Children in low income countries are expected to suffer the impact of the climate crisis on human health. A new study from Kyrgyzstan estimates the long-term consequences of extreme weather conditions on child stunting as a proxy for child development. It combines a rich three-wave panel dataset of children aged 0-59 months and location-matched weather […]
Post-disaster diets deteriorate in Nepal: Humanitarian assistance must consider long-term impact on food behaviour
How do post-disaster humanitarian responses affect long-term food behaviour? Researchers, including Tilman Brück and Ghassan Baliki of ISDC, studied food behaviour in Nepal’s Sindhupalhok District. Their data reveal increased consumption of unhealthy snack foods in earthquake-affected regions. Findings indicate that “external shocks such as an earthquake and the subsequent humanitarian assistance, while well-intentioned and incredibly […]
Press Release: “Can jobs programs build peace?” New paper highlights the need to strengthen evidence in development aid spending.
“Can jobs programs build peace?” has been published in the peer-reviewed journal “World Bank Research Observer”. This review of why jobs programs might build peace and whether or not they do is the result of collaboration between ISDC and Valeria Izzi, with support from ILO, PBSO, UNDP and the World Bank. The article highlights strong social science theories that link employment programs and peace but scant real world evidence that programs have successfully delivered this promise. Until such a link and its mechanisms can be robustly established, simply running good jobs programs in the difficult situations that require peacebuilding probably makes more sense.
Laura Peitz among the winners of the PhD research paper award
Laura Peitz is among the winners of the Dahrendorf Forum PhD Research Paper Award. Her paper Too Many Cooks Don’t Spoil the Broth? – Bridging Literatures on Private Sector Engagement in Sustainable Development (working title) examines how research relevant to private sector engagement in sustainable development is currently conducted disconnectedly in various disciplines and programmes and discusses the […]
Press Release: Life with Corona survey reveals shared global sentiments and stark generational divides
Older people worry less, Americans want priority access to vaccine – Global survey reveals generational and cultural differences in how we live with the pandemic On Thursday, 1 October2020,the second round of the Life with Corona global survey is being launched, alongside a report covering key findings from six monthsof data collectionincluding: Young adults actively […]
New research report on the politics and economics of funding peace negotiations
Funding for peace negotiations is often treated as a purely technical issue. However, on closer inspection, funding is fundamentally political and, as such, has a profound impact on the architecture and the dynamics of peace negotiations. For a functioning peace negotiation process, the funding requests of the negotiation stakeholders, defined as the negotiating parties and […]
New Working Paper: Trust in the Time of Corona
A new working paper has been published using the data from a new global Life with Corona survey. Tilman Brück, Neil Ferguson, Patricia Justino and Wolfgang Stojetz explore how trust correlates with the individual experiences of the pandemic. The authors show that those who have had contact with sick people and those that are unemployed show lower […]
Lebanon must learn from the Syrian disaster
In their latest op-ed, Tilman Brück and Mounir Mahmalat argue that overlapping crises are threatening the political, economic and social stability of Lebanon. As this column explains, the disaster in Syria provides insights into how grievances can accumulate to a point at which single events can trigger conflict. Elites in Lebanon must commit to a new […]
“Rural youth in the context of fragility and conflict” published as part of IFAD Research Series
Research by Ghassan Baliki, Tilman Brück, Neil Ferguson and Wolfgang Stojetz on rural youth in the context of fragility and conflict has been published as 54 IFAD Research Series Issue. The paper was originally commissioned as a background paper for the 2019 Rural Development Report: Creating opportunities for rural youth. While conflicts are often defined […]
Damir Esenaliev co-authored ADB’s Country Diagnostic Study for the Kyrgyz Republic
Dr Damir Esenaliev of ISDC has co-authored a chapter on Human Resources for Inclusive Growth in ADB’s Country Diagnostic Study for the Kyrgyz Republic. The study is an in-depth analysis of the sector reforms needed to enable the Kyrgyz Republic to achieve higher and more sustainable economic growth. The chapter presents an analysis of the recent developments in the labor market, […]
Workshop report “Children on the Move: Building Migration Data Capacities” published
The report of the expert workshop “Children on the Move: Building Migration Data Capacities” has been published, including the input by Wolfgang Stojetz (ISDC) on the measurement of exposure to extreme adversity, carried out through the administration of household surveys. The study specifycally measured displaced persons’ experiences, behavior and welfare under situations of violent conflict, […]
New Publication on Gender Earnings Inequality and Wage Policy in Kyrgyzstan published in Comparative Economic Studies
New paper by Damir Esenaliev and Kathryn H. Anderson on gender earnings inequality and wage policy in Kyrgyzstan has been published in Comparative Economic Studies. The findings show that the policy reform conducted in 2011 to increase the wages for teachers, health and social workers not only reduced wage gap in these sectors compared to non-reformed sectors, but also had a pronounced gender gap narrowing effect in the reform sectors and economy-wide.
