Paulina is a Researcher at ISDC. Her research interests include development and cultural economics, mainly the design and analysis of policies that promote inclusive growth in developing economies. At ISDC, Paulina is currently working on the evaluation of programs by the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), located in Mali, Sudan, and Guatemala. Paulina has previously worked […]
Ana Karalashvili
Ana is a Research Assistant in the Peacebuilding Program with the emphasis on quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Her further research interests include comparative welfare research, socio-economic inequalities, and life-course analysis. Previously, she has worked as a research assistant at the Center for East European and International Studies (ZOiS) in Berlin as well as at Tbilisi […]
Dorothee Weiffen
Dorothee Weiffen is a Researcher at ISDC. Her research interests include poverty alleviation, food security, inequality, and gender, especially in conflict-affected settings. Previously, she worked as a Quantitative Research Assistant at the Development Economics and Food Security research group at IGZ. In addition, she completed several internships, among others at the German Federal Ministry of […]
Gendered Dimensions of Protracted Forced Displacement in Sudan
The overall objective of this project is to study gendered dimensions of livelihoods in the context of protracted forced displacement. Specifically, we perform four sets of empirical analyses: We provide in-depth insights into the gendered differences in livelihood outcomes among long-term internally displaced persons (IDPs), including realized and aspired outcomes. We study the gendered constraints shaping […]
Gendered Dimensions of Forced Displacement in North-east Nigeria
The overall objective of this project is to study gendered dimensions of livelihoods in the context of forced displacement in a rural humanitarian emergency setting. Specifically, we perform four sets of empirical analyses: We provide in-depth insights into the gendered differences in livelihood outcomes among internally displaced persons (IDPs), including realized and aspired outcomes. We study the […]
Rural Youth in the Context of Fragility and Conflict
At least 350 million young people living in rural areas are exposed to conflict each year. Despite the disproportionate levels of exposure to violence this implies, surprisingly little is known about how rural young people experience conflict, and in turn, about the programmes that can help to mitigate associated adversities.
Can employment build peace? A pseudo-meta-analysis of employment programmes in Africa
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.
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.
The Relationships between Food Security and Violent Conflict. A Report to the Food and Agriculture Organization
This report provides an in-depth review of the literature on food security and conflict, bringing together multiple streams of research and setting up an analytic framework of food security and conflict as well as econometric and statistical analyses of food security and violent conflict across different degrees of disaggregation.
How to Better Measure and Analyze Food Insecurity in Conflict-affected Areas
This project asseses the need for new data and variables that could and should be collected to better understand and respond to the onset of famine and other severe manifestations of food insecurity, particularly in conflict-affected and fragile places.
Rural Youth in the Context of Fragility and Conflict
Conflict disproportionately takes place in countries with large numbers of young people living in rural areas. Yet, this group is seldom the specific focus of analysis in the conflict or rural development literatures. The project outlines what can be learned from prior literature and how it can be applied to rural youth.
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.
Crowdsourcing Conflict and Peace ‘Events’ in the Syrian Conflict
In this project we develop and test a new method to collect high-quality violence and peace event data using the “crowdseeding” approach.
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 […]
Just the Two of Us? Civil Conflicts, Pro-State Militants and the Violence Premium
Research on civil wars tends towards the study of networked revolutionary actors and a government, yet many conflicts have given rise to pro-state militants. In this article, I theorise that the rise of such groups increases net devotion to violence and confirm this violence premium using conflict data from Northern Ireland.
Money Changes Everything? Education and Regional Deprivation Revisited
It is very well established that conflict damages human capital accumulation of those exposed to violence. In this article, we hint at a much longer-term regional perspective. Areas that experience war in previous generations are the most deprived today and suffer poorer education performance than non-affected areas.
Micro-data on Households, Markets and Firms in Crisis: Understanding micro-economic impact and response to shocks in hard to reach environments
A World Bank White Paper on the priority variables that can be collected in order to better understand and respond to the onset of famine and other severe manifestations of food insecurity, particularly in conflict-affected and fragile places.
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.