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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) herald a new phase for international development.

This article presents the results of a consultative exercise to collaboratively identify 100 research questions of critical importance for the post-2015 international development agenda.

The final shortlist is grouped into nine thematic areas and was selected by 21 representatives of international and non-governmental organisations and consultancies, and 14 academics with diverse disciplinary expertise from an initial pool of 704 questions submitted by 110 organisations based in 34 countries.

The shortlist includes questions addressing long-standing problems, new challenges and broader issues related to development policies, practices and institutions.

Collectively, these questions are relevant for future development-related research priorities of governmental and non-governmental organisations worldwide and could act as focal points for transdisciplinary research collaborations.

3.1 Governance, participation and rights

3.2 Environmental sustainability

3.3 Food security, land and agriculture

3.4 Energy and natural resources

3.5 Conflict, population dynamics and urbanisation

3.6 Economic growth, employment and the private sector

3.7 Social and economic inequalities

3.8 Health and education

3.9 Development policies, practices and institutions

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Over the last two decades, globalisation and a reconfiguration of the global political economy that has strengthened the role of both private actors and emerging sovereign actors such as China and India, have reshaped international co-operation frameworks and dramatically changed the context in which development stakeholders operate.

Philanthropic foundations, business and emerging powers are becoming increasingly engaged in shaping the direction of development and the delivery of specific initiatives.

These changes are blurring the traditional boundaries between donors and recipients of aid and challenging the longstanding supremacy of Western states for determining what ‘development’ consists of (Idemudia, 2008; Zimmermann and Smith, 2011).

New economic and political challenges associated with this changing global order will influence how future development strategies and targets are conceptualised, implemented and supported (de Haan, 2010; Manning, 2006; Six, 2009; Fukuda-Parr et al., 2013).

At the same time, addressing the role of culture and differing understandings of development itself will also be crucial for innovations in development theory and practice.

92.What are the development and accountability impacts of the increased role of and funding provided by philanthropists and philanthropic foundations?

93.How can the prominence and momentum of South-South co-operation be maximised and what will its impact on development practices and discourses be?

94.How can ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ best be operationalised to deliver the SDGs?

95.What happens to national NGOs and civil society after international aid is declining or withdrawn?

96.How can aid interventions avoid incentivising short-term development strategies in place of long-term ones?

97.How can we better integrate human dignity and respect into development policy and practice?

98.How can development initiatives best incorporate arts and culture?

99.How do different countries and cultures vary in how they conceptualise, define and operationalise ‘development’, and what is the significance of this for development policies and practices?

100.What are the emerging theoretical and empirical (post-development) paradigms challenging mainstream international development frameworks, and what are their contributions and limitations?

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Improving the health of the world population and ensuring access to education for all by creating conditions that support efforts towards universal healthcare and primary education are at the core of the MDGs and the post-2015 agenda (Burnett and Felsman, 2012; Vega, 2013).

Despite significant progress in some areas, issues related to quality, accessibility, equity and governance of primary health care services and basic education still remain unsolved (Easterly, 2009).

These issues are likely to increase as growing populations, changing demographics and evolving disease patterns put further pressure on health and education systems.

One of the main challenges is to ensure efficient and effective allocation of resources.

A robust response to global health issues, including sexual and reproductive rights, mental health, non-communicable and communicable diseases, access to medicines and nutrition requires the strengthening of health systems and the implementation of initiatives that support governance at national and international levels (de Savigny and Adam, 2009; Adam and de Savigny, 2012).

Similarly, an inclusive education agenda focusing on quality pre- and post-primary education that promotes enrolment, retention and relevance to emerging job markets will be critical.

80.What are the most effective approaches to ensure that the combined burden of non-communicable and communicable diseases is addressed in lower- and middle- income countries?

81.How can the intellectual property system be transformed so that affordable medicines become available to all?

82.What is the impact of climate change on patterns of ill-health and the burden of disease?

83.What systems of Universal Health Coverage are most effective at providing quality health care for all?

84.What are the most effective approaches to reduce stigma-based discrimination by health workers towards vulnerable groups?

85.What are the most effective new approaches to support the sexual and reproductive rights of adolescents?

86.What has been the impact of different strategies and approaches towards mental health in lower-income countries?

87.What factors influence healthy food choices (including taste, culture, prices, marketing, access, control and food budgets) and what policies and interventions can encourage these?

88.How can educational systems be adapted and developed to maximise young people's capacities for sustainable livelihoods through formal and informal employment and/or entrepreneurship?

89.What are the most effective approaches for the delivery of locally appropriate, affordable and high quality education for children and young people with disabilities?

90.How does the transformation of higher education influence development pathways?