ISDC Research Featured in 2019 Rural Development Report
New research on how rural youth experience political violence, conducted by Ghassan Baliki (Senior Researcher at ISDC), Tilman Brück (Director at ISDC), Neil Ferguson (Senior Researcher at ISDC) and Wolfgang Stojetz (Senior Researcher at ISDC) has been highlighted in the 2019 edition of IFAD’s Rural Development Report, “Creating Opportunities for Rural Youth”. The research shows […]
Research on the Effects of Conflict on Fertility published in “Demography”
New publication on the effects of conflict on fertility by Kati Kraehnert, Tilman Brück, Michele Di Maio and Roberto Nisticò has been published in Demography. This paper analyzes the fertility effects of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Results indicate the genocide had heterogeneous effects on fertility, depending on the type of violence experienced by the woman, […]
New ISDC-led Research on Jobs for Peace and Stability Published
Neil Ferguson, Senior Researcher at ISDC, Eleonora Nillesen, Research Affiliate at ISDC and Professor of Economics at UNU-MERIT, and Tilman Brück, Director of ISDC, have published new research on the relationships between jobs programmes and peace in the journal Economics Letters. The research, titled “Can employment build peace? A pseudo-meta-analysis of employment programmes in Africa” critically evaluates the […]
Special Section at World Development: Food Security and Violent Conflict
A special section on quantitative analysis of conflict and food security has been published at World Development: Vol 119, Pages 1-234 (July 2019). In an open access introduction to the section, titled Food security and violent conflict: Introduction to the special issue, Tilman Brück and Marco d’Errico highlight the following points: Food insecurity and violent conflict are global […]
Simple statistical tools fail to describe jobs well in developing countries, new research by Damir Esenaliev and Neil Ferguson shows
In November 2018, Social Indicators Research published an original research article by Damir Esenaliev and Neil Ferguson on the relationship between good jobs and personal wellbeing. This study is one of the first conducted in a development context that looks beyond simple measures of job quality suggested by the classical labour supply model. This research […]
3ie Policy Brief: What works to improve nutrition and food security in the Sahel?
ISDC researchers contributed to the 3ie Policy Brief “What works to improve nutrition and food security in the Sahel?” This brief summarises the main findings and lessons from a synthesis of four 3ie-supported impact evaluations of the World Food Programme’s interventions to improve nutrition and food security outcomes. It offers recommendations to improve operational efficiency […]
New paper on the relationship between food security and violent conflict
Charles Martin-Shields and Wolfgang Stojetz published an article in World Development on the interlinkages between food security and violent conflict. This article emphasizes the endogeneity that characterizes the coupling between food (in)security and violent conflict. The authors make three contributions. First, they define conflict and food security using the standard Uppsala Conflict Data Program and the FAO databases, and illustrate […]
UNICEF Blog on administrative data: Missed opportunity for learning and research in humanitarian emergencies?
Tilman Brück contributed to a blog discussing the strengths and weaknesses of using administrative data collected during emergencies for research on children. The blog was written by researchers from the recent UNICEF Social Protection Workshop. Source: Administrative Data: Missed opportunity for learning and research in humanitarian emergencies? – Evidence for Action