International Growth Centre

13/10/2026

Tune in to Parliament Live today at 2pm (BST) to watch our Executive Director Jonathan Leape give evidence to the UK Parliament's International Development Committee.

He'll join Professor Adrian Martin and Professor Liz Baggs to discuss how long-term research partnerships can support UK international development.

Watch here: https://bit.ly/4dCpLCh

12/10/2026

IGC at Westminster!

Tomorrow at 2pm (BST), our Executive Director Jonathan Leape gives evidence to the UK Parliament's International Development Committee, as part of its inquiry into FCDO's approach to higher education and research partnerships.

He joins Professor Adrian Martin (University of East Anglia) and Professor Liz Baggs (The University of Edinburgh) on the first panel. The committee will explore the long-term value of research partnerships for UK international development, and what can be learned from past programmes such as the Global Challenges Research Fund.

Watch live on Tuesday 13 October 2026, 2pm (BST): https://bit.ly/4dCpLCh

12/10/2026

We're hiring! 📢

We're looking for a Country Economist to join IGC Jordan in Amman and turn rigorous evidence into policy that shapes Jordan's growth. Working with the Country Director and Lead Academic, you'll build strong relationships with government, researchers and development partners, identify policy-relevant research opportunities, and help translate findings into policy influence.

If you're an economist with strong quantitative skills, a postgraduate degree in economics, public policy or a related field, and fluency in Arabic, we'd love to hear from you.

📅 Apply by 30 October 2026 (11:59pm UK time): https://bit.ly/3UhiSQe

12/10/2026

What does it take for evidence to actually reach the point of decision?

At LSE Environment Week, we put that question to a roundtable of policymakers, researchers and funders. The discussion was structured around three tensions:
• Does evidence serve the decisions governments actually take?
• Does it arrive in time to be used?
• Does it support implementation, or only design?

Writing in Dawn, climate expert Ali Tauqeer Sheikh tests each one against Pakistan's 2022 floods. He argues that the forecast, the household registry, and the river and satellite data all existed before the floods, held by different agencies. What was missing was anyone formally responsible for bringing them to the table.

The conversation that started in London is now continuing in Pakistan. To policymakers and researchers working there: where does evidence most often get stuck between data and decision?

Read the full piece in Dawn: https://bit.ly/4igU2ZS

The five federal agencies that hold hazard data share no protocol.

07/10/2026

Thank you to the Tanzania Revenue Authority and CATA for a great start to the conference in Tanzania.

We opened with welcome remarks from Tanzania's Vice President and Minister of Finance, alongside many other policy leaders.
The keynote then set the tone: tax administrations can be an engine of growth or a brake on it. Commonwealth members are working out how to:
- raise the revenue needed to meet the spending pressures many will soon face
- do so without losing fairness or efficiency
- manage all of this while national security is high on the agenda and digital transformation is under way
That makes this a great moment to bring so many revenue authorities together.

IGC's Twivwe Siwale, Head of Tax for Growth, has already spoken on the panel on international cooperation.

We hope to leave with a better understanding of what everyone is working on. We also want concrete examples of how digitalisation, new technical tools, and cooperation can move the dial on trust and revenue.

Thank you again to our hosts. We look forward to the next two days!

Laura Fras, Saugata Mittra

06/10/2026

Does giving people free water during a drought just encourage them to use more?

Evidence from Cape Town suggests not. Households receiving free water during the late-2010s drought didn't significantly increase their use. The bigger problem was that more than a third didn't know their water was free. Once they found out, their use rose by 12%, which suggests many had been going without.

Cassandra Cole (Harvard University) explains what this means for drought policy, in a new blog from our Cities that Work initiative: https://bit.ly/4y9ujHr

Evidence from Cape Town suggests free water can protect low-income households during drought without increasing water use

05/10/2026

This coming week, the IGC will be attending the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators (CATA's) Annual Technical Conference in Arusha.

The conference will bring together policymakers and tax authorities from across the Commonwealth and beyond. We are looking forward to hearing what administrations are working on, the challenges they are facing, and the big questions shaping the future of tax administration - particularly around digitalisation, data, and AI.

This feels especially timely given the close relationship the IGC has built with CATA over the past year. Through the CATA-IGC AI Taskforce, we have been working with revenue authorities at very different stages of digital maturity to think through how AI can be used practically and responsibly - and how new tools can best serve taxpayers, citizens, and governments.

We are excited to continue those conversations in Arusha, learn from the experiences of CATA members, and explore where research and peer learning can help turn ambition into practical change.

🔗 Find out more about the CATA-IGC AI Taskforce: https://bit.ly/4ysZVJ9



Twivwe, Saugata and Laura

CATA/IGC’s AI Taskforce brings revenue authorities and researchers together to explore how AI can best serve taxpayers, citizens and governments.

01/10/2026

Four days. More than 30 research presentations. A dedicated Africa track. One key takeaway: Climate action is growth policy.

LSE Environment Week 2026 explored the choices governments can make to build more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable economies.
Thank you to our fellow core organiser EEE, and to our partners GSoS, STICERD, LSE Department of Economics, POID, Grantham Research Institute, the Coase Project, UKRI, ERC, UK Intl Dev

Sign up to our Ideas for Growth newsletter to attend future events: https://bit.ly/3PoSopV

30/09/2026

What would it take to move climate action from pledges to delivery?

With COP32 heading to Addis Ababa in 2027, Africa isn't only on the front line of climate change – it's a source of solutions, innovation and economic opportunity.

At our LSE Environment Week public lecture on 23 September, chaired by Nicholas Stern, Amal-Lee Amin (British International Investment), Oriana Bandiera (STICERD), Auguste Tano Kouamé and Alemu Mekonnen (Addis Ababa University) explored how to move beyond finance targets towards mobilising capital and delivering practical solutions, and what African leadership could mean for the global climate agenda.

Watch the full lecture: https://bit.ly/4hjkn9o

Or listen as a podcast: https://bit.ly/4rFENNm

15/09/2026

What happens when factories remain standing, but the jobs they once provided disappear?

A new feature highlights how political disruption and factory shutdowns in Bangladesh can create economic losses that extend far beyond individual businesses, affecting workers, local communities, banks, supply chains and exports.

Research from the International Growth Centre shows just how significant these effects can be: seven days of hartal reduced firms’ export performance by 4.5%, with smaller exporters and those selling lower-priced products particularly affected.

The lesson is clear: political and economic stability are not separate from growth. Protecting firms’ ability to operate, access finance and maintain trade is essential for sustaining jobs and supporting Bangladesh’s longer-term economic transformation.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3URXCAI

When protests, political programmes or sudden changes shut down a factory, workers are usually among the first to feel the shock