91.What interventions are the most successful in improving enrolment, retention and achievement of girls in high/secondary school?

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In spite of progress on many aspects of economic and social development, inequalities of different kinds remain a persistent feature within and between societies.

In 2014, the United Nations Population Department (UNPD) reported that over 75% of the world's population lives in societies in which income is more unequally distributed than in the 1990s (UNPD, 2013).

Income inequality maps in complex ways to other forms of inequality, including (dis)abilities, culture, identity, race and gender (Fraser and Honneth, 2003).

Tackling inequality in its different forms can have major benefits for individual and social wellbeing including in health, education and nutrition (WHO, 2008), poverty reduction, as well as the stability of public institutions and political dynamics (UNRISD, 2010; UNPD, 2013).

Reducing discrimination and exclusion, and monitoring progress towards more inclusive societies, are essential elements of the post-2015 agenda (World We Want, 2013).

67.Under what conditions do elites become committed to the reduction of poverty and inequality?

68.What measures have been effective in increasing tax revenues in lower- and middle-income countries?

69.What social and political coalitions are associated with equitable growth and poverty reduction?

70.What effective social safety nets will be needed to protect men, women and children from chronic poverty and future threats linked to climate change?

71.What role do social movements and community organisations play in sustainably lifting the poorest in middle-income countries out of poverty?

72.Has the integration of mobile technologies into development programming improved development outcomes for the most disadvantaged women, men and children? If so, where, how and why?

73.How are marginalised groups accessing and using information and communication technologies to produce and use data in ways that strengthen their empowerment?

74.What can be done to build socioeconomic resilience of the emerging middle classes in lower- and middle-income countries?

75.Which family policies most effectively promote gender and age equality within households?

76.What is the role of social and women's movements in increasing women's ownership of assets?

77.What has been the impact of the ‘Girl Effect’5 on gender analysis and initiatives, and what are the implications for boys and young men?

78.What are the most effective methods and programmes for engaging men and boys as allies in combating all forms of violence against women and girls?

79.What is the impact of economic empowerment on violence against women and girls?

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The tone of the high-level discussions at the 2012 UN-led Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) and the recently published draft of the new SDGs (UN, 2014) reflect governments’ reticence to comply with targets they fear will restrict their potential for future economic growth (Tollefson, 2012).

The role of industrialisation and the business sector in driving economic development will likely be a central pillar of the post-2015 development agenda, yet the place and role of the informal economy for development remains a challenge.

Ensuring the development of new inclusive models of growth and reforms to the international financial system are crucial dilemmas facing an increasingly globalised, but highly segmented and unequal, global economy.

Supporting institutions and legal arrangements that can effectively ensure labour rights of adults and young people, and protect children from exploitation, will be key for an inclusive and sustainable development agenda (Barrientos et al., 2011; UNICEF, 2011).

54.What factors can influence the transition from a global economic system driven by consumption to one driven by the creation of wellbeing and equity?

55.Which type of policies or strategies carried out by expanding middle-income countries have proven to be more effective for the promotion of a more inclusive and equitable economic growth?

56.What evidence is there that private sector finance has played a major role in the provision of basic services such as access to water, sanitation or energy, for the poorest quintile in lower-income countries?

57.How is the shift from corporate social responsibility to sustainable and socially responsible business practices impacting on business and development outcomes?

58.How can the expansion of small and medium enterprises in lower-income countries be best supported?

59.How can we ensure that private sector investment in climate compatible development is both pro-poor and equitable?

60.What effective policy mechanisms can lower- and middle-income countries adopt to ensure multinational companies comply with tax obligations?

61.What kinds of controls in the Global North have proven effective in reducing tax avoidance by multinational companies operating in lower-income countries and how can they be improved?

62.In cases where opportunities for youth employment have increased, what are the causes and what are the lessons?

63.Which are the most dynamic sectors for ‘decent’ work in different rural and urban contexts and what transferable lessons can be learnt for job creation?

64.How can labour rights and decent working conditions be ensured within and across global supply chains?

65.What are the most effective ways to recognise and address the unequal burden of unpaid care work and facilitate women's participation in paid employment?

66.What new approaches addressing child labour most effectively promote children's rights and wellbeing?

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Peace, security and political stability are key conditions for sustainable development.

Given that a third of the world's poorest live in countries lacking these conditions (Manning and Trzeciak-Duval, 2010), it was surprising that conflict and fragility did not feature within the MDGs (Wisor, 2012).

This gap was an important justification for including them within the SDGs (goal 16, UN, 2014).

