ISDC – International Security and Development Center is a non-profit academic institute based in Berlin, Germany. We conduct research to improve lives and livelihoods shaped by violent conflict, fragility, and humanitarian emergencies. We believe in the power of data and evidence for understanding and alleviating suffering around the world. You can find out more about […]
Registration is now open for the international expert conference ‘Fragile Lives 2024‘! The conference, which will take place on 1-2 October 2024, will host a unique mix of experts from academia, policy, and practice speaking on the cutting edge of research and programming on three themes: Key speakers include: Beyond that, the conference will include […]
The Vulnerability Assessment Framework (VAF) is a tool developed by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in Jordan to track changes in refugees’ living situation over time. In 2023, ISDC was tasked with supporting the development of a new module to this framework that can measure climate vulnerability: the climate change vulnerability index. This index would […]
Francisca Castro is a postdoctoral researcher in ISDC’s Behavior Research Program. She is in the process of obtaining her PhD in Political Science from Humboldt University of Berlin. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the intersection between protest movements and electoral behavior in Latin America. Her research interests include intrastate conflict, state repression, and democratic backsliding. […]
Every year, the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) hosts a conference brings together actors from across the development economics community to present and discuss research on Africa. This year, ISDC was represented by Behavior Research Program Director Wolfgang Stojetz and Dorothee Weiffen from our Welfare Research Program. Each presented a research paper […]
We study how the stringency of policy measures to counter the COVID-19 pandemic affects individuals’ trust in formal institutions. Drawing on micro-level panel data from Germany spanning an 18-month period from the onset of the pandemic, we show that, on average, there is a pronounced negative relationship between the stringency level of COVID-19 countermeasures and […]
Mental health risks are high in conflict settings, but mental health research mostly focuses on non-conflict settings. Survey data from active conflict settings often suffer from low response rates, unrepresentative samples, and a lack of detailed information on the roots and implications of poor mental health. We overcome these challenges by analyzing nationally representative evidence […]
This paper provides empirical microlevel evidence on the gendered impacts of armed conflict on economic activity in agriculture and other sectors, combining large-N sex-disaggregated survey data with temporally and spatially disaggregated conflict event data from 29 African countries.
This research aims to delve into the intersection of armed conflict and climate change, exploring how conflict and climate events jointly shape socio-economic outcomes with a particular focus on gender and age disparities.
This comprehensive report provides an in-depth analysis of the UNHCR’s efforts to address the needs of refugees and other displaced persons.
ISDC is helping UNHCR Jordan to develop a climate change vulnerability index for refugees based on household survey data. This index will plug into UNHCR’s existing Vulnerability Assessment Framework (VAF).
Globally, one in three women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) over their lifetimes. Yet, the factors that cause men to commit IPV remain poorly understood. We propose and test a causal long-term link from past exposure to gender-based collective violence to violent behavior against an intimate partner. Combining novel survey data from Angolan war veteran […]
This paper analyzes how the intersectionality of gender, forced displacement, and collective violence shapes coping behaviors in conflict crises, paying particular attention to household composition by gender and age. Drawing on survey data from 17,951 individuals in North-east Nigeria, the analysis finds that coping behaviors at the household, adult, and child levels are interlinked and […]
More than half of the adult population in the West Bank and Gaza screen positive for depression. In Gaza specifically, the rate climbs to 71%. This is shown in the new report Mental Health in the West Bank and Gaza – a joint effort by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the World Bank, […]
In crises situations, many actors aim to support people and communities. These efforts range from short-term humanitarian assistance to longer-term development assistance. Traditionally, different actors have focused on different missions. More recently, UNHCR has strengthened its commitment to humanitarian-development cooperation, aiming to create synergies between these different support modalities. The expected benefits include stronger inclusion […]
This project studies the impacts of a social safety net intervention in refugee and their host communities of the Republic of Congo. The intervention intends to provide 4,000 vulnerable with regular conditional cash transfers and 8,000 households with support for income generating activities intended to increase stable revenues. The project will estimate causal impacts of […]
This project studies the gendered impacts of armed conflict on individuals’ participation in agri-food systems. Agri-food systems encompass the entire range of value-adding activities in the primary production of food and non-food agricultural products, as well as food storage, aggregation, post-harvest handling, transportation, processing, distribution, marketing, disposal, and consumption. The adequate functioning of agri-food systems […]
How can we build resilience in places where people need it the most? Assistance programs at the Humanitarian–Development–Peacebuilding (HDP) nexus hold great promise for effectively protecting and supporting people in crisis settings. Yet, quantitative micro-level evidence from such settings remains scarce, concerning both the behaviors and outcomes of affected individuals and households as well as […]
Mental health is central to well-being as well as an important determinant and outcome of economic behavior. This is particularly true in settings with high degrees of physical insecurity. However, the detailed correlates of mental health, socio-economic development and insecurity at the population level often remain understudied. This project aims to produce detailed, representative evidence […]
Sarah is a Research Assistant in the Behavior Research Program at ISDC. Her interests focus on security, peace, and conflict research, mainly in the MENA region. During her studies, Sarah assisted research on inequality in socialist dictatorships. She was further involved in the Afghanistan project of Etudes Sans Frontières – Studieren Ohne Grenzen Deutschland e.V., […]
This report presents findings from a comprehensive study on the interplay between nutrition and education in Kyrgyzstan, focusing on the impact of the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program. The study examines the evolution of nutrition status, the influence of nutritional practices on child health and education, and the overall effects of the program. Through a […]
