialogue forums in five countries aimed at integrating climate policies (NDCs) with sustainable development goals (SDGs). Common findings across the forums include a critical need for capacity building at local levels, the challenge of translating national policies into regional implementation, and the necessity of securing both international and domestic financing. While stakeholders generally recognized the synergies between NDCs and SDGs, concerns persisted regarding trade-offs between rapid industrialization and environmental sustainability. Country-specific insights highlight Vietnam's focus on integrated water management, Tanzania's debate on the economic costs of environmental degradation, Zambia's emphasis on research and solar potential, Cambodia's focus on inter-ministerial policy coherence, and Uganda's concerns over institutional silos and external financing dependencies.

The SADC–IISD Investment Facilitation Workshop, held in August 2018, aimed to transition the concept of investment facilitation toward a focus on sustainable development. Participants from 13 SADC member states analyzed the distinctions between trade and investment facilitation and reviewed the UNCTAD Global Action Menu. The workshop concluded that facilitation measures should primarily remain at the national level to preserve regulatory space, while the regional (SADC) and international levels should focus on information sharing, capacity building, and technical assistance rather than new legal obligations.

The document examines three case studies to demonstrate the impact of capacity building for women in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector. In Mongolia, the Sustainable Artisanal Mining (SAM) project combined government support with leadership and managerial training to help women formalize illegal operations and improve environmental rehabilitation. In Zambia, the Extractives Industry Transparency Alliance (EITA) utilized local civil society organizations to provide business and governance training to women in the extraction of development minerals. In Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Accountability and Artisanal Mining Program (ZAAMP) focused on strengthening the internal management and governance systems of miners' associations. The report concludes that for empowerment initiatives to be sustainable, they must involve governments as active partners, leverage local civil society organizations to ensure local ownership, and focus on leadership training to create a multiplier effect through associations.

The report analyzes tax incentives across 104 mining projects in 21 developing countries, finding that while legislation is the primary source of incentives, African countries rely more heavily on discretionary contracts. The most common incentives are fiscal stabilization clauses and corporate income tax breaks, both of which pose significant revenue risks. The study notes that the use of these incentives peaked in the late 1990s and again during the 2014-2016 commodity price crash, suggesting a correlation between low commodity prices and more generous tax terms.

The report examines the global sugarcane market, noting that while demand is growing in Asia and Africa, it is stagnating in developed countries due to health concerns. It highlights the rise of voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs), which grew at a compound annual growth rate of about 52% from 2008 to 2016, though sales have not kept pace with production. The document identifies significant sustainability risks, including land grabbing, forced labor, and greenhouse gas emissions from field burning, and suggests that expanding VSSs in low human development countries like Sudan and Uganda could catalyze development benefits.

The policy brief examines the disproportionate dominance of South Africa within SADC and proposes a model of 'regional champions'—member states taking lead roles in specific sectors—to foster more equitable regional integration. It analyses current power dynamics using economic, military, and diplomatic metrics, identifying potential leaders in industrialisation, infrastructure, and security. The author suggests that South Africa can reduce its regional hegemony and the associated accusations of 'bullying' by supporting a more distributed leadership structure based on the comparative advantages of other member states.

The document argues that private sector engagement is essential for successful National Adaptation Planning (NAP) because businesses and investors drive economic growth and provide the necessary financing, products, and services for climate resilience. It identifies four key enabling factors—information sharing, financing, institutional arrangements, and capacity building—that governments must address to overcome barriers to engagement. The guide outlines specific entry points for the private sector across the three phases of the NAP process: planning (consensus building and priority setting), implementation (climate-proofing operations and public-private partnerships), and monitoring and evaluation (designing metrics and reporting outcomes).

The document argues that private sector engagement is essential for climate adaptation in developing countries, as businesses and investors drive economic growth and provide necessary products, services, and financing. It identifies four key enabling factors—information exchange, financing, institutional arrangements, and capacity development—that governments must address to overcome barriers to private sector participation. The guide outlines specific entry points for engagement across the three phases of the NAP process: planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E). It also provides case studies from countries such as Ghana, Kenya, and Jamaica to illustrate successful public-private collaborations in adaptation.

The document argues that private sector actors—including micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and private financiers—are essential for achieving climate adaptation goals due to their role in economic growth and capital flow. It identifies four key enabling factors for engagement: information sharing, financing, institutional arrangements, and capacity building. The brief outlines specific entry points for private sector involvement across the three phases of the NAP process (planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation) and provides case studies from countries such as Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, and Jamaica to illustrate successful public-private collaboration in climate adaptation.

The paper examines Zambia's experience in coordinating diverse international public funds for climate adaptation and mitigation. It identifies that while multilateral donors have helped establish early coordination frameworks, competing approaches between major donors like the World Bank and UNDP have led to institutional fragmentation and 'turf' struggles. The study highlights that coordination practices often evolve from previous development aid structures and identifies critical knowledge gaps, including the lack of a geo-located project database and insufficient coordination with international NGOs and domestic financing sources.

The 2019 Lower Kafue River Basin Report Card assigns an overall health grade of 'C' (moderate) to the basin, indicating that while some indicators meet objectives, others do not. The assessment, developed by WARMA and WWF, highlights critical failures in human health and nutrition—specifically disease burden and sanitation—and declines in keystone species like the Kafue Lechwe. While economic indicators and water quantity generally performed better, the report identifies urgent needs for improved water quality data, climate-smart agriculture to combat malnutrition, and a comprehensive review of environmental flow releases from the Itezhi-tezhi and Kafue Gorge dams.

The report identifies storage/cold storage, decentralized renewable energy, feeder roads, and irrigation as critical rural infrastructure for ending hunger. It argues that while these assets are essential for increasing agricultural productivity and farmer income, they face significant financing barriers due to high perceived risks and low population densities in rural areas. The authors propose a mix of donor aid, public spending, and private capital, utilizing innovative instruments such as availability payments, shadow tolls, blended finance, and viability gap funding to make these projects commercially viable and sustainable.

The document analyzes the soybean value chains in Malawi and Zambia, identifying production and marketing bottlenecks that hinder smallholder competitiveness. It evaluates 'bottom-up' interventions (inputs, efficiency, market information) and 'top-down' models (off-takers, commodity exchanges), arguing that an integrated approach combining both is necessary for industrial development and regional value chain formation in the SADC region.

The paper argues that including gender concerns in energy decision-making improves development outcomes, though practice often focuses on technological fixes over systemic equity. Using a case study of a solar mini-grid in Zambia, it demonstrates that energy transitions are not gender-neutral and that benefits are unevenly distributed due to existing socio-cultural norms.

The report argues that Zimbabwe's economic decline is rooted in the conflation of the state with the ZANU-PF party, leading to state capture, patronage, and corruption. It highlights how government profligacy, excessive borrowing through Treasury Bills, and a protectionist import substitution strategy have fueled inflation and foreign exchange shortages. Despite President Emmerson Mnangagwa's 'open for business' rhetoric, the report finds that investment claims are often unsubstantiated and that the government continues to prioritize prestige projects and party loyalty over market-based principles. The author recommends a transition to a market-oriented, export-led economy with an independent central bank and secure property rights.