In recent years, the promotion and protection of human dignity and wellbeing has faced particularly severe challenges in situations where instability and conflict prevail (Zürcher, 2012), with gendered impacts often playing out against women and girls (UNRISD, 2005).

Changing population dynamics present major challenges to development policy and practice.

Global population growth (predicted to reach 9.5 billion by 2050), increasing urbanisation and the intensification of intra- and inter-national migratory flows will increasingly affect local, national and global governance, provision of resources and basic services (AFIDEP and PAI, 2012; Geiger and Pécoud, 2013; UNPD, 2012; 2013; World Bank, 2009).

Both new and old conflicts are generating particularly fragile scenarios within and beyond country borders, potentially increasing the numbers of displaced people, refugees and asylum seekers.

43.How can women's empowerment in conflict and post-conflict settings be strengthened?

44.What are the development implications of clandestine illegal activities, such as drug trade, prostitution, money laundering, smuggling, human trafficking and trade in counterfeit medication?

45.What are the most effective policies and mechanisms (from local to global) that combat human trafficking?

46.How are information and data collection systems linked to the criminalisation and control of migrants and asylum seekers?

47.How can the circumstances of asylum seekers and refugees living in lower- and middle-income countries be improved?

48.How are new migration regimes and patterns influencing the socio-economic status and family dynamics of those who stay in their countries of origin?

49.What policies maximise the potential developmental benefits of migration while offsetting its negative consequences?

50.What factors best explain the reduction in urban violence where it has occurred?

51.How will governments in lower-income countries be supported to ensure that informal settlements in urban areas are included in political, economic, health and social planning and development?

52.How can local governments with limited budgets respond to the needs of fast growing metropolitan areas?

53.How can architecture, urban design and planning address social sustainability most effectively and contribute to the creation of social equality and inclusion?

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Global, regional and local production and consumption patterns continue to increase demands for energy and natural resources, providing challenges and opportunities for poverty reduction, economic development, sustainability and social cohesion.

Unequal access to natural resources and to the revenues generated by their exploitation, combined with the socio-environmental impacts of extractive industries, are among the main causes of social conflicts in the Global South.

These conflicts have fueled debates on the institutional and governance arrangements for natural resources management most likely to generate sustainable and equitable socioeconomic outcomes, and the kinds of social and political environments that can support them (Bebbington and Bury 2009; Cuba et al., 2014; Sawyer and Gomez, 2012; Hujo, 2012).

How natural resources and energy systems are governed will also have significant implications for climate change and will be inextricably related to geopolitics and international structures of power (Mitchell, 2012).

35.What strategies address the concentrated and unequal distribution of natural resources and what impact do they have on poverty, inequality and conflict?

36.How do states create favourable policy environments to deliver a fair distribution of rents and ensure sustainable resource management within extractive industries?

37.Under what conditions can natural resource extraction and exploitation deliver joint social and environmental benefits?

38.How can natural resource extraction and exploitation support inclusive, accountable and broad-based development?

39.How can resource dependent economies diversify and/or become more resilient?

40.How can reliable, universal, sustainable and affordable electricity services best be financed to the rural poor?

41.What mechanisms would ensure a faster transition to a sustainable, carbon-free global economy?

42.How can marine resources located outside of sovereign exclusive economic areas be used sustainably and equitably?

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Deforestation, land degradation, biodiversity loss and natural resource overexploitation exacerbate poverty and deepen inequalities (MEA, 2005), as do natural disasters such as floods, droughts, storms and landslides (Wisner et al., 2004).

These problems are further compounded by the increasing impacts of climate change with clear ramifications for natural systems and societies around the globe (IPCC, 2014).

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and the Stern Review (2007) have drawn attention to the links between environmental health, human wellbeing and the quality of the economy.

The Hyogo Framework for Action 2005–2015, an international framework for disaster resilience endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 2005, links natural disasters to loss of life, and loss of social, economic and environmental assets (UNISDR, 2005).

Over the past 20 years, the commodification of ecosystems and their services (for example, Costanza et al., 1997; Heynen et al., 2004; Brockington and Duffy, 2011) has dominated environmental policy debates and fed into the design of compensation and incentive mechanisms aiming to address economic development and natural resource conservation at local and regional levels.

Such initiatives, however, may have adverse unintended consequences and pay too little attention to questions of distribution and inequality (Peet, Watts and Robbins, 2010).

16.How can models of compensation best address the unequal distribution of responsibilities for, and costs of, climate change?

17.How can different institutional structures effectively support climate compatible development strategies?

18.What are the effects of commodifying nature and environmental assets on environmental sustainability, human wellbeing, and the environmental agenda?

19.How do public perceptions of climate change impact on actions at the individual level?

