Welfare

Agricultural interventions are one of the key policy tools to strengthen the food security of households living in conflict settings. Yet, given the complex nature of conflict-affected settings, existing theories of change might not hold, leading to misinterpretation of the significance and magnitude of these impacts. How contextual factors, including exposure to conflict intensity, shape […]

Many consider Rigorous Impact Evaluations (RIEs) to be the gold standard in evaluating interventions. We agree. However, various methodological, ethical, and practical challenges to conducting RIEs in Humanitarian Emergencies and Conflict Settings (HECS) have raised questions about how well traditional RIE methods are well-suited to such settings.  ISDC – International Security and Development Center has […]

Do agricultural interventions have a positive impact on food security and nutrition in conflict settings? Since 2020, under the SEEDS project, ISDC – International Security and Development Center and the American University of Beirut have used multi-disciplinary novel methods to study the short- and long-term impacts of complex agricultural interventions in Syria. In this webinar, […]

Dr. Ayşegül Kayaoğlu is a ISDC Research Affiliate, an Associate Professor of Economics at Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Turkey, and a Research Associate at the Economic Research Forum (ERF), Egypt. Her main research interests are impact evaluation, applied development economics, migration economics, labor economics, and informal institutions. She has published articles in peer-reviewed journals including […]

Melodie Al Daccache is a Researcher in the Welfare Research Program at ISDC and a PhD candidate at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Her research focuses on food security, livelihoods, women’s health, and gender equity in crisis-affected settings. Her methodological area of expertise includes quasi-experimental impact evaluations, quantitative statistical analysis, and micro-level data collection. Melodie has […]

Dorothee Weiffen is a Researcher in the Welfare Research Program at ISDC and a PhD Candidate at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests include food and nutritional security, livelihoods and well-being in developing contexts, especially in conflict-affected settings. Dorothee’s methodological areas of expertise are experimental and quasi-experimental impact evaluations, quantitative statistical analysis, machine learning […]

Dr. Ghassan Baliki is the Director of the Welfare Research Program at ISDC. He obtained his PhD from Humboldt-University of Berlin, where he studied violent conflict dynamics in Syria at the micro-level. His current research focuses on the interlinkages between violent conflict and human welfare at the micro-level, with particular focus on food security and […]