African countries must work more closely together at regional and continental levels if they are to overcome barriers to innovation and drive sustainable development, experts have warned.

In this episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast, IDS Senior MEL Specialist Jo Carpenter interviews Emmeline Skinner, Social Development Adviser, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Brando Okolo and Barbara Glover, both from the African Union Development Agency (Nepad).

In the podcast, they highlight how fragmented national systems are slowing innovation across the continent.

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Social protection is seen as a solution to many problems of development, including poverty, food insecurity and access to services. But we also know that social protection has its limitations. So how do we justify getting Governments to invest in social protection programmes rather than investing in infrastructure or job creation or other services like health and education?

In this episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast, IDS Research Fellows, Kate Pruce, Stephen Devereux and IDS Director of Research Nick Nisbett talk about their new report titled: Social Protection for Food Security and Nutrition: a Business Case published by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and World Food Programme (WFP).

The discussants argue that while social protection - especially cash transfers - clearly reduces hunger and food insecurity, it does not automatically improve nutrition, which is more complex and requires coordinated action across sectors. Therefore, they put forward a business case for investing in food security - and nutrition‑sensitive social protection.

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IDS was recently honoured to welcome the Hon. Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Dr Harini Amarasuriya to mark the 60th anniversary of IDS. She shared her journey from her career as an academic and an activist before entering politics and being elected as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 2024.

In this special episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast we present the Prime Ministers speech and her discussion with IDS Director Anuradha Joshi.

We will also hear from two respondents, IDS Alum, Dr. Sepali Kottegoda and current master’s student Renushi Ubeyratna who will comment on what the Prime Minister said.

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