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In this report, we develop an approach designed to aid in closing persistent learning and knowledge gaps in development programming by suggesting how current monitoring and evaluation approaches can be adapted to maximize learning. To do so, we propose augmenting current monitoring and evaluation processes with a “learning” component that takes place concurrently with four […]

Brück, T., Ferguson, N.T.N., Ouédraogo, J. and Ziegelhöfer, Z. 2018. An Impact Evaluation of WFP Malnutrition Interventions in Niger. Summary Evaluation Report

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Efforts to evaluate third-party peacebuilding interventions are welcome but many studies rely on experimental approaches that might be at odds with the theories that underpin the discipline. Rigorously evaluating interventions ill-suited to experimental analyses is just as important, however, especially when programmes adopt novel approaches. In this article, we employ an instrumental variables approach to […]

Income and hours worked are insufficient to measure job quality yet these domains dominate literature aimed at understanding its relationship with wellbeing. More so, literature considering job quality in any manner has an overwhelming tendency to look at advanced economies, despite “decent work” being a key policy aim of many agencies and organisations working in […]

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During the previous decade there has been an increased focus on the role of food security in conflict processes, both in the academic and policy communities. While the policy community has pushed forward with new programs, the academic debate about the causal linkages between food security and conflict remains debated. This article emphasizes the endogeneity […]

Quantitative literature discussing violence in civil conflicts tends towards a typical model of engagement between governments and revolutionaries. Whilst recent work has shown the significant impact of multiple anti-government groups, a further feature remains understudied—the role of pro-state militants. This article theorizes a “violence premium” when such groups arise, which leads to all connected groups […]

Each year billions of US-dollars of humanitarian assistance are mobilised in response to man-made emergencies and natural disasters. Yet, rigorous evidence for how best to intervene remains scant. This dearth reflects that rigorous impact evaluations of humanitarian assistance pose major methodological, practical and ethical challenges. While theory-based impact evaluations can crucially inform humanitarian programming, popular […]

This paper analyses the distributive impacts of internal violent conflicts, in contrast to previous literature which has focused on the effects of inequality on conflict. We use cross-country panel data for the time period 1960–2014 to estimate war-related changes in income inequality. Our results indicate rising levels of inequality during war and especially in the […]

A long line of literature has sought to explain the relationship between regional deprivation and education outcomes. To date, however, this literature has struggled to advance notions of deprivation beyond the purely economic. Focus has fallen on attempts to isolate causality using experimental and quasi-experimental approaches, yet the transfer mechanism of financial deprivation remains unclear […]

This paper reviews both current practices and common challenges of measuring the causes, functioning, and consequences of violent conflict at the micro-level. The authors review existing conflict — and violence-related survey questionnaires, with a particular focus on the World Bank’s Living Standard Measurement Surveys. Further, they discuss methodological challenges associated with empirical work in conflict-affected […]

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The end of the so-called pax narcótica and the escalation of violence in Mexico’s drug war since 2007 has had devastating consequences for the civilian population. This chapter begins with a short history of the conflict, a discussion of the government’s strategy to fight drug trafficking organizations, an overview of current levels of violence, and […]

This volume presents an innovative new analytical framework for understanding the dynamics of violent conflict and its impact on people and communities living in contexts of violence.