We link employment to stability in five African countries to test if standard interventions influence complex outcomes. We show positive impacts on some indicators but negative externalities also arise. There are, thus, grounds for optimism but further work is required.
Drivers of Resilience and Food Security in North-east Nigeria: Learning from Micro Data in an Emergency Setting
Endline analysis of FAO Northeast Nigeria Resilience Programme show significant improvements in food security particularly to IDPs and households living under extreme violent conflict, underscoring the significance of developmental interventions in protracted crises.
On the Return on Investment of Security Sector Assistance and Peacebuilding Assistance
Peacebuilding assistance and security sector assistance both aim at the same outcome – reductions in political violence. In this exploratory article, we show only the former has its desired impact, with security sector support apparently acting to increase violence.
An Impact Evaluation of WFP Malnutrition Interventions in Niger
Although much has been learned about the performance of food aid interventions, less is known about their impact in situations of chronic, rather than acute, food insecurity. In this article, we show little medium-term impact of direct food provision of nutritional outcomes but a strong, positive, impact of assets based programming in chronically food insecure Niger.
Money can’t buy love but can it buy peace? Evidence from the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation (PEACE II)
While randomisation is often eschewed in bottom-up peacebuilding contexts in favour of more targeted programming, there is no guarantee that targeted spending gets to those who need it most. In this article, we discuss the apparent failure of one such targeted rollout – that of the PEACE II programmes in Ireland.
Impact Evaluation of UNHCR’s Engagement in Humanitarian-Development Cooperation
This project provides quantitative estimates of the impact of humanitarian-development cooperation on refugees and host communities in Ethiopia and Jordan.
Seeds of Resilience: A Quasi-experimental Impact Analysis of an FAO Emergency Intervention in Syria
A short- and medium-term impact evaluation of a food security and resilience intervention by FAO Syria that aims to address emergency needs, support early recovery, and build longer-term resilience in the agricultural sector.
Analyzing the Link Between Employment Programs and Social Stability – Phase II
A short- and medium-term impact evaluation of Mercy Corps’ DSH-ARC funded TVET programs for host and displaced communities in Lebanon and Syria, with the dual focus on boosting the employment prospects and improving intergroup perceptions of program beneficiaries.
Impact Analysis of Food Security Interventions in North-East Nigeria
This project provides new evidence and recommendations from North-east Nigeria for food security interventions in conflict-affected settings. The findings are based on a review of relevant linkages food security and conflict and an empirical impact analysis of an agricultural input intervention by FAO.
Does Opportunity Reduce Instability? A Meta-Analysis of Skills and Employment Interventions in LMICs
The idea that employment can build peace underpins over USD 10bn of development spending in fragile countries. By contrast, the evidence base that employment programming delivers on this promise is scant. In this project, we aim to close some of the knowledge gaps inherent within this delineation.
Sowing and Harvesting Peace for Food Security
This project analyzes the relationship between food security and violent conflict. We review the literature on the linkages between food security and conflict, develop a novel analytic framework, and create new empirical cross-country and within-country case studies.
Feasibility Study to Assess the Use of Existing Micro-data on Somalia for Impact Evaluations
A scoping study assessing the use of programmatic micro-data held by WFP Somalia to conduct future impact evaluations.
Maren M. Michaelsen
Dr. Maren M. Michaelsen is a Research Affiliate at ISDC. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Integrative Health Care and Health Promotion in the Faculty of Health at Witten/Herdecke University, where she works as a behavioural economist on a “Nudging for health” project in an interdisciplinary team. Her research interests are […]
Sami Miaari
Sami Miaari is currently a Lecturer at the Department of Labor Studies in Tel-Aviv University and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University and an ISDC Affiliate. Dr. Miaari’s research focuses on labor economics, the economic causes and consequences of conflict, including the economic costs of political instability and the […]
Impact Analysis of a Food Security and Resilience Program in Syria
A short- and medium-term impact evaluation of a food security and resilience intervention by FAO Syria that aims to address emergency needs, support early recovery, and build longer-term resilience in the agricultural sector.
An Impact Evaluation of WFP Malnutrition Interventions in Niger
A quantitative impact evaluation of WFP’s treatment, prevention and assets programs in Niger. This project tests the effectiveness of these interventions in combating moderate acute malnutrition (MAM).
Wolfgang Stojetz
Dr. Wolfgang Stojetz is a Senior Researcher at ISDC and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Economics at Humboldt-University of Berlin. Previously, he was a Predoctoral Research Fellow at Yale University and a Research Affiliate at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin). Wolfgang’s primary research interests are the economic, social and […]
Neil Ferguson
Dr Neil Ferguson is a Senior Researcher at ISDC and a Senior Research Associate at BIGS in Potsdam. He obtained his PhD in Economics in July 2013 from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, focusing on theoretical and empirical analysis about the role of multiple aggressors in civil conflicts. His current research interests address a broad cross-section of […]
Damir Esenaliev
Dr Damir Esenaliev is a Senior Researcher at ISDC. His research interests include quantitative microeconomic research related to social cohesion, labor markets, inequality, rural development, and intergenerational mobility. He has published in Journal of Comparative Economics, Economics of Transition, Social Indicators Research, and International Journal of Psychology. In addition, he has a number of working papers and reports published at […]
Ghassan Baliki
Dr. Ghassan Baliki is a Senior Researcher at ISDC and a Research Associate at the Development Economics and Food Security research group at IGZ near Berlin. He obtained his PhD from Humboldt-University of Berlin, where he studied violent conflict dynamics in Syria at the micro-level. Ghassan’s research focuses on the interlinkages between violent conflict, fragility, […]