20.What are the impacts of interventions to mitigate climate change (for example, Payments for Ecosystem Services and the biofuel sector) on human wellbeing and natural systems?

21.What evidence is there of transferable good practices in balancing biodiversity and livelihood priorities?

22.What are the barriers to generating simple yet representative indicators that combine elements of social and economic development with metrics of environmental health and sustainability?

23.What are the most effective approaches to ensure the wider public pays attention to, and acts on, early warnings related to natural hazards?

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Governance | is exercised through laws, norms, language and power at formal or informal levels, through bureaucracies or participation and through the state or other forms of organisation.
Formal governance  | can refer to ‘mechanisms, institutions and processes through which authority is exercised in the conduct of public affairs’ (OHCHR, 2006).
The definition and creation of spaces for economic and political interactions, and decision-making processes,  | are central to the relationship between states and citizens and to the capacity of states and other actors to achieve their goals (Grindle, 2004).
Governance mechanisms at the subnational, national and international levels  | constitute the arenas where rights are negotiated, legal frameworks established and implementation measures designed and put into action (Weiss, 2014).
Elucidating the relationships among different actors and levels of governance, and how these relationships shape the protection of rights and political participation of social groups (including women, young people, indigenous peoples and marginal communities), or fail to do so and reproduce inequalities and conflict,  | is crucial for the identification of inclusive and responsive development strategies.

1.What governance arrangements best empower local communities to shape development in their area?

2.How can the accountability and capacity of parliaments be strengthened in low- and middle-income countries?

3.What support or alliances do women leaders and politicians need in the Global South and how can they best be provided or enabled?

4.What are the most effective ways to encourage women's political participation in contexts of resistance to gender equality?

5.What interventions promote youth participation in development and how can they be best operationalised?

6.How can governments engage effectively with citizens who mobilise outside the formal arena of politics and in informal spaces of participation?

7.What are the consequences for development outcomes of the shift from national sovereignty to global governance?

8.To what extent are human rights conventions successful in protecting vulnerable groups?

9.How do different actors and agencies deal with conflicts between competing rights’ categories and rights’ holders, and how can these conflicts be addressed?

10.How can businesses be encouraged to better understand and deliver on human rights?

11.How can the rights of marginal and vulnerable groups be protected and enhanced in the process of large-scale infrastructure development?

12.How can the rights of geographically remote and/or mobile social groups be integrated and promoted in national development agendas?

13.Under what conditions are indigenous peoples best able to protect their rights, including land rights?

14.What approaches most effectively protect and promote the rights of children with disabilities and significant mental and physical impairments?

15.What are the barriers to the full realisation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights and how can they be overcome?

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Frame:

Research Questions:

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Meeting current and future food needs while reducing pressures on land and natural resources is one of society's greatest challenges (Godfray et al., 2010), yet unequal access to land remains one of the greatest causes of poverty, human insecurity and conflict.

Poverty, food security and environmental sustainability are inextricably linked to the agricultural sector.

The negative environmental (for example, Rudel et al., 2009) and social (for example, Weiner et al., 2014) impacts of large-scale, commercial agriculture are increasingly clear, and smallholder agriculture remains an important driver of land-cover change (Rudel et al., 2009).

Small-scale farmers whose markets serve the needs of urban areas also form a large proportion of the world's poor and hungry, highlighting areas for both conflict and conciliation between socioeconomic and environmental concerns.

Critically, there remain many gaps in our understanding of the kinds of policies and land-tenure systems that support diversified and resilient agricultural systems, sustainable rural livelihoods and resource use, and social inclusion (Williamson et al., 2010).

24.What investment mechanisms strengthen rural people's land rights and promote the diversification of food systems?

25.How best can land governance be made gender inclusive?

26.Under what conditions does greater land tenure security lead to more efficient, equitable and sustainable resource use?

27.How can international trade systems be incentivised to create a conducive environment for more stable and affordable local food systems?

28.How can the direct and indirect contributions of urban agriculture be maximised to create more food secure and sustainable cities?

29.What innovations in smallholder agriculture can be successfully transferred to large-scale agricultural production systems, and vice-versa?

30.Under what circumstances and for whom is increasing smallholder agricultural productivity more cost-effective at reducing poverty than the expansion of large-scale commercial agriculture?

31.What are the most cost-effective approaches of sustainably increasing the agriculture productivity and incomes of small-scale farmers?

32.How can agro-ecological farming practices (including those that are not easily commodifiable) be effectively scaled up to address local and global food needs?

33.What can be learned from successful examples of large-scale commercial agriculture's role in incentivising more sustainable forms of production?

34.What are the most promising agricultural technological innovations and how can they be effectively shared and implemented?