In January 2012 researchers at ODI asked: Why do countries fail to deliver adequate services despite large injections of cash and improved policies and formal systems? Now, as then, we think politics has much to do with the answer and development agencies therefore need to take politics into account if they are to improve sector outcomes. But we also recognise that, to design and implement more politically informed programmes, practitioners need more – and more systematic and specific – evidence and guidance.

To respond to this need, at ODI  we began a new programme on the politics of delivery. This brief gives an overview of our main ideas, activities and findings, and our initial plans for future work.